Schmacke at SLAM
The Berlin-based artist Claudia Schmacke explores the questions of temporality and perception in Currents 103. This exhibit, consisting of two videos and an installation, opened at the St. Louis Art Museum on April 2nd and will continue through the 5th of July. Although Currents 103 is a small exhibition, it brings substantial questions about the very nature of time and space to the forefront. All three of Schmacke’s works use the ephemeral nature of a moment in order to connect with the viewer. She uses subtle allusion to the human body as well as time as an organizing structure in order to induce self-awareness and self-reflection.
Primarily, Schmacke uses her work to subtly mimic the human body in order to investigate experiential and physical phenomena. Immediately upon entering the gallery space, her work hits a visceral nerve. I am first confronted with her twenty-five minute video Umbilicus, which consists of what seems to be water being sucked through a pipe. The water pressure makes loud, rude, and almost uncomfortable sounds. Though almost abstract, Schmacke’s video refers to physical experiences in the body, almost as if I am looking at an orifice. The large screen and dark room consumes me as I plunge into an awkward and mesmerizing trance. As the video continues, I search for a recognizable visual clue. Occasionally, Schmacke seems to present a reflection of a tree or possibly a human figure. However, the object disappears as quickly as it had come. When watched in entirety, Umbilicus becomes more like an experience than a visual object. I am forced to abandon the search for meaning and to consume what is presented. Because I cannot recognize exactly what is being depicted, the video forces me to turn inward in order to find meaning. I become increasingly conscious of myself, my own body. The sights and sounds around me are both awkward and provocative, and they start to reveal my self-consciousness and self-awareness.
Schmacke continues this exploration of the self in the installation Time Reel. The piece stands alone in a room across the walkway from the video pieces. Strands of plastic tubing penetrate the wall of the gallery. The tubing hangs limp, creating loops that exit and then reenter the wall. Green liquid appears to be pulsing through the hoses. Air bubbles shoot through the liquid, forcing their way through the twists and curves. The wall acts like a veil, concealing but also revealing just enough information for the viewer. The strange green dye seems to be sterilizing the vein-like strands as the liquid pulses through and is carried to and from an unknown source. We are again compelled to look towards our own materiality in order to connect with the work.
Secondly, Schmacke tries to communicate the fleeting nature of a moment in order to comment on the temporality of both time and space. Her second film, Dark Matters, reveal this new layer of viewing and thinking. The four-minute video consists of black tar and the movement of gas bubbles penetrating the tar’s membrane. The oozing and bursting black liquid immediately infiltrates my senses. It also presents an obvious tension between the ephemeral and the enduring. The tar swells with each new gas bubble, expanding to a seemingly intimidating size. However, at its peak, the bubble simply pops, leaving only a subtle footprint in the surface. That footprint is quickly consumed by another bubble. This process repeats throughout the video as the tar undulates only to disappear. In the glassy surface of each bubble, I can see a figure. The figure vanishes along with each “pop” only to reappear with the next resurgence. Schmacke uses this natural phenomenon as a clear metaphor for the fleeting nature of a moment.
She continues to explore this cyclical nature of life and death in Time Reel. The title seems to suggest that this piece refers to the storage of time. The liquid is constantly moving. Each instant is different from the one before. The work consists of a constant flow or a continuous rise and fall. The tubing protruding from the wall refers to a complex network that is partly visible and partly invisible. This blurs the line between the functions of the external world and those occurring internally within a system. Schmacke seems to be suggesting that both entities contain and store time in a similar way, thus connecting the self with the greater world.
Despite its size, Currents 103 brings substantial questions about the very nature of temporality and perception to the forefront. All three of Schmacke’s works use the ephemeral nature of a moment in order to connect with the viewer. Her subtle allusion to the human body as well as her use of time as an organizing structure induces self-awareness and self-reflection. Her honesty and poignant point of view forced me accept the difficult task of examining the truth about my own place within a greater context. Currents 103 is a valuable experience, even if it may be a little uncomfortable.
