In 2022, The Broad Museum in Los Angeles reached out about using cork to fulfill their vision for the special Exhibition, William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows. The goal was to create three immersive experiences to transport the viewer into the complex topics that have influenced Kentridge's work.
Our task was to create two tunnels for visitors to walk through and a large screening room where projections could be viewed without disrupting the rest of the carefully arranged exhibition.
We decided that insulation cork would work best for this project. There are a few reasons that we chose the insulation cork:
Natural Dark Color
Acoustic Insulation
Easy to Make Temporary Walls
Blocks Light
For this installation, we cut more than 400 tiles into 150 different tile sizes to create a shiplap wall to limit the maximum light and sound. Each piece was then fitted into a wood frame. The shiplap design creates a textured interior of the installations while keeping the exterior smooth.
Once the insulation cork was installed on the wood frame, shelves were added to the outside of the tunnels and video room to allow for additional works of art to be displayed. Larger works were also hung directly on the cork insulation panels.
The resulting installations create dark havens to experience the multimedia projections in quiet reverence, removed from the brighter and busier spaces of the museum.
The larger screening room offers seats where you can pause and view the 30-minute feature "The Refusal of Time" (2012). The more open screening room provides a safe space to view the feature that the Met Museum called "a thirty-minute meditation on time and space, the complex legacies of colonialism and industry, and the artist's own intellectual life."
William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows runs through April 9th at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles. Be sure to check it out if you are in town!