Before The Sun

Karthik Pandian 2010

My initial reaction when I walked into the gallery was confusion, I was one of the first to arrive so I didn’t know if this was the gallery or not... it was dark, cold, and a little creepy, not having known we were in the right place. The sounds were very unpleasing, and made me feel like I was in an old horror movie. After realizing we were standing in the gallery, I really tried to understand what was going on. In the east and west corners of the room there were reels of tape playing a sunrise, and a sunset. While trying to observe everything, I found myself awkwardly trying to maneuver my way around a giant two step platform in the middle of the room, which was very difficult in the dark. There are so many elements to this composition, it’s hard to take it all in especially in a dark area. Once you enter the gallery, it’s like and experience or environment that Pandian is putting you in, and I found it impossible not to interact in someway with the piece after walking in the room.