Recently, my friend and I were at the MCA viewing the Biennale works. One work in particular- Angela Ellsworth's "Seer Bonnets," struck my friends fancy. His immediate response to the work was to prick his finger lightly onto one of the pins. Although it's a widely known acknowledgement that one is never to touch an exhibited work of art (with the exception of performative/installation based works with an interactive intention), the tangible property of the work nonetheless "summoned" my friend to experience the physicality of the work first hand (no pun intended).
Of course the nearby security guard stopped and lectured him and my friend apologised profusely but I couldn't help wondering- what on earth is the point of creating such an arousingly tactile work if it is just going to remain a "dead object" to the audience it is supposed to appeal to most?
hi Kim
ReplyDeletei actually had similar desires.. really wanting to touch the work..
and i was just thinking as i was reading yr blog... maybe there's something in that. That it's also about desire, about supressed desire as a woman within that religion/ culture. Maybe the fact we want to touch it, but aren't 'allowed' resembles her experience of being a woman in such a strict culture which defines what she should and shouldn't do. and if you do you just get pricked ( a detterent from doing it again) and disciplined in the way the art gallery did to your friend. I think it's a really interesting critique on those sorts of social institutions of relgion.. and the parallels in the art world.
The more i think about this work it just gets better and better!
I thought it was a brilliant work on so many levels!