SCALE is an exhibition of miniature installations by a group of Dutch and Belgian artists which explores the power of the 'model' to challenge and confuse our perception of the thing it represents. The artists use a variety of techniques and technologies to play with SCALE and the possible transformations of visual experience offered by the act of miniaturisation. As viewers we are simultaneously offered the privilege of a 'God's eye' view over the model and at the same time made to feel oversized in relation to its intricate detail, whilst being denied access to its 'interior', as the exhibition curator, Maurice van Tellingen, explains:
"As such we are viewing a reality that we can only ascertain in a very limited way -if at all. The miniature is out of bounds, as it were. It is a reality that is fenced off, an Installation bearing the sign 'no entry. And of course, there can be nothing so fascinating as forbidden ground, the zone. the uncontrolled space that can only be viewed under certain conditions. At the same time, the conditions set by the miniature lend to be such as to allow us a glimpse of this Unlouchable world, as If a spaceship fitted with cameras has Penetrated a hostile environment, a view of Mars or an image of the deep sea under the Polar Ice Cap.”
Featured Work Hans Op de Beeck, Location I, 1998 The Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck aims to present a stilled moment of time and spaces that appear to be real or represent a specific place but are purely of his imagination. There is a cinematic quality to the sculptures and installations he makes, as in Location I which depicts a crossroads in a deserted landscape. The viewer sees the work at chest height (for a man) as if looking out of a slotted window in some sort of bunker. They see an empty traffic intersection with redundant red and green lights in a dark cool blue light. No one is there to use those traffic signals, as if the site was stuck in time. Frozen water canals can be seen which reflect the lights in this sort of nowhere space with no narrative and no clue to meaning.
Hans Op de Beeck Location I, 1998 Installation view: the Museum of Installation, London, 2002, 8 m? (86 ft) model, 200 × 260 × 310 cm (6 ft 5 in. × 8 ft 5 in. × 10 ft), waist height, wood, polystyrene, sand, modelling paste, PVC, plastics, plexiglas, lets, electronics, paint, light box. Photograph: David Grandorge.
Museum of Installation, 'Opening', London, UK Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, 'Labels', Site-specific window installation, London, UK Regina 51-3er Piso, 'Texto', Mexico City, Mexico