Inside Out, Upside Down
1998
Nylon nets, sisal rope, leather suitcase, resin, raincoat, felt hat, latex human body molds, and straw hat.
The objects that make up this work are the result of a performance that took place at the opening of the Tunga Psychoactive Gallery in 2012. The seven nylon nets, at first glance, resemble traps; they hold suspended antique leather suitcases, raincoats, and felt hats. Distributed along a side staircase of the gallery, these seven suspended nets connect two other pieces that make up the artwork.
The first, also attached to the ceiling, is an enormous felt hat and a set of molds of human bones and limbs. The strangeness caused by this piece, whether due to its scale or unreal situation, is reinforced in the installation process that took place in this space. Seven young people position themselves under the hat and, in sequence, dismantle the net to walk through the space among the visitors. When these individuals drop the suitcases they were holding, their contents are revealed: parts of the human body and bones, reproduced in resin.
The second piece, displayed at the other end of the staircase, is an oversized straw hat positioned on the floor, and on its brim are seven other hats, these in conventional size, with human skulls made of resin inside them.
In his work, Tunga frequently resorts to a dreamlike dimension by enlarging the scale of everyday and conventional objects. This procedure provokes unease, both because of the impossibility of using these hats in the way we are accustomed to, and because of the ritualistic action and the reproductions of human remains present in the work. During the performance held at the gallery's opening, seven women, all dressed in white, collectively carry the large hat on their heads. This strange "being," with fourteen legs and no face, wanders through the gallery, amidst the visitors.
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