Caroline Wilcoxon

Today I went to the Dallas Art Museum and saw the Silence and Time exhibit. The overall theme for the Silence and Time exhibit was absence and presence. The artist, John Cage, uses techniques that force the viewer to "pay attention to both what is and is not present in a work of art". By using "measures of time, silence, and sound" to heighten the viewers senses, Cage creates an unique environment that would have once not had much meaning. I chose the the work "Real Time" by Jorge Macchi, an Argentine artist born in 1963. "Real Time" is a work made with match sticks that gives the impression of a digital clock. Macchi tediously put the match sticks in position for each time of the day in order to produce a "real" working clock. The underlying meaning to this piece comes from the artists use of match sticks. The match sticks symbolize destruction and uncertainty as they may at any time ignite. "Real Time" relates to the theme of the Silence and Time exhibition because if you look beyond the simplicity of the piece it has a much more complex meaning. The complexity comes from the idea that the work says so little while also saying so much.