Ann Hamilton - Lignum

THE CREATION OF ANN HAMILTON’S LIGNUM

Ann Hamilton, who was born in 1956, is one of America’s more important  artists. While still a graduate at Yale School of Art and Architecture, Hamilton created her first installation/performance the Space Between Memory.

17 years later Hamilton created a major site-specific piece LIGNUM for an 18th-century storehouse on the Wanas estate in southern Sweden. Hamilton had been invited to Wanas to make a single work for a five-floor storehouse on the estate. The storehouse, built in 1823, is part of an still-active farm. Its walls are the granite and stucco typical of this region of southern Sweden, and its roof is covered with the ubiquitous orange tiles. Outside are paddocks with animals.

Hamilton visited Wanas several times during the development of her piece.

After her initial visit she knew that she wanted to do something about or with the floor as part of her installation. She also decided to have beams wrapped in cotton threads.

Hamilton’ s idea was that each of the five floors would address another level of the body. As one ascends through the building, one has the paradoxical sensation of travelling deeper into the space of the storehouse, as well as deeper into one’s own consciousness.