Preface

I am familiar with the Schindler House through exhibitions and performances I have generated there over the years. In every project I created for the house, the site has been in the foreground of my consciousness and has affected the position of my work within the context of the house.

For this proposal, I am foregrounding the former and current inhabitants of the house. Beginning with the origination of the house in the 1920s, psychological and political underpinnings affect the aesthetic and physical layout. Ideals surrounding a “new” type of life drove the production of the house. The Schindler House continued throughout the twentieth century amidst the upheavals of wars, social justice failures, and fragmented dreams, as expressed through the emblem of the Schindler’s divorce. The re-habitation of the house through the MAK Center’s efforts manifests a simulation and reinvigoration of the original spirit of the Schindler House.

Proposal

I propose to carpet the 320 square meters of the house with wall-to-wall shag carpeting in various shades of green. The core color will be a lime green with the other shades in tandem to generate a modulating effect. The carpet will flow from room to room to create a green floor that mirrors the grass just steps away outside. The texture of the shag carpet will further encourage this mirroring effect.

Visitors will remove their shoes upon entering the house.

During the course of the exhibition, I will organize a series of spiritual encounters on the carpet, including Tarot readings and séances. Texts will be generated from the encounters.

Reflection

The installation of this shag carpet in the Schindler House now can spark our desire for the progressive politics and lifestyle of the 1960s. Through this proposal, this desire for the 1960s is superimposed on the progressive politics and lifestyle of the 1920s. The house as it functions today revives the spirit of both these eras of idealism.

The spiritual encounters reflect the nomadic and heightened sense of play and drama created in relationship to the house. The pursuit of a higher sense of engagement and the fleeting domesticity that the house engenders are rooted in the fragmentary search for identity and the refinement of self.