Her flights aren’t always jam-packed with the artistic creation that she has so come to enjoy. Katchadourian, who flies about once every three weeks to meet her professional engagements, says that inspiration waxes and wanes.
“It’s not correlated to the length of flight at all,” she says. “Some of my shortest flights are the ones filled flurries of creative activity.”
And sometimes she’s just like the rest of us, devoid of any productive thought whatsoever as the endless in-flight hours drone on.
But the question that got the whole project started two years ago remains the same today. Katchadourian always asks herself: “Why can’t I think of this time on a plane as the same as my time in the studio?”
The airplane has really become a makeshift studio of sorts for her. She is still constantly logging the artistic output from current flights, with pictures and videos that number into the thousands. And she doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon either.
“The project has continued to surprise me,” Katchadourian remarks. “Some of my projects I think I’ll be working on for the rest of my life. I’m not going to be done with ‘Seat Assignment’ for a long time.”
So if you see a woman on your next flight taking pictures of peanuts in strange arrangements, or creating gorillas out of her sweater, or if the lavatory is occupied for conspicuously long periods of time, you may want to take a closer look. You may have crossed paths with Nina Katchadourian. And what you see just may cause you to double-take – which is exactly what she wants.
What do you think of Katchadourian’s work? Sound off in the comments.
For more art when you travel, check out:
- Travel Tip: Airport Museums
- Travel Tip: Hotel Packages for Art Lovers
- American Art Hotels
- Art & Culture archives
Nina Katchadourian is represented by the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. A video installation of pictures from “Seat Assignment” will appear at the Indianapolis International Airport in late June.
By Ben Moroski from PeterGreenberg.com
