Through 1989

Cildo Meireles made this installation, called Through, with glass, water and other objects. It makes me think about walking into a dream, but a slightly unsettling one. Imagine Meireles in the space, carefully placing each sheet of broken blue glass to create a shallow pool, a kind of fragmented reflection of the glass structure above. The air is humid, and the sound of trickling water echoes through the vaulted space. It’s like stepping into an aquarium where the boundaries between inside and out blur. The stark contrast between the pristine glass tanks and the jagged floor throws everything off balance, creating a sense of fragility and impermanence. Each element speaks to the other, a kind of call and response. This dialogue keeps going throughout the decades, as the concerns of one artist are explored and reimagined by another.