Describing Glenn Kaino’s “In the Light of a Shadow” sculptural installation piece as exhibited at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) during March 2022, one will talk about scale, importance and potential.

 

Introducing the piece, an almost ritualistic choreography of light and music (scored by Dave Sitek) takes place. The viewers are then instructed to walk onto the central platform and advance all together. Sequentially, they experience the three parts/stages of the narrative. Each stop consists of different shadow castings on the walls of the space (mostly silhouettes of boats and people holding various signs), a different moment in time. From Alabama USA, March 7th 1965 to  Northern Ireland, January 30th 1972 to Minneapolis USA, May 2021, to the present here and now, the piece allows the viewer to become immersed in the Illusion of historical reenactment.

 

Peaceful protests and power distribution, injustice, oppression and control forming social dynamics, morality and perspective are the themes under Kaino’s microscope leading to the elements of traveling, time and space as necessary tools for exploration. There were two instances worthy of mentioning that served as the highlights of the piece. One was the moment viewers were collected right under the centre piece, able to read the messages on the wooden logs it consisted of. The climax of the piece was the moment the viewers’ presence and gaze were directed towards the end of the runway where an enormous mirror had been installed. The human condition, unity and introspection were all prevalent in both moments. Due to the craftsmanship of the construction, the platform was accessible by all. Time, age, nationality and physical bounds were suspended. For those few moments viewers were one, a part of a whole.

 

The warmth and mystery of the central piece and the self reflectional attribute of the wall were not overshadowed by the limitations of the piece, however, there were some. The time assigned to each individual part could have been more efficiently assessed. It felt like there wasn’t enough time to closely observe the centre piece when it was lit and available for viewing. After the climactic point (mirror) there was another part that seemed unimportant solely due to it following such an impactful moment. No amount of winding-down would have concluded the piece sufficiently. Lastly, given the introduction to the piece/audio visual ritual was so grand and attention grabbing, the expectation called for a more consistent spark of awe or a less grandiose starting point and certainly less visual overlap. A shortened version of the piece would have also enabled more people to experience it, since the show was every 20 minutes and viewers couldn’t walk on and off of the platform to their discretion.

 

Overall, a lot can be said about Glenn Kaino’s “In the Light of a Shadow” as it is a piece that opens up new realms of installation properties and symbolic analysis. It prompts a sense of collective viewership to a grand scale -rarely experienced in institutionalised art spaces-, it fully immerses the viewer with impactful visuals and sound and it offers a chance to revisit a collective past with the hopes of constructing a collective future. “In the Light of a Shadow” doesn’t only instrumentalize a reflection but becomes the reflection itself.

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