interstices, 2002
“interstices” was a site-specific installation for the Alice Austen Museum, sponsored by The Newhouse Center for Art in New York, as part of a large international exhibition in New York City. In 2001, More than two dozen artists from around the world were invited to create art that related in some way to Staten Island’s picturesque north shore, which was dramatically altered by the September 11th attacks during the development of this exhibition.
Using the shoreline house of Alice Austen, the pioneering Victorian photographer, I wanted to allow the house itself—the walls, the baseboards, the keyholes, and underneath cushions—to tell the story of her complicated life and coded sexuality. Video loops and camera obscuras were embedded into various furniture and household objects; video projections, cast shadows and mirrors were incorporated into the existing interior. Using the notions of the domestic interior and the camera as visual conceits for the self, this installation explored the complex relationship between the “eye” and the “I.”
In his review of site-specific installations in and around New York City in 2002, The New York Times art critic Holland Carter wrote: “Best of all though, is Amy Ho[t]ch’s indoor work at the Alice Austen House…. Ms. Ho[t]ch’s tender, spirit-summoning work…consists mostly of nearly inconspicuous video installations. Look through a keyhole and you see figures climbing stairs; at the bottom of a sugar bowl two women…sip tea. In the parlor, waves of harbor water splash across the walls, turning Austen’s house into a piece of living sculpture where outside and inside are one.”
Link: NY Times
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