Walking into a white room filled with thousands of mounds of white rice definitely sets a tone of reflection and mystery.
Wolfgang Laib: Without Place—Without Time—Without Body is an installation of thousands of mounds of rice, with five mounds of luminous yellow pollen at the center.
Laib lives and works in seclusion in his native Germany and in southern India, which he considers his spiritual home.
He studies philosphy and religion and finds the spiritual traditions of India most relevant for his work. He is especially drawn to Hindu ritual offerings of flowers, foods and other substances placed on altars, and to milk poured as a form of libation.
The five mounds of pollen in the center were handpicked by Laib who believes it is a sacred substance. He has displayed jars of pollen before in other installations which is conserved and reused. The pollen in our installation arrived on an art shuttle in a well secured crate.
The installation took about 3 1/2 days of 4 people working in shifts. Curator Leesa Fanning participated in the installation and describes it as experiencing time in a new way. Not having done this before, she created several practice mounds before she felt confident. By the end, the movement became meditative and automatic.
Overall, there are 4,315 mounds of rice. The installation is a challenge to maintain. For now, the air vents in that gallery have been turned off and the floor is swept twice a day to contain any errant grains. At the end of the exhibition, the rice will be collected by a compost company.
Fanning was able to speak with Wolfgang about the installation. To hear that interview and learn more about other works of art by Laib, click here.