With Kurt Schwitter’s 18 year work, Merzbau, began a new form of installation labelled ‘Enchantment’. This style allowed the viewer to be immersed in and enclosed by the artist’s work. Schwitter’s Mezrbau, was a site specific, walk through, installation that overtook his home created with any object that became available to him. Although site specific at the beginning, it was destroyed during World War 2 and Schwitter’s recreated it on numerous occasions.
Enchantment installation, as it name suggests, draws on a certain amount of drama allowing for the immersion of the audience not only within the exhibition space but the artist’s psyche as well. Because of their multi media and non site specific nature, these types of exhibits are easily transported to new locations. As Rosenthal mentions the Enchantment installations are often the works of ‘nomadic, global artists who enjoy international citizenship at massive biennale-type exhibitions’.
The Bauhaus and De Stijl group during 1920’s brought a great collaboration between artists of Enchantment installation. The first International Dada Fair incorporated a hotch potch of not only many multi media styles but artists who together created, within their exhibition space, a massive 3D collage effect. During this time political overtones began to be seen in these installations. Rosenthal said, ‘The Dada fair thus represented a politicized version of Enchantment.’
Along with Schwitter’s, Duchamp was a prominent figure in Enchantment installation. While other artists hung paintings, he hung 1200 sacks of coal. Both artists created a surreal effect to their works giving the viewer a sometimes frightening and almost dreamlike experience.
Surprisingly it was Disneyland that gave people a new perspective on Enchantment installation. It allowed the audience to be lost within a world outside their own giving them an explosion of sensory pleasure and fear.
With Alan Kaprow at the forefront, the late 50’s, early 60’s saw artists broaden the boundaries of Enchantment installations adding a more theatrical element to their work known as ‘Happenings’. Video exhibitions too had that element of Enchantment often surrounding the viewer on many surfaces of the space and immersing them into the installation. In the late 70’s early 80’s Jonathan Borofsky also created installations that covered his entire space with all forms of his art.
As mentioned all these installations gave the viewer an insight not only onto another world but the artists mind as well.
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