Valerie Mendoza
Dark Matter
Friday, August 27th - Saturday, September 25th, 1999
Opening Reception: 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Friday, August 27, 1999
Unknown histories, invented memories, the lives of saints and the vast expanses of space occupy common ground in Valerie Mendoza’s installation, “Dark Matter”. A dark, parlor-like room is the setting for a large, black gaming table surrounded by several fabric-covered stools intended for the piece’s “players”. An ornate mirror is suspended overhead to further observe and be observed. The table’s elegant face is surfaced with cabinets and drawers of varying sizes and depths that reveal video scrolls of rolling text and obscure images, mysterious objects, and hidden messages. In the player’s world “Dark Matter” employs elements of chance and choice.