Facade crowd

With the public that experienced the next piece questions about reality and perception joined them home. The start point for them was also a home, or the facade of a house. The project was called ‘’ ‘Dalston House’ and it was built by Leandro Erlich. In 2013, as a commissioned piece by the London based Barbican Art Gallery, in order to encourage audiences to participate. The formal context was named ‘’ Beyond Barbican’’ and it was summer cultural program. 

The installation piece is described in ‘Art and Religion’ (RRosen, 2015, p. 82) :’ By placing an architectural facade on the ground beneath an angled mirror, Erlich invites visitors to observe themselves in seemingly impossible, gravity-defying situations while simply sitting or standing on the ground’. The neighborhood where the installation is built, just to understand the context, is part of a side of London bombed in Second World War and where various gentrification projects modify it.  In a way, the idea of the house, that you can just experience a dangerous angle for the body in an indirect way is to complete to desire one has to feel safe at home. even if a false facade of a house, it is still protective and still be a playground for adults and children.

   Gar Powell-Evans, 2013, Dalston House 

The participants are not only exploring their own perception of themselves in a dangerous position, (example: one participant explored the image with himself holding with  one finger the margins of the window) but they have room (Victorian room) to share with others this space of facing danger just on a mirrored surface. ‘Dalton House’ plays with, as the artist expresses in the RRosen’s book ‘’illusion(..) seducing the viewer to participate in the experience while questioning their understanding of reality’’.  

In my opinion, there is a lot to gain from the ambience of a dual space. This piece deserves to be studied on every corner as illusion tricks hide inside the orientation of every detail. A point for me will be the idea of urbanism as spectacle. 

Reference list 

Rrosen, A. (2015)’Art and Religion in the 21st century’, London: Thames and Hudson 

Powell-Evans, G. (2013), Dalston House, courtesy Barbican Art gallery, Available at <https://www.timeout.com/london/art/leandro-erlich-dalston-house-1(Accessed 21 My 2020)