photo courtesy of Dallas Contemporary, by Kevin Todora
Chim↑Pom
Non-Burnable
as part of INVISIBLE CITIES: Moving Images from Asia
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas [link]
Sept. 29 – Dec. 17, 2017
The prayers of well-wishing citizens are sent to Hiroshima in the form of thousands of pounds of colorful origami cranes. In a transmutation from cultural meme to sacred rubbish the totems are classified as “non-burnable” trash. This semantic redefinition of folded paper formalizes a social contract wherein sympathetic gestures eclipse the value of environmental or infrastructure concerns, converting social consideration into a societal burden: an ever-expanding archive of care. Maintained by the state, the trash-chive converts morally beneficent acts into sanctioned eco-terrorism, conflating objecthood with fulfillment of a sympathetic ritual.
~ Ryder Richards
images courtesy of the Dallas Contemporary, by Kevin Todorra and the author
