Kiki Smith: Squatting the Palace

Squatting the Palace chronicles the production, installation, and exhibition of Kiki Smith's “Homespun Tales: Stories of Domestic Occupation” (on display at the Fondazione Querini Stamplia in Venice from June-September 2005), featuring a series of rooms containing pictures, furnishings, sculptures, murals, photos, drawings, and pottery—placed as if squatters were occupying the space. Vivien Bittencourt and Vincent Katz's profile opens in 2004 at Smith's New York studio, where viewers see various preparations for the exhibit being made, as Smith talks about her sources of inspiration, the artistic process, and shares personal background information. Moving to the exhibition space, viewers become immersed in the painstaking details of installing this complicated project. The program concludes with Smith's reflections on the finished exhibition, as well as a touching tribute to her mother, whose vocal performance is featured. As much a sensitive portrait of the artist as a profile of an art installation, this is recommended for larger collections. Aud: C, P. (J. Reed)