Tuesday, April 02, 2013

placebo

I've been talking to my daughters on the phone over the weekend.
Each is far away. Alaska, England, Finland.
The time zones baffle and exhaust me.
There are so many things to talk about, and so much that they don't say but that I can feel.
I can feel that they want to say more, but they protect me. 
Last May, daughter April and I visited the MOMA in New York city.  She was encouraged by the staff to help herself to some of the endless supply of wrapped candies in Felix Gonzales Torres' 'untitled' (placebo) sculpture.    What does a placebo do?

"I wanted to make an artwork that could disappear."  Felix Gonzales Torres

8 comments:

Caterina Giglio said...

a lot going on in your post... very inspiring installation

Margaret said...

A placebo...pacifies.

Unknown said...

a placebo: a place-holder; perhaps
those unspoken thoughts
our children spare us
-sus

Amelia said...

I would love to be able to go to this exhibition and see this work, I often read about it and him! Looks great.

mansuetude said...

{ }

.
brilliant post.
the question opens and opens doors of doors in every direction-


.
"Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place." -Rumi

(a possible remedy) (?)

Judy Martin said...

I too have seen this piece in books and it has moved me. Seeing it and the interaction of the spectators was very powerful. I try to figure it out. I try to figure out why I felt images of it fit my phone call text.

Its about love.

About the generosity of unconditional love that is in endless supply and that is constantly taken, consumed, disappearing each day by day yet it comes back. It is in endless supply.

It is about desire.
It is about kneeling before shiny abundance and reaching out timidly to touch it and to receive the gift by taking it.

the day by day disappearance and the invisible yet constant, never stopping, always beautiful LOVE.

The placebo part of it? Placebos are candy pills that will not cure you but that you take anyway with the belief that you will be healed. You take placebos over and over, every day. And you still die, but ..you never die.

Love never dies.

jeanne hewell-chambers said...

placebos are seeds of belief and hope.

Margaret Cooter said...

Making art works that can disappear - quite an ambition! A recent Turner Prize winner, Richard Wright, has said he's trying to make work that only lasts for a while - it's more of an experience for the viewers if they know it's not going to be around forever - and that when he dies, he doesn't want to leave any work behind.