The Museum of Values
In Dadaism, anything can be art if the artist declares it to be… just like The Boy in “The Boy at the Edge of Everything”
Image: The Fountain sculpture by Marcel Duchamp
SHARE YOUR PIECE OF ART IN OUR MUSEUM OF VALUES…
Look around your current space. Spot/find something that holds great value for you. This thing might not be essential in these times but it is valuable to you which makes it important.
Get that thing and bring it to your desk, table, workspace, wherever you are.
Set it somewhere on your desk, table, or workspace that makes it a point of focus. Think of artwork in a museum on a plinth.
How do you position it? On its side? Standing up? Upside down?
Now that you have arranged your object, give it a name. Try to think of a name that leans into what it represents, not what it is. For example, if you are using a metrocard, rather than naming your sculpture ‘Metrocard” perhaps call it ‘A Pocket History of Transit.’
Use pen/markers and paper to create its name and information placard.
If you’d like, include an artist statement. Consider:
Why is this object special?
What would you like the audience to think of when looking at this piece?
Your artist statement can be poetic, literal, visual, surreal, anything you want. We simply want to celebrate and deem everyday objects as works of art. We want to make the ordinary extraordinary.
Take a picture of your sculpture, name/info placard and artist statement (optional) and post it on the TYAUSA 2020 Virtual Conference slack channel #TrustyProvocation.
Illustration by Grace Townley