Shoot?

review by Katelynn Banville

March 15, 2017

            The Mass MOCA museum located in North Adams, Massachusetts, was structurally unique and had unique pieces around every corner. The old feel to the building didn’t distract from the artwork on display. The high ceilings in some rooms were optimized and used to the artists benefit the art work. Artwork was hung from the ceilings down to the floors allowing you to walk through the work or walk under it. You can be up close to the work letting you notice even more about the work.

            The Nick Cave exhibit was unique about how the work was presented. You walk into the room and see all these party like spinners hung together in a chain from floor to ceiling. Some were shapes and here and there you would notice one would have a gun in it. Noticing this added element changed the feel to the piece. At first it seems like an upbeat piece of artwork because of the bright colors and how each piece was reflective but the gun gave it a more serious tone.

            Once you walk through this piece you come across a piece that appears to look like a cloud. From the bottom the “white cloud” look is resembled by multiple large chandeliers. It was hung up high in the ceiling and had moveable stairs allowing you to go look up on top of the piece. All the objects on top seemed to be older. They didn’t have much color to them and seemed to be things that people would use or have in earlier times. There were older dolls, an old record player with a big horn on it, and smaller bits and pieces. This may be there to resemble how we are running out of place on the earth to put our old things we may no longer use. That may be just one possible interpretation of why the artist would choose to put these things on top of her cloud,

            There was a video about a woman who traveled the world for 5 years staying with family’s around the world to explore the idea of friendship. She would take portraits of what she was doing and of the family’s and created a gallery of the images. There were 3 banners hanging floor to ceiling filled with images of things she did and saw in a grid format. She also had larger individual pictures of the family’s she stayed with along the walls. In a separate smaller room, she had 6 different family images in memoriam of someone who had passed away in that family. There was also a coffee table and couches where you could sit and discuss what a true friend would do. If you chose to do so, you could write your idea on a sticky note and post it on the board on the wall.

            Overall this museum was worth visiting. There was something interesting around every corner. The whole museum is filled with incredible exhibits that keep your interest the whole time.