message and medium
"Earler attempts to define installation art by medium alone failed because it is in the nature of the practice itself to challenge its own boundaries." p. 14
To me, medium plays a significant role in installation art. It is where one draws from conceptually to understand the entire installation and to get the message, therefore the medium is the message. I think that there will always be debate in installation art if it is necessary for a message to be present in the work.
In Barabara Kruger's, Power Pleasure, the viewer doesn't have to search for the message. It is there in text and aphorisms suffocating them, just like most of her work. It doesn't take a lot from the viewer to understand her work where as you really have to search for a meaning in Ernesto Nesto's, Walking in Venus Blue Cave.
I don't think it is important for a message to be present. To me, installation art can be just as effective if it is soley aesthetically pleasing.
-Candice
