Of interest is the literary critic, the definer of ‘interesting’, Sianne Ngai who wrote (to paraphrase, poorly) that calling something interesting is a pretty good way of saying just about nothing at all. ‘Interesting’ is vague, pointing only to the novelty of the object, acknowledging it exists. Interesting as a judgement abstains from critique, Ngai called it a step away from merely interesting, a step away from boring.
Salvaged office desks lacquered with laminate in less than convincing wood effect is itself interesting as a step away from boring. Also, a television, a recycled flatscreen with its innards ripped out and replaced.
An unseen bulldog pants from the rolled-down window of a parked car.
Breathless, exhausted, objects pull the image from the mind; hold it and turn it over in their hands.
The everyday, the mundane, the readymade, the interesting. The world is full of interesting objects, boring objects, those that shift in definition from one form to the next, whereupon they may transform into something else.
The L-shaped office desk greets the new employee, its surface scuffed from its old (same-same) occupant. The objects are ready to see you now.
Andy Grace Hayes (abridged from commissioned text)
#island is an exhibition of new work by Keith Farquhar & Torsten Lauschmann. An accompanying publication will be available.
