Broken Homes – Andrew Mackenzie

Andrew Mackenzie has discussed some really intriguing ideas in relation to Callum Morton's piece 'Valhalla' which was featured in the 2007 Venice Biennale. This review explores the in-depth conceptual levels of meaning behind the artists work. This artwork as Mackenzie discusses due to size and scale allows the audience to engage with the work and entice a response.

This work was heavily influenced by the destruction Morton saw to his own family home. The work takes on the foundation of an old house however, the house is “burnt out, scarred and (a) maimed shell”. The location that was this work was exhibited added to its meaning as it was situated away from other works the public did not immediately identify the work as a piece of art.

This work also looks at the domestically of the family home. This idea of home is at the centre of all that is human, it is where most of our lives take place and it is where our humanity lies. The discussion of these ideas by Mackenzie is an emotive point of discussion as he sees “it becomes a powerful mediation on the domains of the private and the public.” This idea of the private and public is discussed quite frequently within the article. This work is believed to depict the “uneasy distinction between private and public life”. With this a sense of ethical, cultural and social concern arises. These concerns predominately lie within the decline in the “social life of the city” due to the political control on public life. Public life is slipping away by control on all aspects of social life. He continues on to discuss the decline of the American neighbourhood and the “prosperity that once existed between home and public life” and the neighbourhood that once was.

This last quote from Mackenzie encompasses all that this work displays that” The burn marks and bullet holes that deface ‘Valhalla’s’ walls are the damage done by the simultaneous erosion of public life and repressed internalisation of private life: the enslavement of architecture to property development in the broadest sense, as well as in the more specific demolition of a piece of Morton's past.”
This article is one of rich ideas and discussion; the writer does look at all the possibilities this work is offering in conceptual meaning. The ideas discussed in relation to public and private life for the reader ignite discussion of the modern world. The work is full of fascinating meaning and Mackenzie has brought up ideas in relation to this work i would not have considered.