Our time is so completely filled by entertainment, there is – one may say: fortunately – not a second left for our thoughts to wander freely. Therefore, there is no chance for us to grasp, if only by pure happenstance, the overwhelming futility of our daily chores – of activities so time- and energy-consuming that they seem to us so important and so captivating. “And what we really crave is not the soft and relaxing time that would make us remember what we are, but the hustle and bustle that deliver us from thinking” – and steers our minds back towards the entertainment.
Here is why the hunt gets more valued than the prey: “A hare would not protect anyone from the sight of death and misery; the hunt, however, does turn our minds away from it, and so delivers us from it” (the popular wisdom calls it “catching your rabbit first”). A dead hare may be the least important item on the hunter’s to-do list; the hunt, however, is on the top of that list, and so it must remain; even if the hunt by itself seems futile, its futility does protect the mind from confronting a different kind of futility, one that is much bigger and scarier – from one that really matters.
The escape into entertainment is not a disease; it is a result of the modern revolution in lifestyle. One mustn’t look back, nor stop to reflect, nor get carried away by sentiments. The past has been deprived of any rights; it’s practically illegal. The only permissible direction is forward.
The fate of other creatures is most acutely painful. We are so guilty here that we almost don’t matter anymore.
The only witnesses of the coming dawn of new rules were a cat and a dog, whose barking nobody understood. His barking was not considered the proper access code.
The human lack of humility towards nature is proof of our ambition and of our belief that the work of man is in no way inferior to that of nature. This fact is to be hibernated (frozen) so it does not pass without notice and so it is forever preserved, unchanged.
A change in the program of reality produces déjà vu – a small error in its operation, with little or no influence on the whole thing.
While trying to achieve absolute certainty, we slice the uncertain world into pieces; while trying to see everything, we produce a model that refers to nothing but itself. The only way to regain our identity, our certainty – to return “home”, to our hustle and bustle and to our entertainment – is through violence.
The world as we know it is not fully comprehensible; for now, it at least begins to seem transparent. We understand the rules that guide it, and we make every effort to deliberately introduce new rules and new inhibitions; the only function of these new additions is to become yet another game within our multi-layered system of omnipresent, constantly recurring entertainment. What we know is derived from fiction. The basis of our reality lies essentially in everything that we carefully separate from what is real. Our reality is built upon fiction, because it is fictional itself. The scientific experience proves already that nothing happens by mere chance; whatever we may consider to be accidental in reality belongs to the realm of reality that is still unexplored.
Dead Dog, Dead Cat, And Rabbit
Installation.
A block of ice with a dog.
A block of ice with a cat.
A block of clear ice.
Complete installation measures 13' x 18' x 100″.
years: 1992-1995
Our time is so completely filled by entertainment, there is – one may say: fortunately – not a second left for our thoughts to wander freely. Therefore, there is no chance for us to grasp, if only by pure happenstance, the overwhelming futility of our daily chores – of activities so time- and energy-consuming that they seem to us so important and so captivating. “And what we really crave is not the soft and relaxing time that would make us remember what we are, but the hustle and bustle that deliver us from thinking” – and steers our minds back towards the entertainment.
Here is why the hunt gets more valued than the prey: “A hare would not protect anyone from the sight of death and misery; the hunt, however, does turn our minds away from it, and so delivers us from it” (the popular wisdom calls it “catching your rabbit first”). A dead hare may be the least important item on the hunter’s to-do list; the hunt, however, is on the top of that list, and so it must remain; even if the hunt by itself seems futile, its futility does protect the mind from confronting a different kind of futility, one that is much bigger and scarier – from one that really matters.
The escape into entertainment is not a disease; it is a result of the modern revolution in lifestyle. One mustn’t look back, nor stop to reflect, nor get carried away by sentiments. The past has been deprived of any rights; it’s practically illegal. The only permissible direction is forward.
The fate of other creatures is most acutely painful. We are so guilty here that we almost don’t matter anymore.
The only witnesses of the coming dawn of new rules were a cat and a dog, whose barking nobody understood. His barking was not considered the proper access code.
The human lack of humility towards nature is proof of our ambition and of our belief that the work of man is in no way inferior to that of nature. This fact is to be hibernated (frozen) so it does not pass without notice and so it is forever preserved, unchanged.
A change in the program of reality produces déjà vu – a small error in its operation, with little or no influence on the whole thing.
While trying to achieve absolute certainty, we slice the uncertain world into pieces; while trying to see everything, we produce a model that refers to nothing but itself. The only way to regain our identity, our certainty – to return “home”, to our hustle and bustle and to our entertainment – is through violence.
The world as we know it is not fully comprehensible; for now, it at least begins to seem transparent. We understand the rules that guide it, and we make every effort to deliberately introduce new rules and new inhibitions; the only function of these new additions is to become yet another game within our multi-layered system of omnipresent, constantly recurring entertainment. What we know is derived from fiction. The basis of our reality lies essentially in everything that we carefully separate from what is real. Our reality is built upon fiction, because it is fictional itself. The scientific experience proves already that nothing happens by mere chance; whatever we may consider to be accidental in reality belongs to the realm of reality that is still unexplored.