Deep Social Space
- Year1989
- MaterialScaffolding poles, stanchions, chromed poles, American flag, grill with handcuffs, room divider, crutch, trolley with letterbox and potato chips, metal basket with beer cans, bread rolls, orthopedic bandage, horse saddle with blankets, music stand with cow bells, metal grids and racks, wood and metal rings, various objects
- Year of acquisition1992
- Inventory numberUAB 323
- On viewCurrently not exhibited
- Copyright© Cady Noland. Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich
More about the artwork
Cady Noland’s installation “Deep Social Space” recalls the detritus from a typical American barbecue: a kettle grill, beer cans, burger buns, an American flag, chips, and a Marlboro trash can, as well as some signifiers of rural America, such as saddles and blankets for horses. But the mood is unsettling, even aggressive. Not only do the carefully arranged objects look unused, almost clinically clean, but the scaffolding encloses the ensemble and seems to prevent free movement. If nothing else, the handcuffs reveal the ominous side of this supposedly harmless setting. What remains are the elements that govern our daily coexistence: consumption and advertising, barriers and fences. The objects can, in a rather brutal way, be understood as signifiers of social seclusion and exclusion.
