The Installation of Not Here, Not There

by James Davidson

            Quynh Tran’ s installation of Not Here, Not There was very red; as she said it would be. It was very well done in my opinion. Even the food was themed to the art. There was quite a few people talking, eating and drinking. So I took the time to mingle, have a few drinks and some food and lose myself in the art for a little while.

            The first room was painted a deep red, this room contained the food and bar. The food was well presented and was themed to the installation. There were chocolates with red icing, salsa, humus, strawberries, and red meats.  The bar had sodas, Corona and of course, red wine. The room was dark and red but not oppressive.

            In the second room it was like a net of red string going from wall to wall, like the nerves in the brain. The walls had designs in the wall paper, red on white that created a three dimensional effect, making the room seems bigger than it was.

            The third room was had paper hanging from the ceiling and strewn about the floor, there was much less red in this room. The paper was like binary scrip from an old computer. It like the preceding room was like memory, you can lose yourself in you own mind.

            The last room was like Qunyh had  said, a simple white room with a pedestal in the center with a white basin filled with dark reflective liquid that one could reflect on oneself.  It was in here that people would gather for a while and some would hide in the corners, it was peaceful there then head back to the party.

            The first time I went through the maze I felt a little light headed afterwards, catching a piece of the binary paper on my shoe and dragging out of the paper room, through the threads and into the front room. Shaking it loose, a friend joked with me saying I “fucked up the whole installation” I laughed and said yep that’s me. The second trip was more reflective as I was taking notes and pictures, meeting people I knew and new people as well.

            It was a good event; I realized at the exhibit that I have good peers, friends and more now because I was there. Everyone seemed to be having a goodtime and that was good to see. It was good to lose myself in the art and then find myself among friends that I know and new ones too.