Tuesday, February 18, 2025

vegetable curatorship


This onion is destined for the compost.  It didn't really appreciate us going away for the week, and it was starting to become a little whiffy, even if there's something aesthetically appealing in its decomposition.

One of the papers that I heard at CAA - on a panel about toxic media - had to do with what to do with toxic materials in an archive or museum (think of Eva Hesse's use of asbestos fibers, say) - including one particular installation that the speaker had visited that included - even consisted of - a heap of potatoes, that, it turned out had been treated with fire retardant (a notoriously toxic substance, even if, obviously, a useful one).  The whole paper raised some fascinating questions about what it is that museums actually collect - antique formaldehyde, for example.  But somehow (albeit in a sanctioned fashion) the speaker had abstracted a couple of potatoes from the heap - and one of these she'd let grow, and grow, and grow ... when does the organic impetus for decay contained in an art work take over?  

Unfortunately, I think this onion has reached the end of its natural/abnatural days ...

 

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