Dream Retreat
Wenda Habenicht
May 24 – September 30, 1989
Wenda Habenicht, Dream Retreat, 1989; wood, steel, wire screen, shingles; 7 towers, each 14' H x 6' L x 6' D
Artist Statement
Dream Retreat consists of seven identical pitched-roof wood towers, fourteen feet high, each attached at an angle to an open lath, steel pyramidal base. The towers tilt and lean towards and away from each other in a random order, creating a playful atmosphere of confusion and disorientation. Perpendicular lines and right angles disappear to play upon the viewer's sense of upright orientation. The bases of the towers are constructed such that a viewer may step inside the structure and experience the sculpture from within.
Each side of each tower has an identical 'window' or opening created within the structure. This opening, covered with painted wire screen, creates changing shadows and reflections inside the tower as the sun changes positions in the sky. The brightly painted interior surfaces of the towers encourage a sense of mystery by creating a hint of something unknown inside. The windows give the towers an animated, anthropomorphic character as if the windows were eyes of the towers, the towers leaning forward as if in motion.
The towers imply a type of shelter, offering protection and security. These shelters, however, are overhead, slightly out of reach. When an adult enters the structure, only one's head is protected and obscured from passersby, leaving the remainder of the body visually exposed and only vaguely protected. The towers are also made for only one person at a time to be inside; a group or city of shelters for isolated individuals, individuals alone in a crowd, exposed but virtually unavailable.
Dream Retreat is intended to create a contradictory atmosphere, vacillating between an amusing, fun-house environment and that of a disorienting and mysterious city of animated figures for viewers to enter and experience.
