Wall Space, writing with shadows by Chris Kabel
Headlands Center for the Arts in California, commissioned Studio Chris Kabel to create a site-specific architectural intervention that transforms the Californian sun and the shadows it casts into ink or paint for artists and writers to express themselves.
The wood slatted army barracks that house the arts center date from the end of the nineteenth century. These slatted walls evoke old movie marquees and proved to be a great place to attach letters or other shapes to. The letters are made of aluminum mesh that lets the light through and also casts shadows. The front of the letters side is painted in the color of the wall. Their backs are painted black or bright colors to enhance or dye the shadows of the letters. So it is their shadows rather than the letters that the eye sees, the letters themselves blend with the wall. When cloudy the letters remain legible, as their shadows become a foggy blur.
This first installation features a poem by Native American poet Wendy Rose. It evokes the times before the European missionaries occupied the Bay Area. Every few months another artist or writer is invited to create a piece for the wall, so that in time, the wall turns into the pages of an ever-growing book of poems and illustrations.
