Diane Landry: The Cadence of All Things
This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Cameron Art Museum to see the Diane Landry exhibit: The Cadence of All Things. As someone who struggles with describing inner emotions and experiences, I find it difficult to fully explain how awe-inspiring this exhibit actually was. In her creations, Landry uses everyday objects such as water bottles, umbrellas, light, and even a washing machine to depict the natural rhythm everything on this earth inherently follows in unique ways.
“From Earth’s orbit around the sun providing cycle of seasons, to the planet’s rotation,
creating the periodicity of day and night, to the very beat of the human heart, with systolic and
diastolic movements of blood, existence is about the cadences of all things.”
-Cameron Art Museum
Each room of the exhibit holds two to three pieces at most, with the larger creations dedicated to a single room; a plan that must have been designed to accommodate for the tangible reverence that fills every left over space. In the interest of space and curiosity, I will focus on the two creations that influenced me the most, in hopes that you will take the time to experience the entire exhibit yourself, for nothing I describe could replace seeing it with your own eyes.
I can’t stress enough the effect of the larger rooms. In one, all the lights were off; the only illumination coming from the extensive creation in the middle of the room. Pinwheels made from different size water bottles angled along the circumference of a bike wheel stood at various heights and sizes, with LED lights illuminating the base of each bottle. The first thing I noticed when entering the room was a sound I could only describe as a strong wind or the gush of a tumultuous ocean. Distracted by the slowly turning lights, it took a few minutes before I discovered that the sound was not coming from a speaker, but from sand placed at the bottom of the water bottles. As the pinwheels turn, the sand falls to the other end of the bottle, creating a sound that, when multiplied by the other bottles and pinwheels, mimics the ocean. The simple beauty and elegance of the pinwheels contrasted in the dark room combined with the sound of the moving sand is an all-encompassing experience.
I had been looking forward to a specific creation titled “Flying School,” which uses umbrellas, LED lights, rulers, and motor-driven accordions to mimic the rhythm of human breathing. As I said before, no description could fully explain the experience of this exhibit. Somewhere around 20 different sized and patterned umbrellas stand upright with a light at the base pointed upward. A ruler connected to the accordion at the base of the umbrella rotates, simultaneously causing the umbrella to slowly open and close while expanding and compressing the accordion at the same speed. The effect is beautifully haunting. Aside from the delicate, brightly lit patterns of the umbrellas, an upward tilt of the head reveals a kaleidoscope-like effect on the ceiling; constantly morphing as each umbrella opens and closes at a different moment. Then there’s the song. Each accordion stretches and shrinks at various times and speeds. There is no discernible beat or pattern, but each accordion seems to whine its specific note at just the right moment, creating a plaintive melody that could accompany almost any emotion.
Diane Landry: The Cadence of All Things will be on display at the Cameron Art Museum until January 12, 2014. Do yourself a favor and make time to see this exhibit. Wonderment guaranteed.
