A daring interpretative piece, part of a series of unfinished works

May 6, 2018 11:23 AM

After a contractor left a hole in his office wall, graphic designer Padraig Murphy put up a museum label next to it. Voila, modern art.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl (12 comments total)

Exposed Wiring & Controls, unnamed contractor, 2018, mixed media.

I love it! It may be an obvious joke, but it's a funny one. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 12:29 PM on May 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

The update is splendid.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:47 PM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I did exactly this with several long-standing holes and damaged bits around my house when I was about ten. My "museum" was natural-history-themed rather than art-themed, though.
posted by biogeo at 1:14 PM on May 6, 2018

I am so stealing this idea! When they built the children’s hospital where I work for some reason they decided to save a little money (I’m pretty sure it was a trivial amount compared to the entire project) by not removing the windows in the critical care wing of the adjacent adult hospital. And so to this day there is a vertical row of windows that look directly onto a brick wall. Not from a foot or so, not even six inches. About one inch, with no opening to the sky above. This was done 20 years ago, so I’m pretty sure they won’t come back and fix it, even in a half-assed way. Feel free to MeMail me with suggestions for the caption. If people want I will share the final result.
posted by TedW at 2:09 PM on May 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I recall hearing of an artist (or not an artist) putting a similar museum sign up in a public space that said something to the effect of:
Earth
Mixed media
Scale: 1-1
posted by Thorzdad at 2:09 PM on May 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I desperately want to come up with a caption for TedW but am not quick witted enough today. But I hope someone does!

Here's another, from Hannah Rose Woods: "Our landlord came and gifted us with conceptual art."
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:36 PM on May 6, 2018

Marcel Duchamp called. He wants his meta back.
posted by tspae at 8:55 PM on May 6, 2018

What kind of graphic designer uses MS Word justified alignment for an art gallery info card?
posted by scose at 10:15 PM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

There's a 1920's hospital converted to offices around here and on one floor somebody put up old plaster picture frames around all the holes. It helps.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:07 AM on May 7, 2018

FWIW, I do not believe walling over existing wiring devices is compliant with fire code.
posted by mikelieman at 4:21 AM on May 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

The solution in a situation like that (existing controls that cannot be moved and must remain accessible after a renovation) is to install an access hatch. Takes about half an hour for a carpenter to make one out of jobsite scraps.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:32 AM on May 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

And so to this day there is a vertical row of windows that look directly onto a brick wall.

TedW, that's a Thomasson!
posted by oulipian at 11:41 AM on May 7, 2018 [3 favorites]