The Room

     The Room was constructed in a week out of rotten fences and an old barn gate scavenged from the bottom of a dried up creek bed. The walls where insulated with horsehair—in homage to Ann Hamilton—which sprouted through the atramentous spots of a green wallpaper. The Room measured 10' x 16’ x 8'. It occupied the center of the largest gallery space on San Jose State University campus for one week. The detritus of other rooms—of dining rooms, of living rooms, of rooms with stories—mingled in this ahistorical place.
     Kant argued that we do not perceive the passage of time; rather we infer it from the physical changes in our environment. Objects are charged with the transcendental reality of time. So a tungsten lamp taken from an abandoned house, yellowed photographs, lost family letters and recordings of old songs where arranged in The Room to suggest the passage of time; and in doing so to suggest a story. Viewers were invited to participate in the piece by entering the room to leaf through suitcases of letters and to discover edited home movies playing behind an enlarger lens installed on the side of a trunk. Installation was done by myself and Phillip Quiros along with assistants. Upholstery by Phillip Quiros.