A.R.T. is a mobile art installation designed to enable a female participant to collaborate with the artist in the creation of a human life through artificial insemination. The piece was conceived in direct response to the cliche use of death to create a meaningful experience of art for its audience.
Last Friday, before we headed out to Wynwood to get a head start on some of the Basel action, we stopped by our friend and architect, Cassidy Fry’s place in Buena Vista by ways of Deon Rubi. We found Cassidy and his friend and artist, Nathan Duvall hammering away at a crate that we later learned is a part of an outrageous installation the guys were working on for Miami Art Week – A.R.T.
A.R.T. is an acronym for Assisted Reproductive Technology. It is the means through which the artist can live on into posterity and the recipient of his human potential can become a living sculpture. The role of the artist as mere catalyst is exposed as mother and child become subject of the work erasing the lines between art and life. Though apparently dependent on the participation of a willing female, A.R.T. stands on its own as a platform through which to engage in contemporary cultural dialogue.
SCULPTURE KEY
On its face, A.R.T. appears to be a typical 11x6x8 art handling crate floating on casters. It conceals an interior comprised of two rooms separated by a rotating wall. Visitors are greeted in the gallery-like Reception Room where a collection of objects used for the act of insemination is displayed. The Conception Room is designed solely for the female participant’s comfort and privacy for self- insemination with the artist’s semen.
A. The Measure of a Man and Red, White & Rose
The inseminator rotates on a turntable set atop a pedestal housing a wine cooler containing bottles of red and white wine to be mixed into a faux rose.
C. The Rotating Waterwall
Attached to the rotating wall are faucets on either side. As the wall rotates the water continues to pour freely into a stationary circular basin centered in the wall below. Above the faucets hangs Smoke & Mirrors, a medicine cabinet containing the artist’s semen cryogenically frozen in liquid nitrogen.
B. One on One Table Talk
Prospective participants review legal documents and discuss the collaboration to create a child. Folded down the table uncovers a small window in the exterior of the crate.
D. Bedroom
The design for interior of the bedroom was influenced by conversations with numerous women. The pod-like space provides comfort and privacy and is lit by a circular skylight.
CALL TO ARTIST: PARTICIPANTS WANTED