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Untitled (5.1.14) 無題（5.1.14）
2014
In this triptych by Korean-American artist Michael Joo, three glass panels mounted with black handles mimic the form of riot shields used by police. Joo coated the panels in silver nitrate—a chemical typically used in photography—to create their mirrored surfaces and then smashed light bulbs filled with acidic solutions against the glass to haphazardly dissolve the reflective coating. The sculpture, based on Joo’s earlier installation Plexus (2013), draws attention to the increasing frequency with which police forces deploy riot gear in response to protests—evident in many of the protests in the Middle East and the United States around the time Joo made this work. Accordingly, the materials’ connotations of fragility and the artist’s almost violent making process underline the critique of what he sees as a dangerous trend of militarisation in the civic sphere, undermining the ability of people to advocate for social and political change.
Joo’s choice of silver nitrate, with its close association with photography, also plays on the notions of visibility and invisibility at work in the public response to protests. The work makes viewers highly conscious of their own act of viewing it, reflecting their reactions back to them, while also placing them ‘inside’ the sculpture in a figurative sense. This optical process of changing places invites the viewer to consider their identification or sense of belonging with the individuals and communities who find themselves on one side or the other of a riot shield.
Joo’s choice of silver nitrate, with its close association with photography, also plays on the notions of visibility and invisibility at work in the public response to protests. The work makes viewers highly conscious of their own act of viewing it, reflecting their reactions back to them, while also placing them ‘inside’ the sculpture in a figurative sense. This optical process of changing places invites the viewer to consider their identification or sense of belonging with the individuals and communities who find themselves on one side or the other of a riot shield.
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