“I’ve never had boundaries. They’re not interesting. I don’t need anyone to tell me this is art, this is architecture. This is it. Do you like it? Enjoy it? Suffer from it? Does it excite you?”
Israeli-born Ron Arad, famous as much for his adjustable Bookworm shelf and Rover Chair (1981) as for his architecturally triumphant Design Museum in Holon (near Tel Aviv) has produced a typically definition-proof work in his new installation at the Roundhouse.
In the guise of what the Romans would have called an artifex – craftsman, artist, weaver of fable combined, Arad has spun out something quite enchanting in Curtain Call.
The piece comprises a screen of silicon rods suspended from the theatre ceiling so as to produce an undulating, cylindrical space. The rod screen provides both an interior and exterior surface for other artists’ videos to be projected onto; the inner space a stage for musicians and actors.
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