11 Heavy Things

A process/behind-the-scenes post full of *insider details* and TriVia

I, for one, always love to see how things are made, maybe you do too. Today we have an interactive sculpture garden I made for the 2009 Venice Biennale called “Eleven Heavy Things.” My idea was that that people would ask their friends to take a picture of them posing with these sculptures, then they would post those selfies online — I saw the selfies as the finished work and the sculptures as the props that elicited it. (This would have been a perfect idea one year later, when Instagram was invented.)

Here are some sketches; I was trying to think of concepts that would invite the viewer in; I didn’t want to have to have dumb signage that said “Interact with these!” (This part worked.) Most of these ideas didn’t make the final cut, but a few of them I’d still like to do.

Kind of about humiliation/blow jobs

I think the one on the left was meant for your hands to go through, poised to squeeze breasts

I did do this finger one. A foreshadowing of my second lesbian era I guess

I’ve had dreams of levitation my whole life; feel free to tell me what that’s about

This is all of culture now! (My note says “Glib, heart on sleeve”)

No way to pose with this one, which is fitting…intimacy so out of reach

I made them with the great Ron McPherson and his son at their fabrication place, La Paloma. This is just a foam tester.

The final sculpture garden worked perfectly.

I remember being surprised that making this massive work and being part of the biggest art show in the world had so little impact on my life. I didn’t realize quite how outside the art world I was, not having a gallery etc. (and how low-affect the art world was compared to the other mediums I worked in.) But, as with all my art and performance work, I loved the process all the way through and so I considered it a success. This piece influenced so many thing I would go on to make.

Made before I had a child

I’m less guilty now! That happens when you’re in a relationship with someone who likes you *as you are*

After Venice, the sculptures went to Union Square Park in NY. I loved how people used them there.

The parks commission balked at installing this one and I wrote them a letter basically telling them the hole was too high for a penis to go in

This work, from start to finish was supported by Jeffrey Deitch. Suzanne Geiss, his managing director at the time, handled so many logistics, working with the aforementioned fabricator/installer, Ron McPherson (who I still pay each month to store the sculptures…the sad fate of most art). My dream is that one day some cool sculpture garden will install Eleven Heavy Things permanently and it can live its modern life, in the era it was born for.

The title came from this book