Life’s Labyrinth Installs
The next step in my plans for Life’s Labyrinth is to bring to life my plans for a larger exhibit and performance with interactive elements: This idea began before my Fall review (below) and has grown and evolved over time through brainstorming, sketches, a padlet, and my Spring review, and I’m dying to create a full experience to surround Life’s Labyrinth that’s tailored to the feelings I want to evoke and the understandings I want to convey.
Spring Review- Fibers Hallway
May 2022
This was the first install with the completed wearable sculptures and accessories, and served as my final presentation of work to the Fibers Department. Setting up the garments this way, in this order and with the ability for viewers to get up close with the details, was my way of presenting work as opposed to limits set on me in regards to the Fashion Show. Instead of moving around the viewer, I wanted the viewer to move around the pieces through following this floor maze to control the angles and perspectives of seeing the garments, especially in seeing them together as a whole. A huge part of this project was the following of paths through mazes, and I wanted participants to be explicitly aware of that connection though the movement of their own bodies to increase engagement and understanding of my concepts of self-determination and individuality.
Admittedly, this was a bit of a rough job because of the limits of review schedules. I was able to set up the night before opposed to the day of, but since this review was mere days before the Fashion Show (and I still had last touches to make) and because of the limitations of the available spaces this semester, I decided to keep this maze simple with one main path, one entrance, one exit, and no interaction stations. I’m still thrilled at the success of the maze in compelling people to avoid barriers and follow the path to get close to the garments, it yet again created a sense of physical understanding despite not being up to my own personal standard. This is why I’m most excited to create a larger, longer, more involved show— if I can achieve success with the simplest version of my idea, I feel confident that when I’m able to do this to my standard with better resources, I’ll absolutely be able to create an incredible experience.
Fall Review- Tower Gallery
December 2021
This was the first test run of a gallery-style presentation of Life’s Labyrinth, and truly the starting point for the larger idea of making this project into an interactive exhibit and live performance by creating a large labyrinth. A directional booklet on the center podium presented participants with prompts, and when they responded by unfolding a page it directed them to a station exhibiting a different stage in my process. Each station offered some small activity, such as tracing patterns with finger or investigating samples, and showed my patterns, experimentation, prep and quilting in process, my folding booklet, and the mesh toiles with pieces in progress. This was the first demonstration that the simplest version of my idea can still have a profound effect on participants, they all responded by telling me they were very aware of their bodies and the paths they were following, feeling the need to follow the paths without being told, and felt very reflective and introspective because of the way I set up the space. It was also fantastic to have this in such a public part of the school (excluding the interruptions) because many people just walking by told me how impressed they were, which proves to me there is a larger interest outside fashion or fibers to see my work.
Planning for Full Interactive Exhibit
Based on the success of the Fall Review install and the feedback I received from that review, I spent a large chunk of winter break researching how I would like to present my thesis in a complete way if there were no complications. I compiled all my inspirations and ideas into a padlet, and settled on sketches of six rooms to describe the faceted presentation I had in mind. Things have evolved and changed many times since coming up with this idea, absolutely a work in progress, but these sketches represent what this presentation could look like, a framework of what I want to create.
Sketch of Tessellation Arrangements of Rooms— Numbered 1-5, counter clockwise starting left of entrance.
Diagrams for rooms one and two, centered around Parallel Paths and Spirit of the Labyrinth.
Diagrams of Rooms Three and Four, centered around A Fork in the Road and Spiralling.
Diagram of Room 5, centered around Crossroads, and Diagram of Central Room
Inspiration, Process, Development Notes
A lot of thought went into this presentation and what activities could be included, how to include them, and what style of performance I would like— I collected all of those resources onto one padlet page to keep it organized and to keep my references in order as I began the process of thinking this idea through.
