Julia Scher American Fibroids, 1996/2022
15 hard drives, table, mirror, various artworks for table, sign bin with signs, costumes for wardrobe, director's chair, carpet, soundtrack, CD player and speakers
Dimensions variable
American Fibroids 1996/2022 was originally conceived within the framework of a wave of gentrification transforming New York neighborhoods since the 1980s. Scher installed a flea market as a recreation of the kind of booth found at the 6th avenue flea market in Chelsea. This flea market had been a source for inspiration and materials for generations of New York artists, and was being pushed out of the area by the wave of the 1990s galleries (her own among them) gentrifying the neighborhood.
The work consists of various materials displayed as if for sale: tables, clothing racks, a sales table, posters, T-shirts, discarded hard disks, sounds recordings, cameras. Stacks of the artist's own hard drives (already obsolete by 1996), for example, are presented with tags with data, but without price. At the time of its first presentation, the critic Timothy Druckrey notably called it "a commodification of security as a souvenir of democracy."
In an interview with Daniel Baumann, the director of the Kunsthalle Zürich where the work has been most recently installed, Scher described the work like this: "It’s all pretty much non-functioning surveillance equipment from my older shows. It’s a flea-market, everything has a price tag. But it’s so named like a fibroid in your body. It’s not a cancer, just a blob that gets in the way of other functionality. It takes up useful space, it takes up blood."
The work also has a sound component. The soundtrack combines the language of sales pitch and seduction, suggesting wares for sale were both objects and people. When it was first presented, an attendant was present, emphasizing this aspect of the work.
"Please peruse our used hard drives, table number one
I offer distinguished and ambient space.
I am full and waiting for you.
Post edible environmental complex
I am raw and ready for you.
Americans are not on alert.
They are are not on now.
It's who you play, not who you are.
Come into my area now.
Please loosen my access control..."
INSTALLATION SPECIFICATIONS
– The work requires a minimum space of 60 sqm.
– An electricity supply is required in order for the soundtrack to be played.
COMPONENTS INCLUDED IN SALE
– 1x Portable foldable table incl. price tag (size of top 76 x 183 cm).
– 1x Multicolored carpet (2x red panel, 1x blue panel, 1x white panel, approx. dimensions 660 x 400cm).
– 1x Pink director’s chair.
– 5x Poster, each 46 x 61cm, digital print
– 1x CD player.
– 1x Audio file, CD format (duration approx. 2.30 min).
– 5x Article of clothing.
– 1x Pink uniform.
– 1x Black crate bin containing x3 plastic printed sign with price tag.
– 1x Wooden framed mirror.
– 1x Large transparent plastic foil and x4 wire rope.
– 2x Metal lampshades.
– 2x Speakers (model no. PRO X44AV 40-5001) incl. speaker stands.
– 1x Amplifier (model Dynavox digital karaoke system e-sa18ac230v).
– 4x Metal net.
– 1x Melted glass object
– 18x hard drive, 5x VHS tape, 5x lens cap, selection of small plastic and metal objects
– Installation manual
– Certificate of authenticity
COMPONENTS NOT INCLUDED IN SALE
– 1x Metal clothes rack and hangers.
The work consists of various materials displayed as if for sale: tables, clothing racks, a sales table, posters, T-shirts, discarded hard disks, sounds recordings, cameras. Stacks of the artist's own hard drives (already obsolete by 1996), for example, are presented with tags with data, but without price. At the time of its first presentation, the critic Timothy Druckrey notably called it "a commodification of security as a souvenir of democracy."
In an interview with Daniel Baumann, the director of the Kunsthalle Zürich where the work has been most recently installed, Scher described the work like this: "It’s all pretty much non-functioning surveillance equipment from my older shows. It’s a flea-market, everything has a price tag. But it’s so named like a fibroid in your body. It’s not a cancer, just a blob that gets in the way of other functionality. It takes up useful space, it takes up blood."
The work also has a sound component. The soundtrack combines the language of sales pitch and seduction, suggesting wares for sale were both objects and people. When it was first presented, an attendant was present, emphasizing this aspect of the work.
"Please peruse our used hard drives, table number one
I offer distinguished and ambient space.
I am full and waiting for you.
Post edible environmental complex
I am raw and ready for you.
Americans are not on alert.
They are are not on now.
It's who you play, not who you are.
Come into my area now.
Please loosen my access control..."
INSTALLATION SPECIFICATIONS
– The work requires a minimum space of 60 sqm.
– An electricity supply is required in order for the soundtrack to be played.
COMPONENTS INCLUDED IN SALE
– 1x Portable foldable table incl. price tag (size of top 76 x 183 cm).
– 1x Multicolored carpet (2x red panel, 1x blue panel, 1x white panel, approx. dimensions 660 x 400cm).
– 1x Pink director’s chair.
– 5x Poster, each 46 x 61cm, digital print
– 1x CD player.
– 1x Audio file, CD format (duration approx. 2.30 min).
– 5x Article of clothing.
– 1x Pink uniform.
– 1x Black crate bin containing x3 plastic printed sign with price tag.
– 1x Wooden framed mirror.
– 1x Large transparent plastic foil and x4 wire rope.
– 2x Metal lampshades.
– 2x Speakers (model no. PRO X44AV 40-5001) incl. speaker stands.
– 1x Amplifier (model Dynavox digital karaoke system e-sa18ac230v).
– 4x Metal net.
– 1x Melted glass object
– 18x hard drive, 5x VHS tape, 5x lens cap, selection of small plastic and metal objects
– Installation manual
– Certificate of authenticity
COMPONENTS NOT INCLUDED IN SALE
– 1x Metal clothes rack and hangers.
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