Josiah Mcelheny Installation At Institute Of Contemporary Art

Juan José Reyna Monrreal
IEL English for Design
Site Visit – Josiah McElheny Installation at Institute of Contemporary Art
07/13th/2012
Mirrors represent the tool through which human naturecan satiate its necessity of self-satisfaction. This seems to be the main statement of Josiah McElheny’s installation in the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA. Arranged over severalgalleries, his work displays different uses of glass and other materials to provide the viewer with a game in which transparency, reflection, and self-image play an integral role in the conception andunderstanding of each piece. Among the different works shown in the exhibition, Czech Modernism Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely stands out as the one that more clearly delivers two of McElheny’s main ideas:first, the “infinite narcissism” prevalent in mankind and, secondly, the “need to reflect upon oneself in order to become a self-knowledgeable person”.
The work is composed by an ensemble of 8lidded decanters set against a mirror in the background and placed behind a one-way mirror, everything framed by a mirror border facing the spectator. Now, the intriguing aspect of this particular pieceis that regardless of the infinite reflections occurring on the inside, the one-way mirror doesn’t allow any exterior intrusion to the inside. Despite providing the viewer with a completely transparentwindow, the one-way mirror only reflects the 8 decanters infinitely over the mirror on the backside. This provokes a sense of disorientation and dissociation in the observer who, although initiallyseduced by the opportunity of looking at himself through the infinite reflections of the mirrors, soon finds it unable to be part of that Universe. The exterior mirror border, however, gives back asense of pertaining by allowing the on-looker to see himself around the infinity of the reflections… but never inside.
The way in which McElheny arranged the whole piece undoubtedly entails a...