On Aug. 30, visual artist Younes Rahmoun exhibited his largest opening yet, “Here, Now,” drawing almost 400 visitors. The pieces sprawl across Smith’s campus in four unique locations, ranging from Macleish Field Station to the banks of Paradise Pond to the SCMA galleries. His choice of setting challenges common notions of gallery space, situating himself and his art in both the future, past and present, as well as the North, South, East and West.
Emma Chubb, the Smith College Museum of Art’s Curator of Contemporary Art, describes Younes’ work as a collaborative, receptive project — not only bringing his work from Morocco to Massachusetts, but forming his pieces in conversation with the Smith campus, including natural spaces, professors, staff and students.
“One of the things that Younes does is he works in a very responsive way, and so all of his work is both rooted in his universe and then in conversation with the places where it goes,” said Chubb. “As opposed to just picking up his work and bringing it here, he wanted to really build something here that brings his work and this context together.”
Bringing his pieces to a college campus, specifically one surrounded by nature, allowed Rahmoun’s art to interact with multiple aspects of the living world — both people and the earth itself.
“He was excited about that opportunity — he often will make exhibitions that have multiple locations, so that was the impetus for having it unfold in seven places — depending on how you count,” said Chubb. “There’s four on the map, but three of those are embedded in the museum. The pieces ask visitors to come and move through different spaces.”
The exhibition at the botanic garden displays a circular projection on a blank wall of a completely dark room. Headphones play a soundtrack that goes with the projection, which is a looped slideshow depicting progressing sketches of a seed hatching and growing. The quiet, dark room created an overwhelming sense of peace and stillness, a feeling that was soon contrasted by the eerie-sounding music played over the headphones.
The slideshow showed the growth of a seed that seemed to point to the cycles of life and growth. However, the ever-intensifying music and the plant’s eventual overtaking of the entire screen also created an uneasy feeling in the viewer. Ultimately, not only did the piece speak to the concepts of birth and growth, but it also left the viewer with a consideration of the cycles of life and death.
“Chajara-Tupelo” sits at the edge of Paradise Pond. The tree planted in 2019 is now not more than a few feet tall. In contrast with the exhibition at the botanic garden, which displays a progression of sketches of a seed growing into a plant, this exhibit provides a tangible version of that process, one that will continue to change, grow and remain a part of the earth for years to come.
The choice of setting, next to the pond, draws attention to how art interacts with nature and challenges traditional ideas of art settings, particularly the white cube gallery style. The white cube, which characterizes many art galleries today, uses blank white walls arranged in a square or rectangle, with a light source usually emanating from the ceiling. The idea behind this commonly used gallery style was to essentially block out everything other than the art, leaving the artwork as the sole focus of the viewer. However, by creating a piece that not only interacts with, but is also a part of the natural world, Rahmoun challenges his viewers to consider his piece in harmony with its setting.
In today’s fast-paced, internet-centered society, Rahmoun’s work, which grounds his viewers in the real world, is all the more relevant. By creating a space that invites people to appreciate the world around them, Rahmoun’s exhibits provide a rare yet vital opportunity to slow down and let go of everyday distractions.
“I think for him, often his process is one that takes a kind of meditative quality and a way of being present with himself and with the here and now.”
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