The Total Exhibition Experience

As I walked through the Nauman exhibition I was trying to focus on one or two works and comment on them. But what I found myself doing was being drawn to every single artwork at the same time. I could not view one art work and then analyze it and simply move onto the next one but what I was experiencing was the whole gallery as an artwork. For me walking though the exhibition was an experience and I could not look at one artwork without being distracted or drawn to another artwork. I felt mysef experiencing more than one artwork at the same time. I would be looking at a sculpture and then out of the corner of my eye I would see a movie playing and then I would hear an audio from another part of the room. This was made possible by the use of a range of mediums that the artist uses in his exhibition. By using a range of mediums Nauman is allowing the audience to experience his artworks through a range of senses (look, listen, touch) but this can be done with a range of artorks simultaneously. He creates a room that is much more powerful and intriguing than other exhibitions.

His untitled artworks allow the audience to view it how they like. Titles of artworks often depict how a piece should be viewed. They can tell the viewer what the artwork is when it would otherwise be obscure. eg the artwork "Abstracting the Shoe" could be seen as anything but the title tells us that it is a shoe. Nauman also often mixes more than one media into one artwork which complicates the subject and gives it more characteristics. eg photography and sculpture together and then the audio from a different artwork in the background indirectly changes or contributes to the mood of the artwork I was looking directly at. This often makes the artwork seem human like and as if it is speaking, looking and listening.