SFMOMA commissioned the
artist Kara Walker for a site-specific installation at the Roberts Family Gallery, the huge ground-level space fronting Howard Street that recently housed Diego Rivera's
Pan-American Unity mural.
Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) is the title and the sculptural figure of Fortuna which dispenses slips of paper with fortune cookie type messages for individual museumgoers.
In the center of the room is a rock garden with black obsidian from Clear Lake's Mt. Konocti, which
the museum website describes as "volcanic glass with deep spiritual properties."
Within the garden are an assortment of animatronic figures...
...that look somewhat nightmarish...
...like a a slavery-inflected
Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
According to the museum website, "They recall mechanized medieval icons that evidenced divinity, vitality, and the promise of faith...[which] evoke wonder, reflection, respite, and hope."
Whatever the intended meanings, the literally moving sculptures are an amazing sight. Entry to the gallery is free, and the installation will be here for the next two years.
2 comments:
Whoa. This looks intense.
How animatronic are we talking? In general, I am petrified of these...
Let's do something soon!
-Rachel
Dear Rachel:
Very animatronic. And it's more fascinating then petrifying. In fact, it's supposed to be a "healing" piece.
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