Verbal Description: Floor 5

Melanie Taylor: The fifth floor is the largest exhibition space in the Museum. At 67 feet wide and 270 feet long, it's nearly the size of a football field. Capped by 17 foot high windows on both the east and west sides of the gallery, the curators hoped to take advantage of its vast scale and natural light to create what they're calling a “clearing.” The goal was to create a non-hierarchical space, where the visitor determines their own itinerary through the artwork.

Taking the unusual approach of an open gallery with no traditional walls, we had to devise a more transparent way of supporting the two-dimensional works in space. This took the form of frame like armatures made of poplar wood, painted matte white. They range from 8 feet tall to 9 1/2 feet tall and are scattered across the floor. 

We conceived of the armatures to function similar to folding screens that you might have at home, where a single artist might occupy both sides or perhaps two artists occupy the front and then the back leaving lots of room on the floor for you to move in amongst them.

They're open shapes, offering porous views through to other artworks and creating a kaleidoscope of relationships amongst works. Looking to the west with its views of the river, you will experience a layering of artwork on armatures with sculptural works, like Duane Linklater's 20 foot wide naturally dyed textiles hanging from the ceiling or a mini retrospective of archival and video work by Theresa Cha enclosed by an ethereal gauze scrim. To the east, with its softer light, you'll see a vibrant 12 foot wide video of animated watercolors by Danielle Dean and Sable Elyse Smith's slowly rotating 14 foot high ferris wheel assemblage of prison furniture. Throughout the sounds of audio, visual works shift and mix to contribute to a dynamic flux of ideas.