Description and conception of "The Palace"
Ilya & Emilia Kabakov
Page 2 of 4
The project proposed below is precisely this kind of "Palace of Projects," projects which for the most part may be naive and unrealizable, but in their concepts and intentions they have definitely earned the right to wind up in such a "Palace." An enormous quantity of similar "palaces" - monuments exists in the world: "Palaces of Transportation," "Palaces of Old Technology," where lathes and electric machines are exhibited, "Palaces of Ship Building," with amazing boats - everywhere there are things that had received their material form and were formerly realized and functioning in their own time. But it is no less important, and perhaps more so, to create a unique museum of dreams, a museum of hypotheses and projects, even if they are unrealizable. In many of them, the visitor to such a "Palace" will encounter stimulus for his own fantasies, much will prompt him toward the resolution of his own tasks, will awaken his imagination and, the main thing, will provide the impulse for his own creative activity in a "positive direction."
Such a "palace" can be organized in the following way: inside of a large space, a light wooden structure* is built in which one room follows another in a spiral ascending to a second floor. The viewer walks through these rooms, moving from one section of the exhibition to another. There are only three of these sections (the sections do not coincide with the number of rooms, of course there are many more rooms):
1) Projects concerning the improvement of the life of other people;
2) Projects stimulating creativity, helping the creation, the emergence of the projects themselves;
3) Projects aimed at perfecting oneself as an individual.
The sections follow one another in this succession; the first two are on the lower floor, the third is on the higher, second floor.
It is particularly important to note the construction of the walls of the "palace" which not only shield and separate the palace from the space surrounding it, but they (the walls) also have an "illuminating" function. They are made from semi-transparent plastic fabric and are stretched between wooden structures. The ceiling is also made of the same fabric. The lighting inside the palace passes "through" these walls: from the outside, on the walls of the dwelling surrounding this "palace," projectors are mounted which aim light through these "walls," - as a result of these shining walls, a special atmosphere emerges, similar to the insides of a Chinese lantern which creates the required fantastic atmosphere.
What does the viewer see upon winding up in such a palace?
Inside there are 65 objects of various configurations and sizes (see the book of projects) representing models of each project. Near each such project is a small table and a chair; on the table is a description and commentaries on this model. Having sat down at this table the viewer can unhurriedly become acquainted with the essence of the project rather than rushing through with the "tourist" method, as usually happens in museums where explanations are hung on the walls and therefore, as a rule, cannot be read. In this way, moving from project to project, from table to table, the viewer can have a greater co-experience with the idea, guided by the author, sitting in the specially lit, slightly yellow atmosphere that reigns inside the "palace."