2017, Installation images from Denny Gallery, NY, NY
Permanent Spectacle is the culmination of a yearlong
research project that Davis and Parker undertook at the
Smithsonian archives at the National Museum of Natural
History and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum
respectively. Using the material they gathered through
their research, they created a constructed landscape that
references idealized environments filled with wildlife,
set against scenic, block printed wallpaper recreated through
hand cut paper. The resulting tableau is an elaborate
and intricate modern-day period room, a fantastical
world filled with artifacts, which re-examines the way
decorative objects are typically presented.
The work takes the shape of a curved, cycloramic display that
mimics a diorama that one might find at a natural history
museum. The hand cut landscape wallpaper, based on patterning
from the 1800s, has been altered to erase any trace of
human presence. Displayed on pedestals in front of and
around the backdrop are porcelain wildlife specimens culled
from the Smithsonian’s collection from notable U.S.
exploring expeditions and surveys.
Link to exhibition details