Column, 2024
Miniature lorry, brass
The staging of a work of art is often aimed at harmonising it with its surroundings or creating a conscious contrast – and in any case making it appear as if it naturally belongs in this place. The work that goes into the presentation usually remains hidden from the public, almost concealed. As if the knowledge of this profane aspect would interfere with the viewing of the art and detract from its illusionary power.
In Column, however, we see a surreal situation that seemingly allows a glimpse behind the scenes: The freight protrudes from the cargo box of a white lorry.
This work was created for the second Miniaturbiennale, an exhibition that took place entirely inside a model diorama. Yet it incorporates a very real element of any human-sized exhibition. The archetypal art logistics lorry is a well-known sight to anyone working in the arts. However, its load, which is reminiscent of modernist sculpture, is actually an oversized origami spring folded out of brass sheets.
The ‘art’ also appears to be much longer than the cargo space itself and there are no workers in sight. Is this a failed attempt to fit a square peg into a round hole? Was it compressed inside the truck like an art handler's idea of a jack-in-the-box? Or is there a void hole inside the truck, where a truly endless column could fit – the final form of Brancusi’s towering monument?
