That museum visit I would say, for the most part, was odd. There were many times where I felt weird, especially in the dark rooms that were difficult to see in. But there was one part of the exhibit that I feel represented what Nauman wanted to portray. This was the old man walking back and forth section.
This part of the exhibit is one of the first few things you see as you enter the first floor, and I can understand why. It holds your hand for what you’re about to view. It’s slightly discomforting but not overwhelming. It’s just an older gentleman walking back and forth slowly with his hands behind his head with an occasional noise. What it does well is bring up a few questions, such as why is this man doing this? Why did Nauman think this was an appropriate piece for his gallery? Who is this man and why did he agree to do this? What these questions do is coax the viewer for the rest of his gallery. Now we do not know who this man is, what he is doing, or what his motives are, but we do know that he agreed to this. He believes in Nauman’s ideals at least to some extent if he is doing these repetitive motions and is being recorded at the same time.
This section quickly changes though as you move through the exhibit. The images are now fragmented and disturbed, as seen attached to this post. He is no longer the gentleman that walked along some pattern; he is now some kind of twisted monster. This change is also gradual as he appears to be more and more fragmented through the exhibit. In a way, this was a betrayal by Nauman; he took the little amount of trust we gave him in the beginning and destroyed it. Each fragment is odd and scary, the full body of color that exists on the screen just adds on to the effect. Many of us that watch television and videos would be worried considering that this is not how a video should be shown. It represents something wrong with your TV or computer, not something to be actually viewed. Everything about this image is problematic.
The old man walking back and forth section seemed to be blanketed by the more odd parts of the exhibit however. Near the end you would probably forget this section for the more disturbing artworks, for me it were the clowns. But looking back on my visit, I did think this part of Nauman’s exhibit stood out.
Fragmented older man walking back and forth
If I had to choose another piece of Nauman’s art that best portrays his style, I would also choose this one. Nauman has this way of bringing out that hidden discomfort without you even knowing it. I remember when seeing these projections, they didn’t have the cuts in them, but the man was walking agonizingly slow, much like how a horror movie antagonist would. Furthermore, you could see that Nauman didn’t just put the original color of the video, but the negative version too. This just adds to that tension that horror movies often have, making it dark, gloomy, and unnatural.