Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum, curated by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, a collaboration with Martin Houston, 2005

Patterns of Use

Home is a place that can be described by such words as comfort, security, family and even smells. For us, it is more about the feeling of being at home rather than the objects found inside. Homes are so personal and unique and yet surprisingly similar.

 The way someone uses their own space, moves throughout it and sets it up, is fascinating and informative. The wear we leave on a carpet reveals how we move through that space, what we eat and spill, the types of people in our families (babies or boys), where furniture is placed etc. The carpet becomes a type of self-portrait.

We propose to carpet the entire Annette B. Weyerhaeuser Gallery with carpet. We will use a light color that will be ‘stained’ by the mark of people traveling through the space and where the art is set up, revealing a pattern of use specific to the Biennial and the act of viewing. We will add extra padding so to emphasize the unusual presence of the carpet in the gallery.

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