Immediate Response
When I first look at these images from Helen Marten’s A.M installation, the first thing that comes to mind is food and the way that is it presented. I see eating utensils, a paper cup inside a broken bowl, an aluminum container that she transformed and used it as the head of a banjo, all surrounded by dried vegetated motifs and a clear plastic bag. It almost seems as though Helen picked random and disposed elements and combined them to together to create this installation.
Objective Description
I find this installation contradicting because it is not your typical clean and ideal representation of food. The utensils are dirty, the napkins used to make the paper cup are used, and there are signs of a dried liquid stains inside the banjo. What is unique about this installation is it’s title and the contradiction created by the uncleanliness of a morning meal.
Technical Decisions
The materials used in this this installation are not intricate or fancy. They are simple and sometimes random objects that she puts together in order to create the idea of food and how its unusual representation. She used pieces of shaved and broken wood to create the neck of the banjo. She also scattered dried fall-type leafs and flowers around the paper cup and the banjo. In the banjo, these leaves are held together by a clear plastic bag.
The Work in the World
Helen Marten challenges our typical ideals around food. By reading the title or simply giving a quick glance at this installation, we immediately know that the main topic of her work is food. However, what is interesting about this is that Helen moves away from depicting a grand and clean representation of this concept and shows us just the opposite. In today’s modern world, we insist on representing food in its prime, its freshest, and most aesthetically pleasing form. Social media platforms such as Instagram have encouraged this behavior. If you didn’t Instagram what you had for lunch, was it actually that beautiful and tasty? Did it actually happen? Also her interplay of different artifacts plays on the idea of recycling and using objects that we take for granted and often discard to create innovative objects just like she did with the banjo.
The Story it Tells
As a whole, Helen Marten’s installation appears to be a banal representation of food. She takes a concept so revered and glorified and transforms it into something completely different. She refutes and challenges the conventions around food and shows us that food and the whole concept around it are not always so pretty. Also, her insistence to use random and trash-like items to create new ones accentuates and creates awareness around the importance of recycling.