This machine shreds snapshot photographs (for which there are no negatives) unless they are saved by a viewer placing their hand on a plaque.
'The sculpture provides an alternative to the kinds of visual decisions usually permissible in an art gallery, with regard to the viewing of artworks. ...Expressing what they like or dislike, they are in a position of choice, with the power to be active or passive, saving the images or allowing them to be shredded. The participant's intuitive decision to stop the shredding of the images, to save a particular photo for aesthetic, subjective or ethical reasons, is a personal statement of significant and irrevocable consequence, as is their alternate decision to ignore the process they are witnessing and do nothing.' (Max Dean statement Venice Biennale Catalogue 1999)
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1 comment:
What are those hands for? Do they perform the shredding manually? Hahaha! It's kind of cute though. The whole gadget could be a winning piece in some scientific invention competition!
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