Carolee Schneemann.

After going to the Museum of Modern Art PS1, I was first introduced to a strange gallery that was interesting, yet I found myself very confused and lost due to the different directions of the object, the creation of illusion and how the artist is trying to create a purpose. Most importantly, I found it difficult to describe this work. This artwork, named the “Flat Side of the Knife,” was developed by an artist named Samara Golden. I have never seen this artwork before. As I looked closer to see what was so unique about it and how does it creates so much attention I found myself in a room, looking at this artwork that covered the entire two-story space, filled with objects. 

 Everywhere I looked, there were different types of sections that could be seen from the first floor to the second floor. There were objects hanging from the ceiling to the wall, somewhere settle on top of other objects, a grid of mirrors placed from the bottom, stairs going towards different directions, and also, I believe there was a sort of a sound, coming from the television on the second floor. What really interests me the most is how the sculpture was developed using engineering to make me believe as though the room was cut in half showing one room that is opposite to each other, but also showing it upside down. 

When I first looked at it I believed that there was more to this story that the artist is trying to present this creation as a dream that can relate, not just her, but to others as well. Personally, when I look at this sculpture to me it feels like it’s   presenting more of a dream with different doors opening to her memories that she doesn’t want to forget.  As it describes in the Museum of Modern art exhibit Samara Golden is trying to present more of the six dimensions from her unconscious mind of her past, present and future, that exist in one exhibit, simultaneously. So, what I see here is the artist used mirrors from the bottom that reflect creating a sort of illusory space of the artist mind, seeing multiple section from her past visions and also some important elements, giving its own hidden story. 

There are a whole lot of objects that are listed such as stair ways, sofas, beds, lamps, fans, instruments, wheelchair, stuffed animals and decorations that give the artist sculpture the sense of everyday objects that are used in her life. She used her body to sit, to play, and to see with those objects. Golden has suspended three bedrooms from the ceiling, which reproduce themselves almost identically in the layout. There are three bedrooms with their own unique characteristic that provide her personal space. By putting mirrors on the bottom floor, golden has created an illusion of distance so that these three bedrooms expand well beyond the double story gallery. She has made vertical loops of depth and height; of material sculpture and immaterial image, which endlessly converge as separate. 

 Golden has included the second floor. While entering, a small living room it can be seen that she provided some objects as well, such as a couch, stuffed animals, vinyl records, a television that provides sound and final a second viewpoint of the sculpture. I wasn’t too familiar about the purpose of the television, yet I believe that its purpose was to give the artist relaxation for her body. The television was located on the edge of the stairs on the right side, the furniture was on the left, packed with her personal possessions on top of the furniture and finally a man sitting on the furniture which I’m not sure if he was a part of the art or he is just relaxing. I also notice that she provides patters on the floor mat, the umbrella and the ribbon. Finally, there is one more thing that I wonder from viewing the television, which is why is it on the edge of the stairs. This leaves me to wonder if this had some sort of connection with the wheel chair that blocks the path from moving forward.