Final Essay

The Flat Side of the Knife – Samara Golden

Dilchand Nauth

Professor Harmon

June 5, 2015

Samara Golden’s art installation known as “The Flat Side of the Knife” is difficult to comprehend. While looking at the installation, at the MOMA PS1 museum, it is extremely easy to get confused trying to figure out the meaning behind this installation. This piece offers reflection and suspension through division. It is almost like a dream or illusion, where the physically body of a person is present, yet the mind is wondering, triggering an emotional reaction.

Before looking at the installation, the title alone offers tons of information. The deadliest part of a knife is the blade itself. It can cut or kill in an instant. It is the most essential part of the tool, making it extremely crucial in this piece. The other part of the knife is the flat slide, as referred to in the title. It is unlike the blade, very smooth and causes little to no harm. As opposite as they may be, these two parts meet at the edge of the entire tool. Golden may have chosen the harmless part of the knife as the title, to make her viewers think about a different use for a violent object. Perhaps even to not directly connect the title with the installation, like an unanswerable question.

According to Samara Golden, she is attempting to show and make her viewers feel what she calls “the 6^th dimension”. This dimension is a world of emotions, where what the viewer felt while observing this piece was purely emotions. It is only emotions that could understand and access what this piece means, not words or physical actions.

Objects are specifically placed to let the viewer know that they are not useable although they exist in reality. These objects include stairs, couches, musical instruments, lamps, books, plants and wheelchairs. These objects are around us in our everyday lives and they are objects we use in our everyday lives. They benefit us every day, but cannot be accessible in this piece in anyway. For example, the couch is used to sit on, the stairs are used to step on, the guitars are used to make songs, the lamps are used for us to see, the books are used to educate, the plants provide us oxygen and the wheelchairs are used for assistance. Yet, they are hanging from strings, fragile and suspended from the ceiling; thus they cannot be used. 

Before the eyes enter the other levels of the installation, there is a plane of mirrors which span across the entire piece. In my opinion, this is specifically used to create an illusion of distance. Because of this mirror, the objects that are located on the top level expand beyond their physical location. The mirror plane also creates an illusion of depth and height. Significantly, the hardest part of this installation to comprehend is the mirrors. Based on my judgement, the mirror is related to the knife. Physically, the knife is able to penetrate and separate things into, precisely, two pieces. Reflection of the mirror can make one object into two. In other terms, the knife separates one into two; the mirror makes two from one.

This piece is especially creative because it is divided into three different levels. Each level symbolizes something different. The highest level includes two beds, which could symbolize reality. These beds are objects that are in our everyday lives, something that we go to when we need to rest. In the middle level there is another bed. However, this bed seems like a hospital bed. The same object we go to in reality to rest, is the same object we go to when our life could be at risk. As much as a bed can symbolize reality, it can also symbolize the moment between life (reality) and death. The lowest level, includes large windows and an ocean projection. This level symbolizes a place of peace, a place for thinking, a place for the mind to wonder off and a place to escape reality. However, it could also symbolize what we experience after death.

To break this creativity into more detail, the top level where the beds are located, is where our personal space is. It is where we escape reality and go into unconscious dreaming. The only bedroom that appears instantly, is the one from the ceiling. It is the only bed on the ceiling where the viewers can clearly see it. A bed welcomes warmth, comfort, relaxation; it is what we look forward to after a long day. It is where our bodies and minds become one at the end of the day. On the reflected part of the installation, the two physical bedrooms appear as right side up. They are duplicate in the reflected room to appear normal. On this middle level, there are plants and books along with the bed, suggesting a time period of struggle. Perhaps, these objects were placed here to symbolize things found in a hospital room, a long duration. It is where lives are at risk, where the struggle for life and the avoiding of death occur in reality and every day. The furthest room seems to be the most peaceful. It is the furthest to reach physically; it contains a perfectly made bed, large windows and a projection of calming ocean waves. In my opinion, it suggests a realm or level that is peaceful and happy, that is only accessible after death.  

But this level seems to say more than just an unreachable realm. It seems to be impossible to experience true happiness and peace while living in reality. None of the wheelchairs are able to reach this final level, even though they are reflected. There is very little furniture. The most shocking part of this display is the fact that you cannot see yourself on the mirror plane. It is extremely difficult. This could suggest, in my opinion, the inability to reach this final level, even though it seems real, yet reflected. The worlds of real and reflected seem to be one, even if they are separated by levels, making this installation unique.

Samara Golden is a very difficult artist to comprehend. Her work is nearly impossible to figure out in my opinion. As this is her biggest installation yet, it makes it that more difficult. It contains a lot of activity; hours need to be spend to figure out each objects unique purpose. This installation makes me look at the world as a place that seems to be the most difficult to live and comprehend. Reality and life seems to be where all the hardships of life and struggles of life exist. From this piece, I can see that the best feelings of life exist after death. Eventually we all will reach their, we just have to go through life, the struggle to stay alive and the acceptance of a happier life after death.