Time for Spaces

You stand in a waterfall, or take a "shower" of refreshing air. Or plop into an egg-shaped easy chair and catch a minute's snooze. Or sit in a moss-covered booth and cast your I Ching. The idea behind these and other "Contemplation Environments," currently on display at Manhattan's Museum of Contemporary Crafts, is to provide a peaceful corner in the bustle of city life where any and all might stop for a moment to think, muse, daydream or simply enjoy a quiet interlude. That prospect alone was enough to make New Yorkers venture out in blustery cold weather last week, eager to experience not just one but 16 different warm and cozy places.

Definition of Excitement. The show is intended to explore fresh solutions to the city dweller's need for solitude amidst the city's crowded spaces. "We found a vast response on the part of artists, designers and psychologists," says Museum Director Paul Smith. "Artists are increasingly interested in working on a large, environmental scale, and the subject of contemplation seemed to give focus to many of their ideas." To coordinate the various projects, Gamal El-Zoghby, an Egyptian-born architect and instructor at Pratt Institute, designed a dark, mazelike passageway leading from one environment to the next.

Sculptor Neke Carson designed a combination fountain-environment that is beautiful to look at and fun to be in. Participants sit inside two large plastic bubbles and watch smaller plastic bubbles floating about in a trough of gurgling water. Ted Hallman, a Zen Buddhism enthusiast, used 100 lbs. of yarn for his African-looking hut. "My idea was to make an environment that was comfortable, soft, with neutral colors and a calming effect," he says. The hit of the show is Furniture Designer Wendell Castle's laminated oak "reclining space for one." Open a marvelously sculptured door and there is a snug, carpeted cubbyhole with furry throw pillows. A hole in the top lets in light and air. "When you get inside," El-Zoghby says, "it's almost like being in your mother's womb. The more you define a space, the more exciting it becomes."

Distant Bells. Not all of the environments work as well. An electronic spiral intended by Kinetic Artists Jackie Cassen and Rudi Stern to induce a meditative state is just plain hard on the eyes. Designer Victor Lukens' reflective plastic chair tends to disorient rather than put its occupant at ease. As yet unfinished is what should be the centerpiece of the show--a twelve-foot stroboscopically lighted waterfall. The visitor will crawl through an access tube into a clear plastic enclosure, where he may sit, perfectly dry, while water cascades all around him. "He will feel as if he were under Niagara," says one of its designers.

Other works are simpler. Weaver Urban Jupena created a platform covered with a shaggy rug on which conversationalists can sprawl out and playfully tug at the yarn while talking--an idea that can easily be adapted to the home. Apartment dwellers who have always wondered what to do with their skylight may take a lesson from Irv Teibel, a sound engineer. On four platforms beneath the museum's skylights, the contemplator lies back, while sounds of waves, distant bells, or birds singing come softly to his ears from recorded tapes.

The Museum of Contemporary Crafts, founded 14 years ago with a grant from Mrs. Vanderbilt Webb, has become increasingly enterprising in the last few years under the directorship of Paul Smith, breaking away from displays of traditional crafts to put on some of the more innovative shows in town. Currently, the museum has succeeded in outclassing its rich neighbor, the Museum of Modern Art.

Cave of the Future. The Modern's rival--and less effective--display, called "Spaces," features five rooms each by a different artist. One, by Dan Flavin, is full of relentlessly glowing fluorescent lights; another, by Larry Bell, is totally dark except for several dimly reflecting glass tubes. Robert Morris created a kind of arctic hothouse, where tiny spruces set in an earth bank simulate an upland for est. Most interesting is the space designed by Franz Erhard Walther, where anybody who comes along is invited to climb into, sit on or play with various canvas objects. This goes on under the guidance of the artist himself, who declares that he is exploring the psychology of personal space and activity.

However one feels about environments and their inner spaces, there will probably be a lot more of them. The art display scheduled for the U.S. Pavilion at Expo '70 in Japan will be largely devoted to space environments, including a cavelike structure by Tony Smith, a rain curtain by Andy Warhol, a vast mirrored wall by Robert Whitman, and a fog room by Rockne Krebs. In a word, spaces are big this year.

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