This pair of suspended figures is a startling installation by Spanish artist Juan Muñoz (1953–2001), located in the lobby of the Museo de Bellas Artes (Bilbao, Spain). From the ground level the tension is heavy. The two static, grey figures rotate slowly on axis, creating a sense of austerity and instability. The figures are identically clothed, strike a similar pose and are adjacent but clearly distinct and isolated. A skylight illuminates the pieces from above, and a set of stairs wraps around the lobby allowing the visitor to circle the figures until they are eye to eye. The rotation of the work and the path up the stairs continually change one’s relationship to the work. At the top of the stairs, one notices the figures are gripping a strap with their teeth.
As the sense of stress and peril peaked, I was surprised and bewildered by the grin on each figure’s face — as if their circumstance was a choice, perhaps a performance. I was struck by the thought that we often willingly put ourselves in impossible situations and that these predicaments give us a thrill — make us feel more alive. This work made me consider the city I currently live in, Las Vegas. A town that celebrates risk taking and thrill seeking. Have our lives become so sterile and sanitized that we are forced to manufacture a sense of adventure, drama or even danger? It is curious that the personal satisfaction of taking a risk — and surviving — is heightened by sharing the experience with others, perhaps in person or online after the fact. Could manufactured distress and drama be a counterweight to the relative comfort and safety of our modern lives?