State Court Spoliation No. 1 (Placed Art, Law, VARA)
This diptych, derived from the key passage of the artist’s first placed public
document, in a state supreme court in 2023, re-contextualizes and expands a
theory of spoliation—the destruction of evidence—ultimately the destruction of an
objective shared reality. Here, the piece documents spoliation by a state supreme
court, through its election to not publish, and thus hide from the public, its judicial
decisions impacting the public at large. One page is nearly illegible and broken; the
other page shows some of what should be public, for the public good—but not all.
Somatically, in the body, does the piece draw the viewer in, or cause a quick glance
away? Emotionally, in the heart, do feelings arise when public judges decide to hide
their decisions away? Ultimately, the piece may resonate most in the head, as it
references Hans Haacke’s institutional critiques, but perhaps no more. If so, it may
not be an example of post-theory art, but rather conceptual art, post-conceptual
art, and minimalism.
This diptych, derived from the key passage of the artist’s first placed public
document, in a state supreme court in 2023, re-contextualizes and expands a
theory of spoliation—the destruction of evidence—ultimately the destruction of an
objective shared reality. Here, the piece documents spoliation by a state supreme
court, through its election to not publish, and thus hide from the public, its judicial
decisions impacting the public at large. One page is nearly illegible and broken; the
other page shows some of what should be public, for the public good—but not all.
Somatically, in the body, does the piece draw the viewer in, or cause a quick glance
away? Emotionally, in the heart, do feelings arise when public judges decide to hide
their decisions away? Ultimately, the piece may resonate most in the head, as it
references Hans Haacke’s institutional critiques, but perhaps no more. If so, it may
not be an example of post-theory art, but rather conceptual art, post-conceptual
art, and minimalism.
