I have been digesting advice about setting up scenarios where people could do gestures (via an art installation) that mimic the acts I go through as I accumulate my materials. In theory it seemed interesting, but the mere gesture of sticking a tube or syringe-tip into a hole, belittles these acts of care-taking and love. The idea of setting up these sorts of simulations may seem profound, but the motions separated from the original intentions fall short of anything authentic. Performing these life-sustaining acts on anything short of a live person and expecting participants, who are merely going through the motions, to gain discerning insight is absurd.
For this reason, transforming the medical materials is far more valuable for me than attempting to re-use them in a different context, but similar to how they were meant to be used. The latter minimizes the depth of involvement that accompanies the "real' gesture. While the former, at least, reaches for something poetic.
Above: "10mm in Red" and "10mm in Blue." Hand painted suction catheters, PVC panel and Graphite, 2017.
RSS Feed
