- Venue
- Tate Modern
- Location
- London
Cildo Meireles
Volitile
”For me the art object must be, despite everything else, instantly seductive.”
There is nothing more compelling than physically walking into a piece and conversing with it. Adrenalin surging inside as you weigh up the anticipation against anxiety; seconds before you decide to take the plunge, the intensity is indescribable. The seduction of the unknown, the moment of exhilaration before planting that first step into someone else’s creation. To feel pushed and probed, tested and taunted, cajoled and conned. For me, this is the allurement of art.
Cildo Meireles is an artist that I have only recently discovered yet I find myself yearning to know better, more deeply, more completely; to enter his consciousness. Though in a way I already have; by experiencing the pieces he has created. I feel I have entered a mind at work it is, almost like the physical representation of a place that doesn’t and maybe shouldn’t exist. I found myself walking through the gap between the real and the unreal, like a haunting vacuum that contained this cadence of sterile beauty.
In Volatile, Meireles explores notions of space and questions the way that we interact within an often unnerving environment. His works are large scale, dominating the room they are housed in. One work in particular moved me and left its mark long after. It begins with a door which leads to a small room; a changing room. The floor and air are thick with white dust; there are several benches, six sets of Wellington boots and a small box full of DIY masks. As instructed, I remove my shoes and put on a pair of wellies. At this point my heart is pounding against my chest.
As I hesitantly open the door from the changing room and I am met with the familiar smell of talcum power suspended in the air. Stepping onto the craterous floor, I feel velvet ripples created by my feet as I sink into the mass of powder. Textures, overwhelming my senses race across the synapses of my brain as I walk almost in limbo, across a floor that wasn’t quite solid, liquid or gas, but a new state entirely. Half sinking, half floating, I walk through the infinite darkness almost in a trance, hands stretched out in front of me. I resisted the urge to grab the phone from my pocket to light the way, and persevered through the abyss.
This is the kind of piece that reminds me why Art can be such a warming place. Even in this alien environment, a world between worlds, where I am lost between mounds of talcum power, I’m smiling. This is the power of Art, the power of environment. It can actually put someone into a foreign world; not in the way some might claim a painting only illustrates the sights of Venice or a sculpture can only suggest the sinuous sensuality of a women body; this the most literal form of involvement, this is being totally immersed in an idea, a total new reality.
Venturing further into the unknown, I come – or should I say walk straight nose first into – a bend in the room, forcing me to take a left in almost pitch blackness. Flickering around the corner I can see a glimmer of light, the first I’d seen in five minutes of exploring. A solitary candle sits in the middle of this room, illuminating the surrounding area with a soft yellow light which bounced in a satisfyingly minimal way off the powdered floor. This trace of light in the void, this gulf of nothing and everything, is a haunting but also beautiful sight.
The involvement with this is both physical and emotional. The themes with which Meireles is concerned, revolve around central, negative emotions, especially in this particular piece with which I feel a great affinity.
‘‘I play with people's fears. Fear is the material of many of my works. For example, in Volatile fear is present. You see the lighted candle at the back of the space and smell the scent of natural gas. You are afraid that the room will explode. But when you have fear, your senses become heightened. You become more attentive to your environment.’’
The element of danger did cross my mind upon seeing this candle nested in a pile (and within a room full) of talcum powder which is very ‘Volatile’ as the name suggests, in the presence of a flame. However, this was merely an after-thought, I found myself not fearing what I could see in front of me, it was more of an irrational fear than logical one. Not for one moment did I think ‘this room could combust due to that flame and this flammable powder’ it was more like ‘This could be what walking into the Afterlife feels like; this could be what starting God in the eyes would feel like. Am I safe here? I feel like a pilgrim in a place that a pilgrim shouldn’t be’ The underlying physical real issues with the room which should be considered dangerous, are overshadowed by a more emotional response, a more primitive balance of awe and irrational fear.
The relationship between the piece and the audience is one that I need to devolve and explore more fully, when done properly with power and foresight it is invaluable. Balance between emotions within a work needs to be subtle, as you want people to engage with the work and induce possibly negative emotions, but you also want people to enter through freewill. The best pieces of this type that I have encountered have had this balance between fear and longing. People like to be pushed, but only so far. Feeling fear can sometimes remind us that we are still alive.
