Yet the young man so taken with Briggs' temporary corridors didn't stop to decipher all of Plato's words, nor did he finger their Braille counterparts. No, he took in the art with his senses, letting his eyes drink in the elegant colors and the eerie shadows, allowing his feet to feel the punctured aluminum, and off he went. Briggs' installation tries to merge the two goals, but only the most diligent of visitors is going to take the time to tease out all the piece's allusions. Briggs herself says she doesn't mind at all that plenty of viewers miss her allusions. I like to have a piece read on a number of different levels.
Every experience is valid.
But Plato's words on perception, which she quoted in the piece, are most apropos here. He talks about perception and how we often mistake things for a reality that they aren't. Plato could have been talking about Briggs' own elusive installation art. But Industry of Memory may just be about multiple realities. It's about Briggs' own fascination with systems, from scientific perspective to Braille to chemistry, and it's equally about the rapture of color and light and shadow.