Doug Aitken: Return to the Real
Victoria Miro I, London, UK
2 October – 20 December 2019
Back to the art world and back on form. Not that I haven’t seen exhibitions since my last post, but I’ve been caught up with other things and couldn’t find the time to write. Apologies to my readers. Here I am again—hopefully back on track with a post every other week, or at least once a month.
One of the last exhibitions visited by The Art Berries was “Return to the Real” by Doug Aitken, which I found compelling both aesthetically and spiritually.
Upon entering the show, the space downstairs is a darkened room where a translucent young woman rests on a table, her mobile phone just out of reach. Other objects share the same glossy, almost ethereal appearance. Her groceries sit untouched in a plastic bag beside her—she hasn’t yet had a chance to put them away. She’s surrounded by lightboxes, illuminated dreamscapes, swimming pools, aeroplane images, unmade white beds, and various references to the lives we lead today. A world dominated by technology, keeping us endlessly distracted with images promising escape from our daily routine. We save up for those precious days—or, if we’re lucky, a month—away from it all. But enough to keep us going.
Will our heroine manage to find herself amid all this?
The answer might lie upstairs. Climbing to the upper gallery, you encounter a female form at the centre of a scene dominated by moving sonic sculptures. The atmosphere becomes contemplative. Circular steel wind chimes rotate slowly in front of a flickering screen. The figure—our heroine?—is carved in marble, Aitken says, with “deep geological time,” and is split in two to reveal a mirrored interior. I can’t help wondering if this is the same young woman from downstairs who has finally managed to reconnect with her real self. I do hope so.
Doug Aitken is an American artist and filmmaker whose work has been exhibited widely around the world.
Leave a Reply