THE SLOW INEVITABLE DEATH OF AMERICAN MUSCLE

source: madebysixwordpress

This sculpture, by Jonathan Schipper, is a machine that advances two full sized automobiles slowly into one another, simulating a head on automobile collision. The gear system can be adjusted so that the crash occurs over the period of a few days, up to one year or more. The movement can be made so slow as to be invisible.
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source: moussemagazineit

Under Destruction is a group exhibition, featuring twenty internationally known contemporary artists, that examines the use and role of “destruction” in contemporary art. Fifty years after Jean Tinguely’s historic Homage to New York (1960) the present exhibition proposes a series of alternative approaches to a theme traditionally associated with the more spectacular and inherently protest-oriented work of Jean Tinguely, Gustav Metzger and others in the 50s and 60s. “If nothing can be created, something must be destroyed”, is how Rosalind Krauss succinctly summarized Georges Bataille’s La part maudite (The Accursed Share, 1949). While this phrase can basically describe the ethos of Under Destruction, the exhibition raises the stakes normally linked with such a deleterious theme. Not only does it explore the various modes of destruction in art, but, more importantly, it also addresses to what ends it is implemented. Indeed, the exhibition reflects on the subject from a series of angles, perceiving destruction as everything from a generative force to environmental memento mori, and from consumer fallout to a form of poetic transformation.
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source: mask9

乔纳森·西佩 Jonathan SCHIPPER
美国艺术家乔纳森·西佩让两辆汽车十分缓慢地撞在一起。在这个展览过程中，人们看到的是冷酷无情的迎面碰撞，其结果是两辆原本完好无损的车上的金属、玻璃和塑料都被挤在了一起。这些都是“肌肉车”，一种美国文化中引人自豪的符号。在这个崇尚卖弄的经济体系里，招摇的消费替代了虽乏味却至关重要的可持续性消费。两辆车并没有以它们力所能及的狂野的加速能力和最高时速发生碰撞，取而代之的是液压机以每天一毫米的固定速度把它们逐渐拉到一起。

这使人们在见证这个奇怪的灾难时，欣赏到作品中的讽刺意味和诗意般的公正。这个车祸是不可见的，因为车子的速度是肉眼无法察觉的。这并不是由人为错误所导致的霎那间发生的事故-例如一个司机打瞌睡了或者对路面弯度判断错误，这样的事故发生得太快以至于人们需要通过慢镜头来回顾。然而，这件作品本身就是一个慢动作，暗喻可以避免的灾祸。鲁莽、短视、以及最重要的，车辆所代表的无意义，都是这个作品的重要内容，在引人注意的同时也提出了警告。