"I created the installation myein as a meditation and lamentation on those aspects of American social history that, like weather, are present and pervasive in effect but which remain invisible or unspoken. My self- given task was to make a place in which this absence could be palpably felt and to create a space simultaneously empty and full....As enclosed by the glass wall, the pavilion courtyard became an open f ifth room or commons for the building. There, centered within the brick faced patio was the only singular object in the installation; a wood table with a dense surface of knotted cloth. Fist sized knots (one of the earliest forms of record keeping) were pulled tightly against the table’s surface with their tails pulled through to fill the space between the four legs and slightly brush the ground beneath."
The artist cited in: "Ann Hamilton: myein," 1999 (online)
Ann Hamilton, "myein" at The United States Paviliion, 48th Venice Biennale, June - November 1999
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Ann Hamilton, "myein" at The United States Paviliion, 48th Venice Biennale, June - November 1999

  • Centered Installation at the Pavillion
    In Ann Hamilton's installation at the United States Pavillion at the 48th Venice Biennale, she transformed the pavilion courtyard into an open commons of neo-classical architecture, engaging critically with Jeffersonian principles of democracy and civic space. The present work was the only singular object in the installation: a wood table with a dense surface of knotted cloth that was centered within the brick patio.
  • Centered Installation at the Pavillion
    The present work was the only singular object in the installation: a wood table with a dense surface of knotted cloth that was centered within the brick patio.
  • Enclosed in Glass
    Enclosed by a glass wall, the pavilion courtyard was an open fifth room or commons for the building of the pavilion itself.
  • Views from the Rotunda
    Across the courtyard was the rotunda, where one could turn left or right into separate wings. In another room, Hamilton creates an empty space where fuchsia powder falls from the walls of interior galleries, sifting slowly and incessantly in its movement. A recording of whispering voice echoes in the room and, along with the powder, insinuate an experience that is at once present yet out of reach.
  • Detail of the Knots
    Hamilton created fist-sized knots — one of the earliest forms of record keeping — through the table's surface, pulling their tails between the four legs to slightly brush against the ground beneath.
  • The Meaning of Myein
    According to Hamilton, "myein" is an ancient Greek word meaning to close the eyes or mouth that is linked to initiation rites of medieval mystery cults and is representative of something that has not been seen or cannot be explained. Hamilton intended the overall installation to be a meditation and lamentation on aspects of American society history that are tacitly present and pervasive. By creating a spatial environment that made such a feeling of absence palpable, she interrogated the dynamics of how civic spaces operate within public structures and buildings.
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The New York Times
ART/ARCHITECTURE; Representing America in a Language of Her Own
Artist
Ann Hamilton