The Extinction Beckons exhibition by the installation artist Mike Nelson is a disoriented trip around different spaces within the Hayworth Gallery. Using materials that Nelson has salvaged himself, the first space makes you feel like you’re in a dark warehouse. I imagined a desert outside because of the red light illuminating through the window. It almost feels like you’re not allowed to be in there. The subtle smell of the old artifacts tricks your mind into thinking your in another decade.
That feeling continues into the labyrinth. I think Nelson is playing with the notion of space and time. We are in a gallery room in the Southbank center but the moment you enter the labyrinth you loose the sense of where you are. Although it wasn’t my favorite piece in the exhibition it brought questions and emotions. Each space made you think, who lives there? Where are we?What year is it? I also thought it was interesting how if you entered one door you saw a room from one aspect, and if you entered another door you were in the same room but from a different perspective.
My favorite work in the exhibition was the sand dune. Comprised of three different works, it was visually the most powerful work for me. Aesthetically it was just beautiful to see the sand in the room, and I thought that the lighting above it also enhanced the experience, imitating daylight above the sand. Again, Nelson is using time to disorient the viewer. When entering the shed, I imagined myself somewhere in the desert, 40 years ago. The tires in the sand that were collected on the m25 highway, serving as modern fossils in the sand.
I enjoyed this exhibition very much. Nelsons uses interiors to play with the mind of the viewer. Smell, lighting, the use of space not only disorients the viewer but also blurs the idea of time and location making you feel like you’re in another world, not in the Southbank Center.