A technical question on installation

[TheStranger]

I have this suspended piece of paper using two long strings on each end from the wall to the floor. How do I make sure people don't walk into the string? I had two people already walk into it, ripping the paper, and a curator who almost walked into it even though he knew where it was! I taped around it but I know that won't be enough. I was thinking about an inch or so high piece of cardboard type 'wall' around the string areas...hoping people will see something raised as opposed to flat tape? Any suggestions? I'd hate for it was get walked into and destroyed....the show is suppose to be up for almost a month. At the same time, the invisible string with the suspended paper is what makes the piece so I can't just put flags on the string or something. Thanks!

[inej]

That is tough, since the visual is so important to the installation. A little cardboard wall will just get mowed down easily. One thing we use at the museum is little stanchions - we have a set that are just a foot high and a little rope goes through them. But they are clunky, in terms of pristine viewing. Honestly, people even run into those all the time, especially busy times like openings and tours. I might suggest rather than building a 'fence' type thing that is visually disruptive, that you build a platform that raises an area off the floor a bit (like 6"-8")and you attach your piece to the platform instead of directly to the floor. The larger the platform in terms of surface area, the less it will be noticed, and the more it will be effective. IE raise half the room up 6".

[lurkinglurk]

the answer comes in the form of a question. is it important that the string be invisible?

if the answer is no, then the string needs to thicker so that the human eye is more likely to detect it.

if the string is invisible and the paper is suppose to be some kind of illusion of floating, then why not simply suspend the paper from the ceiling?

[TheStranger]

Just wanted to reply back about how I dealt with this issue. The curator and I ended up using two white painted wood blocks to distinguish where the lines attatched to the floor. During the art opening, a professor, worried about the piece being walked into, assigned two students to stand at each point where the string attached to the floor like body guards. It worked and no one walked into the piece. I joked often about how I was just waited for someone to walk into it but having two people stand guard did the trick, and when the gallery was not busy, the small white blocks did the job. Thanks for the replies guys.