Samara Golden: The Flat Side of the Knife at MoMA PS1, New York

Los Angeles-based artist Samara Golden creates immersive installations that explore what she calls the sixth dimension, where a multitude of pasts, presents, and futures exist concurrently. For The Flat Side of the Knife, Golden presents her largest installation to date, filling the double-height of MoMA PS1, New York’s Duplex Gallery with staircases, beds, couches, lamps, musical instruments, video, and sound.

The Flat Side of the Knife combines physical spaces with illusory spaces that appear only in mirrors, reflecting what the artist refers to as “layers of consciousness,” akin to psychological and hallucinatory spaces in the mind. Her use of mirrors in conjunction with sculptural elements made from a silvery insulation board, known commercially as Rmax or Thermax, allows the illusion of space to expand in multiple directions; creating imaginary depth below the gallery floor, for instance, or suggesting adjacent rooms that do not actually exist. Continues until 30 August.