I loved last summer’s site specific installationby Kara Walker in the old Domino Sugar Factory Wareh

I loved last summer’s site specific installationby Kara Walker in the old Domino Sugar Factory Warehouse launched by CreativeTime. But when #BKMContemporary curator Eugenie Tsai came to me with thesuggestion that maybe we install one of the sugar babies in the museumgalleries, I nearly broke out into hives. Or more specifically bug bites.What often makes an artist’s temporary installationexciting and fresh is not easily translatable into an artwork for collection. Many of the sugar babies in the warehousewere cast from sugar and molasses. Thesewere left exposed to the somewhat open environment to melt and transform duringthe installation. The process was bothevocative and challenging, and as an art conservator who is charged withpreserving artwork, completely freeing.However, when an artist wants to take a moment or a portion of asite-specific, temporary installation and create an object that then livesindependently from that installation, a different approach needs to be broughtto the table.  This sculpture of an African boy attendant with bananas is castin resin and coated with molasses and dark brown sugar. Displaying a sculpture with molasses andsugar in a museum environment would expose the collection to great risk ofpests. Mice, cockroaches, and other insectswould be attracted to the thick sugar and molasses coating. Both are damaging to artworks and in turnthey could attract other insects that are even more damaging to artworks, suchas carpet beetles, and webbing cloths moths. Infestations can occur very quickly and be difficult to control anderadicate completely. Even though theartist prefers that the sculpture be displayed in the open, in thinking aboutlife independent from the sugar factory, she designed a specific platform andvitrine to be used when the work is displayed in museum environments. The work, although quite different, remainsarrestingly beautiful and provocative.Posted by Lisa Bruno -- source link

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