Allusion to Cleanliness

Anabelle Malamug

Materials: Chipwood, Tempera Paint, Cotton, Tissue Paper, and Powder Paint

Description: The final project is a memorial to a clean bedroom, specifically my own bedroom. The actual memorial will be made of furnished wood, white enamel paint, and cotton for the basic bedroom decorations. When first approaching the piece, the door is closed, concealing the secrets of someone else’s destruction. Next to the entrance, there are a variety of materials to help destroy the space, such as sledgehammers, spray paint, and powder paint. When entering the space, the viewer is confronted by a completely white bedroom, an uncanny resemblance to a room in an asylum. The space invites the viewer to destroy or not the destroy the space within 20 seconds.

The concept of this memorial is to memorialize how messes are made and why they are made. There is a hidden psychology behind the destruction because how a person treats a space reflects his/her morals. The destruction of the space also allows emotional release from stress, anger, depression, or confusion. The bedroom is modeled specifically after my own bedroom because the first step in explaining why I leave a mess should start at what my bedroom looks like.

I choose to display this memorial in MoMA because the memorial needs to be private, monitored, and temporary. The 20-second rule needs to be reinforced, otherwise people would treat the space with different intentions, such as using it as a place to sleep. I also specifically chose MoMA because it attracts the types of people that enjoy obscure works such as this one.

Process: Originally, the memorial was meant to be a more generalized bedroom instead of my own personal bedroom. It was actually suggested that I should recreate my own bedroom for others to destroy. It was a better idea for complete strangers to enter into my very personal space because it gave the viewer the opportunity to indirectly meet the artist.

I was mostly concerned about scale and visual aspects of the project. I looked up the approximate dimensions for each piece of furniture and converted it to one inch per one foot.

Finding materials to destroy the model presented some challenges because I had to experiment with materials that would work in a small space. I would not have been able to bring the actual tools to destroy the model because the tools would destroy the foam base, and it would require me to rebuild the model for the final exhibition. Also, finding materials to vandalize the space also was challenging because I needed to use materials that were non-toxic and easy to clean.

I also faced the struggle of coming up with an appropriate title for this piece because I was unsure about what it meant to me. I knew that I wanted to create and destroy, but I could not find any meaning behind why I wanted to create and destroy in the first place.

(I made another time-lapse video, but I’m having trouble uploading it to YouTube).

(I’m also unsure of why the photos failed to upload).

Research: Researching more about the piece actually influenced me to think about the meaning behind the memorial. Through research, I was able to find an obscure and psychological explanation as to why I was making this memorial. There were three reasonable explanations to the mess I wanted to create: creativity, depression, and rebellion. The explanations allowed me to widen my scope about the memorial piece and what I wanted to do once the space was destroyed.

Reflection: I was very pleased with the outcome of the model because I was given enough time to test materials for the final piece. I received the feedback I needed to improve the model, such as new ideas and new concepts to incorporate into the final exhibition. I renamed the title of the memorial to “Allusion to Cleanliness” instead of “Bedroom Insecurity” because bedroom insecurity did not fit the playful aspect of the memorial. “Allusion to Cleanliness” added to the humor and the playfulness of the memorial. A few modifications, such as finding a psychology with the colors people chose to destroy the space and an addition of miniature tools of destruction.

I probably would not make another iteration for this memorial because the memorial was temporary and the entire destruction aspect was based on my mess in my bedroom.