The museum, as we knew it,
was falling apart in the early '80s.
The blockbuster had been invented
Scholarship didn't matter anymore.
The museum was kind of over from our point of views.
The museums and other institutions
in the so-called art world
are in fact governed by
individuals who play often a significant role
in the city or even in the country.
One way to break down the barrier
between what is presumed to be
this secluded and holy sphere of
what we call 'art'
from the rest of the world
which is dirty politics
is to bring that other world
into the holy place.
We took the visual language of the world
as we found it and occupied all those formats and
tried to bring them together for our own personal use.
One of the things that
really struck us in the early '80s was
how museums really likes things that are
difficult to take care of.
Like museums really thrived on difficult conservation.
When we actually began to make damaged objects
in order that they can be conserved,
the whole idea of having ruins
of the Miss General Idea Pavilion
as an idea about providing museums
with things that needed conservation.
So within a museum you're used to seeing
you know, certain things whether
that's the art on the walls,
the education department docents,
the gift shop downstairs.
And what struck me as a great way to kind of
engage a more open dialogue
would be to essentially open up a store.
You're an artist,
but this isn't a gallery.
What would you sell?
Like how would you commodify yourself?
There's something about it
being embedded specifically in the museum
that I hope would call into
question to the audience like how are
they making a distinction between what
you can buy for 99 cents at the store,
and then that same artist actually has
artwork in the gallery down the way.
An artwork is considered primarily
as an investment opportunity.
Collectors flock to buy it out
and after a year or two turn it over
because there is no personal connection to these works.
It is really like buying socks.
And you win some and you lose some.
It was a big interest of ours
the whole idea of the
museum is an artist concern.
These artworks could not be shown without the institution.
They hinge entirely on the
existence of the institution
and the audience in it.
Whether you want to call
it a parasitic or symbiotic relationship,
those are both maybe closer
to what I'm going for.
It's just highlighting
an existing kind of predicament,
which is that art and art objects
are tied into an economy.
We can choose to separate ourselves from it
but that doesn't do anything either.
So what happens when
it's just laid out for you to deal with.
