Postmodern Crash
Goldsmiths, University of London, Millard Campus.
June 1988
Three days before the opening of the student exhibition.
The scene: The mechanics of delay.
And suddenly, without warning, the action resumes and the same scene takes place again ... But which scene? There is a young man dragging several large canvases to a bonfire, and although they look presciently postmodern, it is hard to tell which styles have been stolen in such dim light. Nor is it possible to say for certain what the following scene represents. What is certain, however, is that he is carrying out a hasty and clandestine operation. In a frenzy of wild gestures, he kicks, rips and tears canvases and throws them into a dumpster fire, the canvases he had previously carried and now wanted to get rid of.
The violence had subsided. The only sound was breathing, which gradually faded into the silence of the Millard building.
Two days before the opening of the student exhibition.
The scene: The interrogation.
Jon Thompson asks the student why he is not hanging his show, but Nick continues to listen without saying a word, only breathing, his eyes fixed on the future immaterial beauty of Death Valley, an image from which he cannot tear his gaze, in the detached expectation of what will happen next.The student makes up his mind to answer, but without taking his eyes off the future desertification of all things.
The tone of his voice is that of a discreet, neutral comment,
My intuition is my guide.
But where are your paintings?
They were destroyed.
Destroyed? The Matisses? The Picassos?
Thrown into the fire.
Pollock? Twombly?
Burned.
You threw away a first.
I want to be free.
You’re mad.
And suddenly, without warning, the action resumes, with the sound of Michael Craig-Martin’s footsteps, hurrying footsteps, coming closer and closer, faster and faster, closer and closer, until he is right there in the room, and at that moment a loud sound of breaking glass gives them a start. With the same movement, they turn their heads to the east, towards America... but it is only the sound of a passing truck bouncing over a bump in the road.