Before the Sun

My first impression of the exhibit was nothing short of overwhelming, and in more ways than one. When I first walked in, I was greeted with nothing but darkness. I figured it was merely going to remain that way in the entryway, only to later discover that it would get only darker once in the exhibit. The power of this darkness was only exacerbated by the fact that I had just recently been outside in the blaring sunlight. As tricky as it was to manage my way around the darkness, it proved to be quite a necessary component in the overall success of the installation.

Within the darkness resides the installation itself. This piece, produced by Karthic Pandian, has two film reels looping footage of the sunrise and sunset shot from the apex of Monks mound. These two films are projected onto opposing walls both in the respective direction in which they were shot in (east and West). On the ground of the exhibit is a massive mound of rammed earth, on top of which stands a mirrorpane column that housed two 16mm film projectors. The actual film strips fun throughout the ceiling and are supported by lengths of red twine formed in an architectural grid pattern.

These elements were arranged in a way that completely enveloped me, and gave a me an eerie sense of how it must have felt to actually be at the Cahokia Mounds. Within the darkness, it looked as if the projection were just floating in space, and gave a soft and pleasing glow to the room. As my adjusted, i was able to make out more and more of the exhibit, seeing the column that housed the projectors, and then, only after being told what it was, seeing the sand in which the projectors themselves stood on top of. Had it not have been pointed out to me, I would have completely missed the importance of the strings stretching across the ceiling, although after spending some good time looking at it, I was really able to feel its part in the instillation, and it made the whole piece stronger in my eyes.

Once I became familiar with the instillation, it was really fun to learn about what went in to the development, and knowing how specifically Pandian positioned the object within the piece made me further appreciate the thought and effort that went into not only the instillation itself, but the process that lead to its development.

vhttp://www.midwayart.org/exhibitions/10_05_karthik_pandian/