Shelter or Playground: The House of Dust at the Schindler House
Gerard and Kelly
The family is a system of regeneration I, II & III
2018, 144 x 75 inches each
Acrylic paint and graphite on canvas, Western Red Cedar
These pieces are related to Modern Living, a series of works starting at the Schindler House and at the Glass House in 2016 followed by Schindler/Glass (2017), the first film in this series sited in iconic modernist homes around the world. Both houses are homes the architects built for themselves to shelter relationships as experimental as their designs. At the Schindler House, dancers chant axioms over rhythmic choreography: “The home is a mathematical equation/ The family is a system of regeneration/ Relationships like clockwork...” The family is a system of regeneration I, II & III is another path taken by the artists in their exploration of the house as a shelter of intimacies that do not fit within dominant narratives of family, marriage, or domesticity. Resembling the double helix of a genetic chain, a diagrammatic “score drawing” is transposed in theatrical paint onto tri-fold canvas screens. The screens are built using the same materials and dimensions as the wall panels designed by Schindler for his house. The drawings record the movement of dancers through the looping timeline of the performance.