In Living Room [Living-Comedor] (1968–69), Camnitzer reconstitutes a furnished domestic space using only written text. Conceived initially as a “room in a box,” the project was first mounted as an immersive installation at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Venezuela in 1969. Photocopied words were affixed to the floor and walls in locations corresponding to the placement of chairs, wallpaper, a flowerpot, and other commonplace objects.
By reducing a three-dimensional space to its written signifiers, Camnitzer highlights the potential of language to influence physical behavior. Indeed, visitors passing through the space tend to interact with the words as they would with the actual objects represented, pausing to closely observe the composition of a framed painting, or walking over the area labeled “rug,” but refraining from standing on the “table.”