Glenn Kaino USA, b. 1972
Sign, Connected Terrain, 2017
Wood, plaster
36 x 72 x 28 1/2 in
91.4 x 182.9 x 72.4 cm
91.4 x 182.9 x 72.4 cm
5885
Further images
This sculpture by Glenn Kaino, created from a table that is missing a pair of legs, debuted in the exhibition Sign at Kavi Gupta. The amputee desk is inert in...
This sculpture by Glenn Kaino, created from a table that is missing a pair of legs, debuted in the exhibition Sign at Kavi Gupta. The amputee desk is inert in its static state, unable to provide a level work surface for usage and is designed to be activated by a performer. Drawing from a rigorous process of collecting photographs and paintings of important historical treaties, Kaino began the work by creating a meticulous analysis of the aesthetics of document signing in times of compromise. Each desktop in this series of work is adorned in regalia signaling a different kind of document—a surrender, an armistice, a peace treaty, a covenant—and have been given the titles of theoretical contracts that propose hypothetical future scenarios in which the tables might be needed. They exist as absurd objects, a conceptual tool for use in an imagined future.