Installation Art

Glenn Kaino: Tidepools (Capsule Review)

Laura Hess

07 Jan 2022 • 2 min read

A room is composed of wooden planks: the floor, the walls. Off to one side is a strange glass container. It looks like an aquarium tank, although it’s hexagonal in shape and tapers to a small opening at the top; it’s partially full of liquid and there looks to be some sort of stone along the bottom. Thin openings in between the floor planks shoot out from the edges of the tank. The room is dim, but bright red light emanates from these openings, bathing the room in this red light. — Photo: David Lincoln

[Original publication: No Proscenium, 9/28/21]

There’s a difference between hope and optimism. The distinction has only become more salient since COVID’s arrival. A critical part of the equation is agency: those with hope believe in a personal ability to effect positive change on a small or large scale.

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Hope is also instrumental in Glenn Kaino’s work. Tidepools, his current exhibition at Compound in Long Beach, imparts guests with agency and, in turn, guests fulfill the artwork’s mission.

Consisting of two main rooms, the show explores a key theme of Kaino’s: making the invisible visible. Bookended by “kitbashing” sculptures, the first room contains two cloud chambers. Designed with NASA support, these tanks allow viewers to witness charged particle movement by way of ionization trails. Due to the pandemic, air particles and their properties have become a common (and often fraught) topic of conversation. With the cloud chambers, Kaino yanks the monster out from under the bed and transforms it into a meditative, scientific wonder: one to delight in, not fear.

A sculptural aquarium with plankton occupies the second, darkened room. Participants are invited to cast a sand dollar-like disc into the chamber while making a wish; the dinoflagellates respond with a spark of bioluminescence while the pile of submerged discs embodies a physical representation of our individual and collective hope. Through the scope of its environmental design, the exhibition amplifies its multisensory impact and creates a cohesive balance of friction and harmony. By probing the tension between the seen and unseen, Tidepools reveals the inherent magic of our external, tangible world and of our inner, spiritual and emotional selves.

A cultural complex with its own hopeful mission, Compound, which opened in July, takes a holistic approach to contemporary art, wellness, and community building. Compared to traditional galleries, the center’s programming integrates these elements, resulting in a more thoughtful and resonant experience.