STN Entertainment
Linda Soberman's
"Shoe Project" is an interactive art
installation that uses shoes as a
metaphor for a woman's inner life —
secrecy, sexuality and obsession.
If The
Shoe Fits
n artist and designer transform
an ordinary room into a well-
heeled, interactive art piece: the
hoe Project.
The Junior League Showhouse in
Grosse Pointe is an annual fund-raiser
where interior designers spotlight their
talents by decorating different rooms in a
10,000-square-foot home. Linda Sober-
man, a multimedia artist, teacher and con-
ceptual thinker, was invited by Bloomfield
Hills interior designer Linda Golden to
participate in fashioning one of the man-
sion's bathrooms into a provocative dis-
play the 25,000 expected Show House
visitors would remember.
As
"Soberman was more interested in the
possibility of playing with a theme, toying
with an idea — rather than creating a
`model' room for the Show House," said
Golden. The interactive installation was
conceived in order to examine "a woman's
inner life using shoes as a metaphor ... for
secrecy, sexuality and obsession," she
added.
When you walk into the bathroom, it's
immediately apparent that this is no or-
dinary room with a function. It is simply
a beautifully appointed room — subdued,
staid and classic. But, oh, those shoes.
Over 400 used pumps and strappy
heels, painted white, are strewn on shelves
and hang from walls, some still in boxes
and others heaped and spilling onto the
floor beyond the closet's limits. Behind the
shoes are more shoes.
Soberman photographed a grouping of
the pumps, had black and white posters
printed, and papered the closet walls, ceil-
ing and shelves with them. The shoes
seem to be emerging from an infinite shoe
ocean.
"I wanted a ghostly image of shoes past
and present. An overall feeling of where
these shoes had been and where shoes can
take you," Soberman explained.
Bits and pieces of provocative stories
like, "We all have our secrets in the clos-
et," are scribbled on the walls. Polaroids
of sleazy motels and hotel rooms — with
dates, men's names and room numbers
written on them — punctuate the sur-
roundings.
On the shelves are a Polaroid camera,
a copy of Susan Nadler's Good Girls Gone
Bad, a painted handcuff image, and Sober-
man's rendition of Dorothy's ruby slippers,
a symbol of fantasy or release.
Then Soberman did something no one
does. More interested in what is usually
hidden, she removed the doors of the 4 x
Yo-Yo Ma!
Premiered at the Carmes Film Fes-
tival in 1986, Australian director
Mon., 7 p.m.
Jane Campion's (The Piano) first
feature film is only now being re-
leased in the U.S. Detroit Film
Theatre Monday Series, DIA, 5200
Woodward, Detroit. (313) 833-2323.
The renowned
cellist, along with
the DSO,
is conducted by
Christopher Sea-
man. Orchestra Hall.
(313) 833-3700.
Mon, 8 p.m.
6-foot closet to permanently expose its con-
tents.
Visitors are solicited to contribute their
own imaginations to the installation. On
a counter, Soberman positioned a basket
filled with small poster squares and fresh-
ly sharpened pencils. Next to the basket
is a note with instructions to scribble mes-
sages on the slips of paper and stuff them
into the shoes. Golden explains: 'The view-
er is asked to take an active role in cre-
ating the artwork and helping it evolve."
And, following the visit through the
Golden/Soberman creation, guests will
leave with a copy of the shoe poster as a
keepsake to "hang in the closet and dream
about a life that is filled with fantasy."
— Annabel Cohen
Joan Osborne
Director/ Ywrig
was
ogo
one of the principal artists to emerge
Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.
from Japan's Underground Theater
movement of the 1960s, and has been
hailed as a spiritual heir to Samuel
Beckett. Power Center, Ann Arbor.
(313) 763-TKTS.
The hit singer/song-
writer takes her music
on the road with an ap-
pearance with the Geral-
dine Fibbers at the State
Theatre, next to the Fox.
(313) 961-5450.
Wed, 7:30 p.m.
mix of farcical comedy WI;
biting edge, these plays center
.
Through May 19
around the theme of Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Lust. Purple
Rose Theatre Company, Chelsea.
Call for times. (313) 475-7902.
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