Craig Miller
Saya Moriyasu
Nora Mukaihata

Inside the Lining of the Erikson Building

June 1997

Location / 82 University Street, (Harbor Steps)

Music performance by Suzie Kozawa:
“Payments Acceptance Corporation” and “The Art Girls”

From a review by Jill Conner, New Art Examiner, November 1997:

Saya Moriyasu, Craig Miller, and Nora Mukaihata explored the theme of the gigantic in this exhibition, "Inside the Lining of the Erikson Building." All of the pieces in the show are collaborations and reflect a mixture of fine art, architecture, and technology. Together, these fields function as one living hybrid. By alluding to the corporeal, this art highlights the importance of the SOIL Gallery space as well as the structure of the Erikson Building.

Entering the dimly lit gallery was like walking into a deep, dark cavity. Inside, various musical sounds were projected throughout the room. Near the opening of the room sat a pile of postcards for the taking, each bearing a different computer image, combining old pictures of the Erikson Building with pictures of art in the show. In one corner, an array of flimsy boards curved up against the wall and down onto the floor. This grouping of wood lent skeletal-like support to a large conglomeration of inflated latex gloves, tied intricately together so as to resemble a cluster of glands cascading down from the ceiling.

With different pieces assembled on the floor as well as hanging from the walls and ceiling, the size of the room appeared to shrink and visually shift away from an institutional art context toward something that looked more like the interior space of a body. The entrance and walkways took on the characteristics of vital arteries, while the definition of each person who entered metaphorically changed from that of a silent viewer to an important microscopic organism. Without the viewers, neither the art, gallery, nor the building could survive. Ironically, the Erikson Building will soon be destroyed and replaced by modern developments. Therefore, the postcards for this show are each a memento mori, a token of remembrance of this fine, historic structure.

—Jill Conner