Inside the Institute for Contemporary Art plays “Abattoir, U.S.A.!”, an eery video that tours a simulated abattoir, or the more elegant word for slaughterhouse., who examines the disturbing similarities of slaughterhouses to the systematic violence against Black Americans. Building on the artist’s interest in architectural theory, the show interrogates how the architecture of killing has both generated and sustained modernity.
DEAN: Why do you think you felt more clear-eyed? Do you think it is getting practice, or reaching a point where you’re like, “Oh, I’ve done a few shows.” Or do you think there’s something in particular about your disposition towards the work or the process of making it? OSMOSIS: I tend to think of these sculptural objects as aspirational proxies that are at one point involved in affirming a sort of artistic or cultural production. They are also complicit in the lack that’s inherent within that, you know what I’m saying? The most preliminary form of the aspirational proxy would just be the artist proper. That is where the “provability” comes in.
OSMOSIS: Yeah. When I went to Italy last summer, it was my first time in a mini airport. It was a very middle-of-nowhere vibe. It was funny to see this lag in bureaucracy. It felt as if 9/11 hadn’t happened yet. They had these facsimiles of objects that were crafted at every turning point. They made a point of hyper-realism to essentially signify contraband.
OSMOSIS: Yeah, exactly. A funny way to think about it would be if you were to babify Fritz Lang’s workers leaving the factory and instead it’s the same footage and perspective of a lowly artist leaving their shared studio space. We’re circling around what I would call this, “live, laugh, love,” microeconomy of object-making that goes into that model of iteration. You “iterate, iterate, iterate,” as Olivia so aptly put.
DEAN: This brings us to something that I think about often. With the status of sculpture right now, there is this incestuous thing where sculpture can only ever refer back to itself. Because we’ve passed through the ready-made and nineties installation art, it means that sculpture refers back to objects. Also, as you’re saying, there’s multiple objects circumscribed by, “We’re viewing it in the private showroom or in the gallery.