Immersive 3D Installation Invites Viewers to Step Inside a Giant Photograph

Photography Installation by Chris Engman

“Containment” (2018). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Photographer Chris Engman invites you to enter a world within a world. His photography installation, titled Containment, is an immersive work that features images spanning the walls, ceilings, and floors of a specially constructed room. Upon stepping foot inside the space, you’re transported from a gallery setting to the middle of a bustling stream surrounded by a dense forest with trees cloaking most of the blue sky above.

Containment is Engman’s first foray into work that allows you to physically enter his photographs. But, the idea is something he examined long before then. “I believe photography derives its power precisely from the fact it can’t be entered, however much we may want to,” Engman explains. “When I make photographs I try to be mindful of this, even to exploit it.”

Three hundred prints line Containment. When you stand outside of the space, they appear to be a single landscape that’s plucked from nature and set in a building. Upon entering, however, this illusion is shattered; the vertical planks and peek-a-boo windows warp the image and make the trees, stream, and sky appear unreal.

“Even so, compared to a singular framed photograph the experience of this installation for the viewer is much more physical and immersive” Engman points out. “The structure is a room, not an image of a room. The photograph is an object, in addition to being an illusion. It has weight, and volume, and changes as you walk around it. Making this installation has been a thrilling process, and this new way of working seems to afford many new possibilities.”

If you’d like to experience Engman’s work for yourself, it can be seen as part of the extensive FotoFocus Biennial 2018. The exhibition is Chris Engman: Prospect and Refuge, and it’s at the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. It will be on view until November 18, 2018.

Chris Engman invites you to enter a world inside of a world with this his photography installation titled Containment.

Photography Installation by Chris Engman

“Containment” (2018). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Photography Installation by Chris Engman

“Containment” (2018). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

“I believe photography derives its power precisely from the fact it can’t be entered, however much we may want to.”

The immersive installation is a first for Engman, but his previous works explore a similar idea.

Illusion Landscape Photography by Chris Engman

“Landscape for Quentin” (2017). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Illusion Landscape Photography by Chris Engman

“Containment” (2015). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Illusion Landscape Photography by Chris Engman

“Refuge” (2016). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Illusion Landscape Photography by Chris Engman

“Equivalence” (2017). Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Chris Engman: Website
h/t: [Colossal]

All images via Chris Engman.

Related Articles:

Traveling Giant Moon Installation Continues to Dazzle Viewers Around the World

Japanese Art Installation Lets Visitors Step Into a Living Dream World

What is Installation Art? | History and Top Art Installations Since 2013

7 Most Spectacular ‘Mirror Room’ Installations by Yayoi Kusama

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.
Become a Member
Explore member benefits

Sponsored Content