Visitors are transported down a rabbit hole after paper mâché trees and playful music confront them upon opening the heavy dark door to the exhibit. Each of the almost 10 rooms offer a new–and often garishly clad–reality. First, visitors are invited to open and peek inside a series of cupboards containing Winding’s photos, collages, and storyboards–a mishmash of inspiration and context for the stories available for reading contained in drawers below.
The first cupboard upon entering
The exhibit is a winding maze of cozy nooks and artfully installed structures, all the while displaying Winding’s prolific and exuberant works. Just beyond the cupboards is a room with floor-to-ceiling distorting mirrors, featuring photos of Thomas Winding’s producing days, and a large projection of some of his films. Viewers are invited to observe the polaroids on the wall and notice their distorted reflection alongside them–equal parts serious and playful. Wandering beyond the mirror room, visitors can climb into a boat in a illustrated swamp full of pillows, books, and a movie screen; peer into a tree trunk with a doorway; contemplate a room with giant paintings presented salon-style; and relax in a fabricated bedroom in a painted forest.
The boat for viewing, relaxing, and reading
The tree-portal
After observing Winding’s imaginative works, it’s clear this exhibit’s animated presentation brings alive his craft. By physically inviting visitors to look into, touch, and explore his stories for themselves, his life gains color and depth alongside his paintings.
A quick Google search provides what couldn’t be found in the exhibit’s descriptions: Thomas Winding was a multimedia artist and storyteller who got his start at the Danish Radio writing and reading stories for children. He later moved into film and children’s television while continuing to write children’s books; many of his works, books and films, went on to achieve distinguished awards. He seems to an American audience to be a Danish version of a Dr. Seuss. Putting these pieces together within the walls of the Black Diamond’s basement, though, even without Google, allows a visitor to experience the universal joy of enjoying and exploring a new story, reality, or problem.
The exhibition illustrates the myriad of ways Thomas Winding was a storyteller: through books, painting, drawing, photography, and film. He embodied what it means to be a trans-idiomatic artist. The immersive experience of the installations was a bold and playful way to relay that very message. English speakers will notice that all of the captions and descriptions in the exhibit are only in Danish. A thin packet in English was provided upon entry, which is not the translation of the placards or captions, but rather is a set of mini games and puzzles that visitors can navigate throughout the numerous rooms.
In any other type of exhibition, this would surely forge a rift between the visitor and the pieces. But in this one, it poses to the English-speaking viewer an ultimatum: experience this as a child, or don’t experience this at all. Putting together the works and stories oneself illuminates a part of the imagination that some adults rarely visit; it peaks curiosity and heightens a reliance on the senses.
But of course, this is a Danish exhibit meant for Danes. The English speaker gets to piece together the world of Thomas Winding, while the Dane is fully immersed in the stories. For the Dane, this exhibit might feel closer to the Dunkers Museum’s Shaun Tan exhibit. There, the pictures are equipped with captions, descriptive names, and dialogue. The works give instructions on what to notice and what narrative to assign to each image–giving space to explore a world, while also providing a story framework to hold onto. Thomas Winding is a storyteller, but somehow in such a sensually rich and content-filled exhibit and installation, a language barrier feels almost like an asset, giving the exhibit a different and interesting flavor (but then again, an English-speaker would never know). Instead of the providing of a historical context and artistic narrative for the vibrant works and rooms, the English-speaking visitor is given a game, their senses, and a true immersion in imagery and color.
The museum’s description of the exhibit says (loosely translated from Danish) that this exhibit’s presentation is meant to provide adults and children equal footing. In creating a world from the prolific images, stories, and imagination of Thomas Winding, it gave adults of all nations a free pass to join children in finding even the ordinary awe-worthy and curious.
A quick Google search provides what couldn’t be found in the exhibit’s descriptions: Thomas Winding was a multimedia artist and storyteller who got his start at the Danish Radio writing and reading stories for children. He later moved into film and children’s television while continuing to write children’s books; many of his works, books and films, went on to achieve distinguished awards. He seems to an American audience to be a Danish version of a Dr. Seuss. Putting these pieces together within the walls of the Black Diamond’s basement, though, even without Google, allows a visitor to experience the universal joy of enjoying and exploring a new story, reality, or problem.
The exhibition illustrates the myriad of ways Thomas Winding was a storyteller: through books, painting, drawing, photography, and film. He embodied what it means to be a trans-idiomatic artist. The immersive experience of the installations was a bold and playful way to relay that very message. English speakers will notice that all of the captions and descriptions in the exhibit are only in Danish. A thin packet in English was provided upon entry, which is not the translation of the placards or captions, but rather is a set of mini games and puzzles that visitors can navigate throughout the numerous rooms.
One of the pages of the packet of interactive games handed out to English-speaking visitors
In any other type of exhibition, this would surely forge a rift between the visitor and the pieces. But in this one, it poses to the English-speaking viewer an ultimatum: experience this as a child, or don’t experience this at all. Putting together the works and stories oneself illuminates a part of the imagination that some adults rarely visit; it peaks curiosity and heightens a reliance on the senses.
But of course, this is a Danish exhibit meant for Danes. The English speaker gets to piece together the world of Thomas Winding, while the Dane is fully immersed in the stories. For the Dane, this exhibit might feel closer to the Dunkers Museum’s Shaun Tan exhibit. There, the pictures are equipped with captions, descriptive names, and dialogue. The works give instructions on what to notice and what narrative to assign to each image–giving space to explore a world, while also providing a story framework to hold onto. Thomas Winding is a storyteller, but somehow in such a sensually rich and content-filled exhibit and installation, a language barrier feels almost like an asset, giving the exhibit a different and interesting flavor (but then again, an English-speaker would never know). Instead of the providing of a historical context and artistic narrative for the vibrant works and rooms, the English-speaking visitor is given a game, their senses, and a true immersion in imagery and color.
The museum’s description of the exhibit says (loosely translated from Danish) that this exhibit’s presentation is meant to provide adults and children equal footing. In creating a world from the prolific images, stories, and imagination of Thomas Winding, it gave adults of all nations a free pass to join children in finding even the ordinary awe-worthy and curious.
No comments:
Post a Comment