Hallways as Art?

Did you know that art can consist of the way a room or a hallway is set up and painted? Gregor Scheider, a controversial German artist, displays a very dark tone in his work. His artwork does not usually consist of paintings, rather constructed rooms, making him one of a kind. Due to unique, dark, and mostly colorless style his artwork has a large emotional impact on those who view them.

Gregor Schneider’s recent artwork presents viewers with a creepy atmosphere. For example, his artwork named Dead House, which is set in an empty hallway, uses grays, blacks, and whites to create a colorless and dreary atmosphere. White Torture also displays his dreary style. White Torture, a colorless piece of work, is set inside a prison. Schneider changed the visitor’s state of mind when they entered this scene. The prison scene shocked the audience and made them feel isolated. The bare room he designed, without the use of color and without scars or bloodshed, conveyed this message. “Anxiety, fear and [panic]” describe the feelings that the exhibit conveys, says David Ebony.

Another piece his work utilized hallways to portray these feelings. With the help of Julian Heynen and Brigitte Kollle, Gregor Schneider transformed Schneider’s entire basement into hallways. The hallways were described as “painted wood and metal with identical sliding doors.” The way they staged the hallways, they seemed endless. The endless hallways seem to represent endless doom, never finding one’s way out of isolation and misery. Some of the hallways led the viewers inside small rooms. The small rooms only had a steel toilet, and only had enough room for one visitor at a time. Again, this atmosphere emphasized this sorrowful mood. The single toilet and confined rooms increased the viewers feeling separation from society and all happiness.

Many of the visitors of this museum claim to experience feelings of loneliness, worry, and hesitation as soon as they entered Gregor Schneider’s basement. Schneider’s work greatly contrasted the rooms outside of his scenes. The corridor was painted completely white and was lit by white fluorescent fixtures and low ceilings. The basement was mostly silent with “distant noises of sliding doors and scuffing feet,” as described by David Ebony.

In addition to the isolated, hopeless, and dreary feelings, the scenes that Gregor Schneider creates also give a feeling of confusion. Some of the doors along the hallways are locked and some lead into other rooms. On becomes “frustrated” as they find themselves finding more and more doors that are locked. But finally, at the end of one’s journey through the hallways and side rooms, there is a staircase, the last glimpse of hope. It leads to a metal door that opens up to a colorful park and pond away from the entrance to Schneider’s museum. At last, the visitors feel free.

Gregor Schneider was able to create a piece of art by creating a scene of hallways and rooms. With the attention to detail such as locked doors, lighting, use of color, and space Schneider gave his audience an emotional rollercoaster that they will most likely never forget. What feelings would you undergo if you entered his artwork?

Fun Links
517 West 24th, by Gregor Schneider. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_445_105659_gregor-schneider.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artnet.com/artwork/423879789/445/gregor-schneider-517-west




Gregor Schneider at K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, by David Ebony. Art in America, December 2007

-Anna Perez