Poolside in Mel’s Melrose Place

Poolside in Mel’s Melrose PlaceTotal Proof: the Gala Committee 1995-97, a new exhibition at Red Bull Studios in New York (30 September-27 November), shows works and set re-creations from the unusual—and unmatched—project launched by the conceptual artist Mel Chin: creating props and art for the sets of the popular 1990s television drama Melrose Place that sneakily addressed topics from safe sex to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Total Proof also features a new immersive installation: a re-creation in fabric of the Melrose Place swimming pool, turned into a lounge area, complete with quilted “tiles”, silk-screened to match the original pattern, and movable curvilinear benches. While wading in, Chin jokingly called the pool a “fractured landscape of man-splaining”, but reminded everyone: “It’s up to you if you want to have a different kind of conversation.”