The Evolution of the Mirrored Cube

“The new is made comfortable by being made familiar, since it is seen as having gradually evolved from the forms of the past.”

- Rosalind E. Krauss

Here I wish to explore the phenomenon and growth of the mirrored cube, using primary minimalist ideals as discussed in Robert Morris's Notes on Sculpture, in its transition from hollow to whole, and inside out and endless. My main concern is relating each new piece back to Morris's cube and how their meanings are reliant on the history and ideas of the minimalist era for them to have value and subsistence. Exploring how the conversation has diverged over time by building off its origins, I aim to see in what directions and forms the idea has been able to become re-actualized. Then I will discuss the ideas that each artist is working with and critically consider how they relate to and change Morris's notions. Collectively noting the natural progression of the mirrored cube with all of its transformations and accompanying characteristics, I also want to touch on how it has travelled perhaps too far, allowing it to unavoidably land in the laps of the everyday consumer as an acquirable object to aesthetically arrange in their house, aiding to their cultural ignorance and ill-constructed social status.

        With Minimalism, one need not know the confines of the past in order to understand and experience their sculptural forms and intentions, for they posses no metaphorical references to things that are not already of themselves. They hold their constant meaning in limitless time by virtue of the external, public experience of the piece. Through the controlled situation, the viewer is made to be aware of themselves in that particular space with the object in question. There is no opportunity to contribute to the work and meddle with interpretations, for it posses no signifying qualities. Preconceived notions of space, what sculpture is, and their function are of no help; meaning can only be experienced upon interaction with the piece. 
 

Robert Morris, Untitled (Four Mirrored Cubes), 1965

Robert Morris, Untitled (Four Mirrored Cubes), 1965

       In contrast to these statements, in the context of evaluating the progression from Morris's mirrored cubes to the newer works possessing similar cubes, this history of origins and ideologies must be understood and imposed in order to find underlying, and perhaps obvious, similarities. Michael Fried's opposition to minimalism as made clear in his article Art and Objecthood and claims that the artworks of “literalists” are hollow when there is no audience present. The conversation of the work begins when it comes into relation with and to its viewer; it acquires a sense of wholeness with the subject, existing in that realm, that space. It is the space between that creates the dialog where the viewer can experience an awareness of the situation they stand in. In relation to Morris's Untitled (Four Mirrored Cubes), 1965, whether viewed outside or in (depending on its installation site) the space has been extended visually through the continuation of its grounds, (grass and trees, or floor and walls) and at the same time separated as distinct forms which are not that of its surroundings. As their forms are simple to imagine as whole in the mind, the surface adds a complexity that interferes with the formation of the gestalt. Depending on the viewers position and how their perspectives change as they move around the cubes, either individually weaving between them or encircling them, the reflections cast at every moment become unpredictable as they begin to reflect upon each other, skewing the image further. 

    

Yayoi Kusama, Fireflies on the Water, 2000

      The cubes simplistic shape allowed for many artist to focus on strong participatory and conceptual elements of their art pieces without causing the viewer to become caught up in the details of its form. More specifically, the appropriation of the same components has allowed some artist, more specifically the ones I have chosen to feature, to further the discussion of the original objectives, expanding the discourse in new directions; each fork-in-the-road creates the possibility for a different outcome. The new pieces have become developed extensions of that which originally existed. Yayoi Kusama's installation, Fireflies on the Water, 2000, places the viewer inside the cube, with the mirrors lining the walls of the space. The interior has little relation to that of the world outside of the room, placing you in a realm that is infinitely endless as the reflections cascade into and on one another. A display of 150 small lights and reflections from the small pool water covering the surface of the ground add to the tangled web of information. Pin pointing ones location amidst the chaos appears in-verifiable since the ability to confirm the confines of the room become indistinguishable with the tautological manifestations of the false space. One would appear to be lost in a world unfamiliar. While this paper could diverge and solely exist on the subject of mirrored rooms, such as the likes of Mirrored Room by Lucas Samaras,1966, and Kusama's other mirrored rooms, Fireflies on the Water specifically exemplify how the piece is only progression from minimalism but does not fully support its theories. While the piece relates to the minimalist ideals of the public activation and involvement, the process of physical absorption, in combination with the over abundance of limitless detail defies Morris obtainment of the gestalt. Kusama's purpose is not for the viewer to imagine the whole of the piece, but rather displays how such a feat is impossible and immeasurable. 

 

Jeppe Hein, Broken Mirror Cubes, 2005

       In these confines, any mirrored cube is a reiteration of those first four. The works of Jeppe Hein's Broken Mirror Cubes, 2005, and Simon Dybbroe Moller's Sir Norman Reid, 2005, both use identical mirrored cubes to those of Morris's, with the exception of the mirrored surfaces being broken and cracked, and Moller having eight cubes instead of four. Hein's cubes, with cracks in the mirrors, lends to break the illusionism of the piece, preventing the viewer from becoming too wrapped up in the complexities of the space within the mirrors. By breaking the mirrors he makes aware that that which is reflected is strictly only on surface of the cubes. This further enforces in Morris's arguments as stated in Notes on Sculpture, that details result in an intimate relationship with the viewer creating a private experience. Here the cracks serve to eliminate this intimacy since they cover the entire surfaces of each cube. They are not read as detail, but merely read as what the surface consists of, allowing the piece to retain its wholeness. 

