LigoranoReeseThe State of Things (2006)

On Saturday, April 29th the artists Ligorano/Reese installed a temporary sculpture in the garden of Jim Kempner Fine Art, located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Sculpted in ice and spelling out the word “Democracy” in block letters, the installation reflected on the current political state and the transience of our cultural values. Measuring 20 inches high and 120 inches in length, the word melted over 24 hours. The sculpture cracked, diminished, and ultimately disappeared, leaving as its final trace a puddle of water.

The sculpture focused on the impact of the Iraq war, how censorship, surveillance and torture are transforming U.S. society. According to Nora Ligorano, “The sculpture is emblematic of the times – our democracy is in danger of wasting away at an imperceptible rate.” Marshall Reese adds, “What stands out with this piece is that for the amount of time most people view art – 1 minute or less – the sculpture won’t seem to change, yet by day’s end, it will be gone - disappear.”

This item is part of the collection: Open Source Movies

Director: LigoranoReese
Producer: Ligorano/Reese
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Language: English
Keywords: ice, bush, politics, art, protest, iraq, gallery, sculpture, video
Contact Information: Nora Ligorano, Marshall Reese risarano@rcn.com sot123@pureproductsusa.com

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - April 26, 2008
Subject: Silly

This makes "My Mother The Car" look like Citizen Kane. It's just so silly.

Reviewer: Eva Vikstrom - - June 17, 2007
Subject: Much Depends On How You Say It

A movie documenting a temporary piece of political art. The word "Democracy", written in ice, is slowly melting down. The viewers hardly see this process, but it's documented in time lapse photography. Some months later this installation is once again made public, but in a movie in the Internet Archive. Another process is started - some of the viewers tell what they think in reviews.

There's a large quantity of movies about the state of things on this site. I'm tired of rotating pictures of the president with flickering quotes in yellow. It's interesting to find movies where the message is deepened and told with subtle and reflected artistic means, like in this movie, that I found in the Staff Picks. - But I'd prefer to watch a mpeg2.

Reviewer: Telephone Toughguy - - March 9, 2007
Subject: The ice melted? OMG!

It's almost a cool idea, but a tad bit boring. Chopping off heads is much more effective.

Reviewer: agargara - - March 9, 2007
Subject: Ineffective, boring...

Well, that was silly.

Reviewer: zedd3gen - - March 7, 2007
Subject: display

Yawn