Artist Statement for
Adrienne Outlaw and Terry Thacker: A Collaborative Installation

The Parthenon Museum
August 17-October 19, 2002

Adrienne Outlaw and Terry Thacker's site-specific installation in the Nashville Parthenon considers the original 5th century B.C. Greek temple as a living document that has evolved with time and use and encourages a reevaluation of the Parthenon's cultural identity in the context of a changed/charged environment.

"Like an unruly child of Athena" the exhibit means to challenge the notion of permanence and structure. Inspired by the history of the Parthenon, their work suggests conversion and renewal. Since its completion in 438 B.C., the original Parthenon has undergone several extensive changes, from its transformation to a Christian church in 529 AD, a Muslim mosque in 1458 AD, and its use as an artillery shed in the late 17th century. This last use of the ancient building, which exploded under bombardment in 1687, altered the original Parthenon into the ruin we know today. The Nashville Parthenon stands as the only full-scale replica of the ancient Greek building.

The repetition and reforming of objects in the installation reflect the artists' interest in the collaborative process. Two specially built walls flank several plaster and fabric molds. Hung almost 2 feet above the floor and angled toward the gallery's large rear support column, the main wall stretches 26 feet. Constructed with aluminum studs and turquoise-colored sheetrock, it houses three objects: a contorted, calligraphic pipe; a life-size photograph of a partially stripped pine door; and a tightly stretched black mesh screen. A 6' x 8' platform containing a red-dirt lined ditch lies directly below the photograph. The painted and constructed walls on the opposite side of the gallery mirror the main wall while their individual sections reveal their interior structures. In the middle of the gallery, six white rectangular plaster-molds hold rust-colored, fluted fabric-casts. As the objects in the gallery read as a series of opposites -- solid/fluid, strict architecture/disruptive objects, formal structure/narrative event, their fixed relationships begin to spill into others. As these ideas cease to be exclusive, the place of worship becomes a place to dance.