A House Set On The MET’s Rooftop
- Words
- Jessica Jungbauer
For this year’s ‘Roof Garden Commission’ by the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, British artist Cornelia Parker created a house set atop the museum’s rooftop overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
Titled ‘Transitional Object’, the large-scale installation was inspired by Edward Hopper paintings as well as the mansion in the 1960s movie ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock. To set up the eerie-looking barn house, Parker and her team reconstructed the building from old wooden barn slats. As for the ‘Psycho’ house, the structure actually only consists of the facade – when walking around it, the scaffolding set up is revealed.
In a statement about the project, Parker says: “So I like the idea that you take things that perhaps seem clichéd, but they’re clichéd for a reason, they resonate with a huge amount of people, and that’s why they’re the most visited spots. And I somehow think the inverse of the cliché is the most unknown place.”
The Roof Garden Commission exhibition will run until October 31, 2016. Known for her site-specific installations – such as ‘Cold Dark Matter’ from 1991, an exploding garden shed, and the collaboration with actor Tilda Swinton of sleeping in a glass vitrine titled ‘The Maybe’ – Parker’s work is exhibited worldwide and the artist was elected to London’s Royal Academy of Arts.
"I somehow think the inverse of the cliché is the most unknown place."
All images © Alex Fradkin, courtesy of Cornelia Parker / Hyla Skopitz, The Photograph Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
