Minimalisms’ Spurious Distractions in a Collaborative Installation
For Recreational Serenetorium, Monica Dixon and Annie Woodfill are commanding the
space and determining the “tyranny of perspective.” In macro terms, these artists command
what is seen and control the reality of environment. Manifest Destiny ne plus ultra!
There is a definite and determined simplicity in Woodfill’s appropriation of the wall. Simple
applications of fabrics are hung within the space to create new entry points that soften this
particular gallery from its rough-hewn look. All the gallery oddities; chips in the floor tile, odd
pipes and conduits that don’t seem to go anywhere, now look purposeful. This is an effort
wherein the product of a fluid and intangible process becomes a design object, but one in
which both Woodfill and Dixon are both in control.
Visitors to the space are immediately subject to their influence.The fabric (translucent poly,
seersucker and toille) are arranged throughout the space as to direct visitor movements;
starting with their very first steps in which the largest swaths immediately abut the front door.
We are being told how to maneuver the landscape of this room. Coincidentally, my thinking
on their work also references a fine essay on Surform by jack rees discussing, in the
simplest of terms, the characterization of perspective and its effects. Describing shape and
design as having a finite vocabulary.Reading this allowed me to look beyond Minimalism’s
simplicity to reconsider what Dixon and Woodfill are really articulating.
Recreationical Serenetorium Installation by Monica Dixon and Annie Woodfill. Image Courtesy of
the artists.
This collaborative installation, down to its hand-held objects; amorphous blob-like bean-filled
bags in toille and poly-like fabrics, are extremely simple and that is where I think people can
become duped into thinking this work is about nothing at all. Dixon’s bean bags are relaxing
and fun; placing them on the back of your neck or wrist, its like a 3-minute visit to
Brookstone. Imagine being given a service animal to guide you through this installation, a
distraction while you follow a layout that has been plotted beforehand. A first look for visitors
may have them believe they are walking in and around these fabrics, going any which way,
and that’s all there is to it. Dixon’s bean bags lull while Woodfill commands your steps. Its
pretty cunning for what each has conceived, as they said in a face-to-face discussion, taking
a feminist view on the ideas of Minimalism. Although I wasn’t fully convinced at first in this
particular conversation, with my maleness out in front, the more I thought about the space,
the more I understand how correct they are. Dixon and Woodfill are exploring Minimalism
beyond the old and creaky voices from half a century ago. They have taken a hyper male
sculptural process to reference craft conversations, turning it inside out. Definitive decisionmaking
is occuring from both artists through this “ambient array” of fractals and actual
objects.
Dixon’s soft forms represent the morphogenesis to Annie Woodfill’s autopoiesis. (That’s
science! Learn it, Live it!) But this installation exists under perfect conditions that allow us to
consider the possibilities of how surface theory might affect us. We can find relatable cause
to the spirit these two artists enact; sterile, isolated and pure of theory. Now put these ideas
into real world situations and the way these principles affect populations. Consider the
aftermath of a natural disaster or war, where the perspective is changed by force and see
how people really think.Under naturally occurring conditions, the population has to adapt to
architecture and landscape that has itself, succumbed to other forces.
Recreationical Serenetorium Installation by Monica Dixon and Annie Woodfill. Image Courtesy of the artists.
Think of these two artists as provocateurs. Their use of the gallery, with its long stretches of
fabric and sensory service beanbags,is rooted in manipulation. It is a micro version of human
behavior under both tremulous conditions and everyday living. Imagine places of controlled
movements, like a department store.
Dixon and Woodfill are aware that Minimalism is a covert system of control and they are the
drivers to their audience’s actions and behaviors. Where it gets murky and downright sinister
is when these environments are wretched panopticons for some and villas of isolation for
others. Instead of the department store layout, look at how Puerto Rico, post-Maria, is going
to be reshaped. Politicians, speculators and architects will force a new perspective, dictating
who thrives and who doesn’t. These are ideas of control; Dixon and Woodfill have distilled
this conversation into showing us how easily it happens.
Recreationical Serenetorium Installation by Monica Dixon and Annie Woodfill. Image Courtesy of the artists.
Recreationical Serentorium, a collaborative installation by Monica Dixon and Annie Woodfill
is on view at Vulpes Bastille through the end of June 2018.
Vulpes Bastille
1737 Locust Street
Kansas City, MO 64111