Irina Nakhova
12 SELECTED INSTALLATIONS 1994–2004
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REHEARSAL
2003
1 light box on the wall, 169 x 125 x 20 cm,
50 light boxes on the floor, 24 x 47 x 18 cm each,
laminated thermal inkjet on polycarbonate.
Printing: Applied Image Inc.
A huge light box with a reproduction of Eduard Manet’s «The Balcony» (1868-9) replaces the screen; 50 small light boxes replace spectators’ seats, each representing a friend or acquaintance as a «dead toreador» after Manet’s painting (1863-4). The installation imitates the space a movie-theatre, where the screen is the center of attention and meaning. But by plot, everything is turned upside down: the screen looks down to the hall, on to the multiplied finale of the corrida. The hall functions as the arena, the screen as the position of the spectators’ seats. The installation is watching itself. It requires neither real viewers (left to the outside world) nor the original paintings (it uses prints of Manet’s works). Viewer and original are both dead, the installation having no need of their support. Here the copy has the energy of the original; the rehearsal takes on the reality of the show. Narcissus is absorbed by his own reflected beauty, and only the sudden sharp sound which rings out from time to time prevents him plunging to his death in the water.
Vladimir Levashov, 2003