Installation
Glass, mirror, steel table, porcelain, plaster medallion, circular floor and ceiling illumination, paint
The Tip of the Iceberg by Barbara Bloom gives the impression of being underwater or in outer space. A circular table, lit from below and above, is stacked with porcelain tableware, all bearing the logo of the legendary RMS Titanic. Upon approaching the table, it is gradually revealed that the undersides of the dishes are printed with images from the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor. Above, a domed ceiling is surrounded by a frieze of carved objects, copies of waste listed by NASA as being lost or discarded in outer space. Most of the junk orbiting the earth is the result of satellite explosions, though there are also tools like hammers or flashlights dropped by astronauts. The familiarity of the objects in the two debris fields, combined with their astounding inaccessibility, create a powerful sense of physical absence. Bloom is infatuated with the stories objects are able to tell. Her conceptual practice is often centered on installation. The Tip of the Iceberg is one of her most important works from the early 1990s. It shows the artist’s fascination with the relationships between objects or images – and the meanings implied through their placement and combination.