“Even If Such An Object Outside Us Were Unimportant” - 1995
Mixed media, approx. 16’ high x 37’ x 64’
Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco
photo credit: Craig Goodman

Inspired by a photograph of burning furniture inside Nicolae Ceaucescue’s palace after he was deposed, this installation attempted to invoke a sense that the space had once been a site of power but was now abandoned. Exactly what had taken place there was, however, a mystery.

Texts composed from text appropriated from Das Kapital were painted in white semi-gloss paint on flat white walls. Only from certain angles were the words legible. It was impossible to see all the words at once no matter where one stood.

A long text composed from text appropriated from De Sade, Foucault, Hitler & Arendt was written with white chalk over the entire area of the floor, which had been painted with blackboard slating. As visitors arrived for the exhibition’s opening and walked on the floor, the chalk text began to be obliterated.

These wall & floor texts became the basis for the first third of my first novel, Anne Frank In Jerusalem.