Tuesday 29 March 2016

Equivalent to Equivalent VIII

When it was first acquired and displayed by the Tate Gallery in London, Carl Andre's 'Equivalent VIII' (below) caused quite a stir. The merits or otherwise of the work - and the amount of money paid for it - are a matter of debate which does not concern me here. Instead, what I've wondered about is whether any of the night security staff on duty while the Tate was closed ever re-arranged the bricks. It would be very easy to do without anybody noticing what had happened.

The corollary to this is, if none of them thought of doing so, why didn't it occur to them? And if it did occur to them and they didn't actually do it, why didn't they? I would have done it. After all, in those days there were few, if any, CCTV cameras to catch one in the (artistic? - creative? - despicable?) act.

 
For other images see the page about 'Equivalent VIII' at the Tate Gallery.