thomas houseago evokes lunar phases with celestial moun room

thomas houseago evokes lunar phases with celestial moun room
moun room (detail), 2013—2014
tuf-cal, hemp, iron rebar
1098.6 x 1388.1 x 365.8 cm / 432 1/2 x 546 1/2 x 144 in
all images courtesy of hauser & wirth

thomas houseago: moun room
hauser & wirth, new york
now through – jan 17th, 2015

british artist thomas houseago sets visitors to hauser & wirth gallery in new york within an immersive environment, inviting them to meander among the complex screens of layered and pierced materials. ‘moun room’ comprises three chambers contained within one another, spanning approximately 37 feet by 45 feet wide, and 12 feet above the viewer. playing with notions of negative and positive, geometric apertures are cut from the panel walls and constructed in bas-relief, mimicking the lunar phase of the moon. circular voids of varying sizes — some large enough to walk through and others like portholes — engage the viewer in exploration and play. the enclosures and small passageways extended both internally and outside the structure’s physical walls, beckoning meditation and introspection in response to the architecture, summarized by houseago as ‘a visual maze with a spiritual dimension’.

walls are built from individual panels made of tuf-cal plaster and are linked together through the use of iron re-bar. the architectural ribbing reveals that the structure’s internal framework is akin to the ribs of the human body — yet reversed — so that what is normally protected is externally exposed. similarly, the soft, smooth skin of his structure’s pearlescent walls can only be experienced from inside the structure.

apertures mimick the lunar phase of the moon

‘moun room’ comprises three chambers contained within one another

circular voids of varying sizes engage the viewer in exploration and play

the enclosures and small passageways extended both internally and outside the structure’s physical walls

walls are built from individual panels made of tuf-cal plaster and are linked together through the use of iron re-bar

the installation beckons meditation and introspection in response to the architecture

‘moun room’ invites the viewer to walk among carefully layered and pierced materials