Encyclopaedia of an Art Idea

When two art authorities conducted a critique on art idea no. 8,582,048, they removed its centre so that through it they could see the position of each other’s argument. The centre was then lost. Some time later, a photograph mysteriously circulated showing the ‘complete’  idea being registered at ‘desk no. 5’. Upon seeing this a Museum included the idea in a survey on Minimal art intended to coincide with the current exhibition, a homage to the constructivist Varvara Stepanova. The authorities therefore searched for the idea’s missing centre and, in so doing, found four possibilities. The question thus arose: which of the four is the missing one? We, a handful of willing viewers, were asked to decide. The decision, however, has not yet been made for ‘viewers’ are not to touch the art and as the idea is in the other room, we can only compare it to the possibilities via memory. This process is laborious and up until this hour [12.09 Uhr] of this day  [Mittwoch 18.11.1998] , our memories have failed. Albeit, we do suspect that not one of the four is the ‘original’. Nevertheless we must continue and select one, the best one, quickly — for time is running out and the homage to Stepanova will soon be over.

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• waiting room at the Bureau Of Art Ideas, Berlin
• library of forgotten ideas
• stairs
• desk no. 5
• filing cabinet of registered art ideas
• d/sided shelf
• chair
• entrance for artists wishing to register their ideas
• entrance for art authorities