photographic installation, daylight, aluminium wall structure, MDF, four inkjet transparencies mounted onto acrylic glass, each 107 × 107cm
The installation, built into the main space of Tallinn Art Hall, is dependent on the skylight ceiling. Upon entering the main hall, it seems as if we are inside a lightbox turned inside out—we see exposed wall structures and semi-translucent photographs. Moving further into the structure, the photographs that were shot in different botanical gardens of the world, are visible from their viewing side. In the completely darkened space they become illuminated only by the daylight that falls behind them outside the space through the skylight above. The installation points to the connection between the Crystal Palace, its architect Joseph Paxton, who was known in the United Kingdom as a botanist and engineer of greenhouses, and the term ‘exhibition’ that in its modern meaning only came into use after The Great Exhibition that opened inside the building in 1851. Thus, the Crystal Palace was both a prototype for glass office buildings and shopping centres and that of modern exhibition buildings, which have often used diffused natural light falling from skylights to illuminate works of art.
