synecdochic and friends are Real Art Critics

[phoenixsong]

This morning's art installation, The Liberation of Two Thousand Yards of Laceweight, was available for viewing for several hours before the curator removed it. It took an hour and a half to de-install, and sadly, the artist had not provided instructions on how to safely remove the installation; the materials had to be cut twice, and three knots could not be removed.

The comments are even more insightful:

is he saying that the loneliness of our modern work-from-home isolation is the same as the isolation and deprivation of the disciples during the three days Jesus was in the tomb? Or is it more of a commentary on folk and country superstitions regarding the number three, tying into the view of yarn and knitting as women's work, and the male artist making the statement and choosing this medium is an attempt to highlight the gender disparity of a system in which women's knitting is viewed as a hobby but this is viewed as art?

I think your analysis is excellent, but you're overlooking the interactive element of the installation here. The viewer is forced to engage physically with the artwork, and to choose between destroying part of the art or remaining in stasis, immobilized. The artwork literally cannot be separated from its context without damaging it.

Exactly: synecdochic's curatorship is involuntary and unwelcome to her, despite her deep affection for the artist, forcing her without warning to confront her own views on the relationship of art to the quotidian and the relative value each has.

Comments

[synecdochic]

(For those who don't get the joke: our newest cat likes to play with yarn. A lot.)

[rydra_wong]

SUDDENLY ART.

[supermouse]

The comments on that post are *amazing*.

[tantekoo]

I truly don't know if I have words to express the degree of my adoration for this quote.