 

Simon Dybbroe Moller, Sir Norman Reid, 2005

 Moller's cubes, which appear to have toppled over one another resulting in their fractures and sporadic placements, includes an additional component; a sound piece plays the sounds of the mirrors own breaking, which also refers to another Morris piece where he build a cube and placed within that cube the sound of its own making.

Through re-visiting the art of recent history, his literal use of existing works and bringing new form to them, not only adds to their discourse but places a conversation between his work and of those that he is appropriating. These two pieces act to expand on the ideologies of minimalism, by incorporating forms which have been iconic-ally labelled as minimalist forms and being critically aware and observant of the time that has past between then and now, and how thoughts and technologies have changed and developed since. These two artists have made an example of how time can develop an idea to a point where when it is revisited, how its intentions and ideas can be further and more effectively conveyed. In a case where Morris was trying to express how an object can make one aware of themselves in a space, these newer pieces, especially Hein's extended body of work, strive to evoke a reaction from the piece itself, through the presence and activation of the viewers, bringing that awareness to a higher level.

Rirkrit Tiravanija, Teahouse, 2005

       In its natural progression, the mirrored cube, like other minimalist structures, has become a piece of identifiable history that has allowed artists today to legitimize their sculptural works through a process of sameness. Rirkrit Tiravanija's, Teahouse, 2005, has borrowed and altered the form of the mirrored cube. What makes his piece easily acceptable as a new form in the art world, is that it holds resemblance to an already recognizable art object. The perception of the sameness it resembles to Morris's cubes acts as a “strategy for reducing anything foreign in either time or space, to what we already know and are.” (Krauss: Sculpture in Expanded Field, 277) As Tiravanija has enlarged and tilted the cube, he has brought new form to the concept of the mirrored cube, transforming its intent and content altogether. Here he has cast new light on it by opening it and allowing the viewer to enter the cube. This is where the old and the new cross over to create something entirely different. As Krauss has explain in her text, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, the recognizable elements of the past “works on the new and different to diminish newness and mitigate differences.” (Krauss: Sculpture, 277) The integration of Relational Art ideas, that are so heavily linked to Tiravanija, whom is almost highlighted as its birth child, within his “minimalist cube” perhaps only contain likeness is its aesthetics. Tiravanija's piece acts in opposition to minimalist values and allows the subject to develop an intimate relationship within its complexities. Through the act of climbing inside the cube, sitting down on the bench built inside and perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee or espresso from the machine post up inside of it, all of this allows you to ponder over its existence, identify its humours gestures, and be aware of its functionality as an object performing a task. Tiravanija has divided the cube into several divisible parts, each part available for consideration. By borrowing a structure that is referential to Morris and his ideology, he has created an illusion of minimalist sculpture.

Martin Videgård and Bolle Tham, Mirrorcube, 2011

      Art as a defined term is as loose as they come, and within the confines of various fields of subject matter, can co-mingle quite flexibly. Design, architecture, and art all have similarities running through one another, where as in the right circumstance they can stand ground in each others place. The architects Martin Videgård and Bolle Tham have created a mirrored cube that is a rent-able retreat in Sweden. The cube is no longer hollow and purposed to create an awareness of space in relation to oneself, but a place that exists with function and bears the weight of the actions of life. While it brings new meaning to the term “weekend getaway”, it lacks to carry any resemblance to that which minimalism had striven to establish. Mirrorcube, 2011, is an example of how easily consumable product of the art world can be. The tree-house’s form, along with its physical weight, carries with it the sameness that it bears to Morris's cubes, if nothing else. The mirrored outer shell of the cube serves as a camouflage, reflecting its entire environment, so that it appears as if nothing were there. The cube becomes apart of its own landscape while also functioning as architecture. While Morris cubes were neither landscape nor architecture, here the Swedish tree-hotel can be found as a complexity working as both. 

     

http://www.thefurnituremarket.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=VEN20

      And perhaps if you cannot afford to rent the lovely Mirrorcube, or any of the other extravagant tree-hotels, then with the convenience of online shopping, you could order one of these right to your door. Now completely strip of any well thought out concept, the commodification of the mirrored cube, alas has made owning your own priceless (and by priceless I mean of no longer holding qualitative value) piece of art history. Of course a booklet doesn't come with the coffee table explain such art origins, at that point, it's no longer relevant. Consumer simply consumer to have things to place next to their other things that together create an aesthetically pleasing collection of things. They perhaps just make the mirrored cube hollow again, except in a obscure context and under different circumstances, and only until they store their old throw blankets or out dated Ikea catalogues. 

 

        Innovations of the cube and the forms they take are endless, but an awareness of its history must always be present. The artists I have discussed exemplify the ways in which Morris's mirrored cubes have re-manifest themselves into present day context and have continued the discussion further to areas Morris alone could not have gone. It is the individual and their life's path that have brought new additions to the conversation, taking it in directions that range from relevance to Morris arguments to something completely new and foreign, while still holding the roots of its origins.

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