The Dwelling

The Dwelling was an exhibition on display at ACCA. I had never been here before and didn’t know that it existed. When I first went into the exhibition I was unsure of what it was about. It was a very dark exhibition so the first time I walked through I found it to be a bit confusing with all the dark corridors and curtains. Once the educational began to explain to us about the exhibition and how all of the artists were exploring another side of the topic ‘the dwelling’ it began to make more sense. When she asked us what we think of the topic the main answers were all about homes. The artists however were looking at it from a different perspective and looking at the dwelling as a spooky, dark and mysterious subject.

My favourite work was ‘Opera for a small room’ 2005 by Janet Cardiff and George Bures-Miller. I liked this work because it engaged you more than others which were just film. I also liked the how the artists found all of these records with the name R.Dennehy on them and designed the room as to what they imagine his room may look like. I find this type of art intriguing as it is though we are looking in on someones life or how the artists imagined it. I also like how this is their vision and R.Dennehy’s real room would most likely be completely different. By making us able to walk around and look in from different angles enabled us to feel engaged in the experience with all the lights and music. I think what made me like this the most was the music and light show plus being able to feel engaged in the piece.

Other pieces I liked were ‘House II: the great artesian basin’ and ‘Talo (the house)’. House II reminded me of a scene in Jamuji. I didn’t really understand the meaning behind it but I just liked the video of it. At first I didn’t like ‘Talo’ but once it was explained that the lady in it had a mental illness, I found it to be very intriguing.

I found this exhibition to be one of the better ones we have seen as it was different and the subject was darker than others. It also engaged you more and I found I had to think about what it was about more.