The exhibition was presented originally and it offered lots of interactivity; very different from looking at paintings. The fact that everything took place in a dark aisle instantly made you part of the atmosphere Hoffos was trying to recreate. In each scene he introduces you to a different space, that seems to be continuous, contrary to the discrete space you expect to find in a miniature model, and depending on your interaction with these physical scenarios you are able to see different things. The exhibition had to be explored by the viewer and at the same time the exhibition explored him, as illusions where not only in the scenes but also merged with the crowd around the spectator.
It appeared to me that the main theme of these dream houses was the protagonists’ mental mapping of their personal space, where they only perceived the geographical area they were at, as the nocturnal scenery seemed to place them alone in a large space. Nevertheless, some of them perceived other presences like the one in the first scene, where a man is close to a chimney and a girl walks behind him awkwardly. Other protagonists seemed sure that they were alone or that there weren’t others in the close vicinity. As a spectator of these scenes you become empathic with the protagonists in these scenes, and then you realize that your space is being intruded by the shadows of awkward characters as you traverse the MOCCA.
The last dream house is the most mysterious one since you are able to see from the inside of a house a person that is on the outside, and that person turns out to be you. There can be many interpretations for this last scene. Personally I interpreted it as literally as possible, considering that the exhibition is named “Scenes from the house dream”, it makes me think that if the houses are being seen by you in a dream, what can therefore be seen from the inside of that dream is you dreaming.
Technically the exhibition gave you the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the finished work but also the beauty of its real time creation. You are able to interact with the devices that create the images, a feature that adds more depth to the concept of the models. But Hoffos challenges you initial paradigm on the nature of these illusions by using other hidden devises to create the illusions appearing in the crowd. Hoffos was also very meticulous with details, he filmed every protagonist so the lightning matched the one on the actual miniature models and the positions would be natural according to the miniature furniture. I found these details and the meticulous structure of the scenography very impressing.
On the other hand, I was bothered by the fact that everything was dark and I wasn’t able to see the other visitors, this made it difficult for me to traverse the museum without stepping on someone else’s foot , maybe some fluorescent laces for the visitors that are wearing black would solve that easily. I don’t think there is any artistic advantage on making the visitors bump into each other.
On the other hand Borges makes us appreciate the importance of reason and thought regarding any kind of experience. Through his description of Funes’s condition we can discern that the real value of experience is not every single detail of it, but our capability of abstractraction. Transforming experiences into meaningful pieces of information allows us to give a logical structure to our lives and interact with the world using reason. At this point we are able to observe that Funes is trapped in a continuous flow of stimuli, without any structure, that consumes him as time advances.
