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When Empty is Full

© Christine Hamm

Nedko Solakov's "the (not so) white cube"

A decade ago, the white cube ruled. And it still commands many art galleries and museums today. What is the white cube? you may ask. It is both a theory and a presence. The white cube is an ideal to strive for. It is the notion that art is best viewed in a pure, white environment with lights focused on each piece. Those who follow the white cube aesthetic try to remove the "interference" of each gallery's/museum's specific context; the quirks of the building, the city, and even the weather in order to allow a pure viewing experience for the audience. The white walls and even lighting are seen as a blank canvas on which to place the art. In doing so the gallery/museum expects the viewer not to "see" the white walls.

On entering Nedko Solakov's installation piece, "the (not so) white cube," which was a medium-sized white room in a museum, it appeared that the crowd inside was staring closely at blank walls. This was at first quite disconcerting, giving me an "emperor's new clothes" experience. This is of course how Solakov wanted me to feel, as the experience of seeing what everyone else denies is central to his work. However, as I approached these "blank" walls, I realized that they were covered with tiny faint inscriptions and tiny little figures. By tiny I mean that the period at the end of this sentence is the size of a figure's head. The writing was a cross between grade school graffiti and the narrative of a children's book. There's the continuing story of a troop of little people as they trek around all four walls, only to be interrupted by the door. As the little people walk around on the walls, they encounter various obstacles, created out of the texture of the walls themselves. Little ridges in the paint become hills. Small indentations become holes the little figures trip into. A bump becomes a hillock near a lake, and a man fishes off of it.

But this narrative is only a small part of what takes place on the walls. Most of it is disconnected, stream of visual consciousness comments, such as, "don't follow this arrow down" and then when you do, a tiny phrase, "why are you down here? Look back up!" Some of the little figures are engaged in potty humor. Space ships land and take off, small, but real-sized, blood drips appear twice.

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