4 ms·
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074 'Initially set to the same time, these identical battery-powered clocks
by psychomugs 5y ago
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074
'Initially set to the same time, these identical battery-powered clocks will eventually fall out of sync, or may stop entirely. Conceived shortly after Gonzalez-Torres’s partner was diagnosed with AIDS, this work uses everyday objects to track and measure the inevitable flow of time. When one of the clocks stops or breaks, they can both be reset, thereby resuming perfect synchrony. In 1991, Gonzalez-Torres reflected, "Time is something that scares me. . . or used to. This piece I made with the two clocks was the scariest thing I have ever done. I wanted to face it. I wanted those two clocks right in front of me, ticking."'
- jfengel 5y agoAh, yes. Gonzalez-Torres. I first saw his work at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It was a string of dollar-store Christmas lights stapled to the wall. I think there were 24 lights, to represent the age at which is partner died. I'm usually the guy willing to defend contemporary art, but there's not much I can do here. The work lacks any craft and the insights are shallow, better expressed by the label than the piece. Clearly the curators of these very famous museums disagree with me. But when people mock "modern art" (which this technically isn't), this is what they're thinking about.
- psychomugs 5y agoSure, you could trace this meaninglessness back to the obvious Duchamp Urinal example, but I could read it as being forever haunted by a specific number to the point where even the banality of dollar-store Christmas lights takes on a new and painful meaning. If I glimpse another consciousness and walk away a different and more empathic person, then who am I to mock it?