The Skinning of Memory: Vertebrae, Part 2 (VP2) Influences
The Skinning of Memory: Vertebrae, Part 2 (VP2) Influences

The Skinning of Memory: Vertebrae, Part 2 (VP2) Influences

The Medium of Television: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) 20’W x 17’H x 16’D. Immersive, Trans-media, Installation. Partial overview of VP2: right top. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada 2009
The Medium of Television: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) 20’W x 17’H x 16’D. Immersive, Trans-media, Installation. Partial overview of VP2: right top. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada 2009

1.3 The Influences

The photograph my father had taken of my brother and me in front of the television set would also act as a conceptual blueprint for VP2. It was after all this particular black and white photograph, which evoked my recent realization of how the transmutable intersections that exist between memory, objects, technology, and humans, could trigger chimerical experiences.

(cropped) Figure 1: B/W Photo. Myself with my brother Joseph (right) taken by my father. 1962. Sault Ste. Marie, Canada

The thematic and structural approach to VP2 was also partially influenced by the American Neo-Dadaist artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) who explored the possibilities of combining found objects and materials in his Combine Series (1953-1964) (see Image 04 below).

Robert_Rauschenberg's_'Canyon',_1959
Image 04, Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959

In an interview with Rosetta Brooks, Rauschenberg speaks of his process

(I) wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. And if it wasn’t a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was. So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing” (par. 2).Rosetta Brooks Interviews Robert Rauschenberg, accessed 2010, 2018

This juxtaposition of objects towards an accumulative surprise and a new thing,” as Rauschenberg suggests, occurs around us on a continual basis and is something which also intrigued me while developing VP2.

However, unlike Rauschenberg’s Combine Series, where the juxtaposition of objects were restricted to self-contained works, VP2 incorporats the objects into a site-specific, immersive, installation, encompassing an area of over nine thousand cubic feet (25’W x 15’H x 18’D) – integrating walls, ceiling, floor, windows, ceiling lights and radiators as integral parts of the accumulative surprise.

  • cropped: The Medium of Television: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) 20’W x 17’H x 16’D. Immersive, Trans-media, Installation. Partial overview of VP2: right top. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Canada 2009
  • Image 15: VP2 partial overview, Naccarato - Right Top Detail - TV Set, massage table, painted floor, coaxial cables
  • Image 09: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Partial Overview. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • Image 14: VP2 -Center, Detail - two hollow glass containers covering small mounds of sugar and in the far background, the right side wall of VP2, showing a simulated construction of spinal-like cord system made up of sewing paper patterns, internet cable and wiring and acrylic paint.
  • Image 06: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Partial Overview. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • Image 06x: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Partial Overview. Artist Studio, University of
  • Image 06b: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Partial Overview. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • Image 05 header: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Detail. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • VP2, Naccarato, 2009 - Lower Left Wall, Detail - painted floor, canvas, electrical and coaxial wire
  • Image 11: VP2, Naccarato - Top Right Floor, Detail -Coaxial Wire, whole and stripped, wood canvas stretcher, painted floor
  • Image 08: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Detail. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • Image 07: John Naccarato, Vertebra, Part 2: The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Detail. Artist Studio, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

The merging of these elements made it difficult to distinguish where the intended real – the building’s architecture and fixed objects began and where the fictionalized reality of the artist’s encoded space ended.

Electrical wires which were embedded into the VP2’s floor, weaved their way across the hall, connecting to VP2’s sister installation The X-Series (VP1).

  • Image 01: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 02: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 03: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 04: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 05: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 06: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • IImage 07: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 08: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 09: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 10: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 11: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009
  • Image 12: The X-Series (VP1), Naccarato, 2009

Below are links to texts related to The Skinning of Memory (VP2) Installation that were published as part of my MFA Thesis, 2010. Specific segments have been revised and updated for this post. John Naccarato, 2022