Environments Within and Without:

Communications Contexts

This large scale participatory installation was comprised of several perceptual layers. Participants could touch, open, and look into boxes. Strings could be pulled and buttons could be pushed to explore tactile, visual, and auditory elements. Contrary to conventional gallery etiquette that disallows touching the art works, this project allowed touching. 

Mirrors were used to collapse the subject and object within the interactive art space. The viewer became part of the artwork. This installation encouraged the viewer to engage their body, mind, and spirit as part of the art. The language of art was present as seen in the stages of process that were displayed in the transformation of the art materials. This was suggestive of "transformation." Process such as sanding, priming, and painting surfaces were shown in various stages of completeness.

One of Eisert Hall's chief inspirations for this installation was Marshal McLuhan. She utilized recorded sound from seven centres within the project that made up an integral part of the viewer experience and integration. McLuhan created the concept of "acoustic space." According to McLuhan, acoustic space "engages multiple senses at the same time. It does not demand that objects be dissected to be understood; rather, the multiple parts co-exist simultaneously. To understand acoustic space, you must perceive all of it, not focus on one part. In other words, acoustic space demands that you apprehend figure and ground simultaneously, that the senses work together" (2007, Library and Archives Canada). 

This type of interaction, as set out by Marshall McLuhan, guided Eisert Hall's approach to building Environments Within and Without. This project was perceptual in nature and acted as a theoretical exploration for Eisert Hall. The construction of the project opened new perceptions for the artist. This experience would direct the use of theoretical approaches in later conceptual art works. Environments Within and Without was shown at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and at the The Edmonton Works Festival. This project was funded by Canada Council. 

The main theme of this installation is to bring awareness of our cultural tendency to control and shape identities in particular ways. Eisert Hall used the "puppet" as a symbol of such manipulations, particularly the strictures placed on gender types. Specifically, she is concerned with the degradation of women and the exaltation of men. The artist points to the past as having shaped this type of inequity. In an eco-feminist manner, she links the degradation of ecological systems, including the extinction of wildlife, and contamination and misuse of water, to gender inequity in that these actions are driven by the similar attitude that nature is something to be exploited. The artist asked the viewer to self-reflect on their own participation in sanctioning identities and how free they were to be a creative agent amidst the cultural strictures.