A Simple Network of Underground Wells and Tunnels 1975

Alice Aycock's "A Simple Network of Underground Wells and Tunnels" is, well, a simple network, built from concrete, wood, and earth. It's like a minimalist stage set, or an architectural diagram sprung to life. I love how Aycock takes these basic materials and coaxes out a complex emotional experience. The concrete is heavy and mute, a solid grid. Then you have these wooden lids, slightly off-kilter. It's the angle of the plane that creates a sense of unease, as if something should be level, but isn’t. You want to slide it back to shut the trapdoor. That earth, that ordinary dirt, fills in the gaps and softens the edges. This piece puts me in mind of Robert Smithson, but where Smithson's earthworks are about monumental scale, Aycock goes underground, turning the epic into something intimate and a little unsettling. Art, for me, is about this kind of dialogue, a conversation across time and space, always open to new interpretations and feelings.