Irina Nakhova
12 SELECTED INSTALLATIONS 1994–2004
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ARTIFICIAL SHRUBBERY,
WOMAN SITTING ON THE
BEACH, AND ARTIFICIAL WAVE
2003
E-stat, acrylic glass, wood, sound electronics;
Violets, 100 x 100 x 100 cm,
Forsythia 150 x 200 x 70 cm,
Lupins 145 x 55 x 55 cm,
Woman, 86 x 56 x 56 cm,
Wave, 82 x 300 x 72 cm;
printing: Applied Image Inc.;
special thanks to KILen, The Artists Group in
Luleå/Sweden
Paradise is a human construct. Irina Nakhova’sinstallation «Artificial Shrubbery and Woman Sitting on the Beach» is an interactive piece that mixes images and elements of what a viewer would define as natural and beautiful, within obvious rigid forms of human-made objects. The piece was created specifically for an outdoor museum garden in northern Sweden at the Luleå Summer Biennial. It creates powerful confrontations between material, sight and sound. Pretty flowers are square boxes, a wave is a floating prism, and a woman in a pleasing place is defined by flat surfaces. The shrubs are situated carefully along the pedestrian path of the museum. Internally lit, they take on an ethereal glow as day darkens towards midnight in summer near the Arctic Circle. When a viewer walks by, each individual bush emits a sound, again calling attention to what our notion is of nature: secure and gentle ambient birds, waves and wind are subtly intertwined with emotional screams, sounds of sex, and the cacophony of violence. The viewer walks away, and the bushes become silent. The woman and wave make no noise. Viewers see them and the shrubs at a distance, resting quietly as trim, maintenance-free objects in the naturally constructed environment.
John Tormey, 2004