I found this chapter pretty interesting. Out of the many topics covered, the ones I found the most interesting was the discussion on video installation. Bishop focuses a lot of her attention to the power of this form of installation and explains how it can encapsulate us. Especially, when in the right environment. Bishop talks a lot about Robert Smith and his article, ‘A Cinematic Atopia’ which elaborates on the phenomenon of sitting down in a dark enclosed room and watching a film. The darkness separates us from reality and makes us look at nothing else, but the film itself. Our body becomes immobile and we really can’t do much more than look and listen to what is being displayed in front of us. It’s cool to think that something as basic and universal as a movie theatre could be called installation. Before reading, I would have never considered it one at all, but with all of the ways that it encapsulates us and makes us look at it in a certain perception is exactly what installation art is. I find the whole idea of public installation that isn’t really considered an installation art right off the bat until further analysis is really interesting.
I also thought the whole discussion about mirrors and their effect on our perception during an installation was also really cool. Piece’s like Richard Wilson’s 20:50 and Lucas Samaras’ Mirror Room really do a good job at distorting the viewer’s perception of reality and create incredible illusions of both the piece and one’s self image. It’s something that seems to be an objective of all installation art pieces.