SEEING is the second project in the Boone Children’s Gallery produced by LACMALab, the experimental research and development unit within the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This exhibition explores the concept of “seeing” by raising questions and challenging notions of expectation, perception, and viewpoint. Nine L.A.-based artists were commissioned to create participatory installations that investigate ways of seeing, drawing upon the permanent collection as a resource, springboard, or provocation for visitor engagement. The charge to the artist had two specific conditions: that the installation incorporate an object from the collection, and that it appeal equally to both child and adult

This project explores the relationship between image and word through the physical form of language. A 36′ long, walk-through “caterpillar,” made from a see-through cardboard honeycomb stretched between four solid cardboard ribs, twists and snakes around structural elements in the gallery. The ribs are set at different heights, reaching a maximum height of 16′, with a plywood platform sloping up and down through the architectural structure. Underneath each rib, set into the raised plywood floor, is one of the small cylinder seals from LACMA’s permanent collection housed in lighted mirror bowls. The images produced by the seals are enlarged and printed on the first and last ribs, extending onto the galley floor. Seen from the outside, the legs of the visitors inside become the legs of the caterpillar, animating the structure.