NO VACANCIES

Just saw the Doug Aitken MIGRATION video installation at 303 Gallery in Chelsea. A beautifully shot and edited film on 3 large screens. All screens showing the same film - quiet shots of the nameless, uninhabited American west interspersed with various animals inhabiting cheap motel rooms. An owl remains stoic as a snowstorm of white pillow feathers fall around the room. A moose patiently investigates the corners of the motel bathroom and cautiously paces upon the carpet. A bison completely fills its small room so that when it turns, the phone is knocked off the table, chairs are overturned, a bedside lamp is shattered. By placing these animals in these sterile human confines, Aitken reminds us of their scale, their alien detachment from manmade concerns and possessions, and of our own self-inflicted removal from the natural and from the real.

VISIT 303 Gallery - show ends November 1st
547 W 21 Street NY NY