Emilia & Ilya Kabakov

Russia / USA

An enormous table occupies a disproportionate space in the room; only a narrow space is left for the viewer to get around the table, by flattening himself against the wall. The table is covered with a white tablecloth, and plates and silverware are arranged in rows of place settings. A drawing lies to the left of each setting, and a text to the right. In the middle of the table is an apple, placed in such a way that it is impossible to reach it from any side of the table. The room is draped in white fabric. The music of Mozart can be heard in the room. The drawings and texts on the table should be examined by the viewer moving clockwise around the table. The text explains a ‘way’ to get the apple. For each of the twenty place settings, this ‘way’ is new and unexpected. Together the ways represent a large ‘fan’ of possibilities: philosophical, linguistic, magical, technological, psychological, political, etc. Each way is described in extraordinary detail, and in a sense this represents a small encyclopedia of all possible ways of appropriation, except, of course, the simplest and least accessible way – to grab it. The drawings serve as a visual commentary on the texts. All of this has an extremely grave and profound appearance, but the atmosphere of the installation – the white walls, the white curtains, the lighting and the music – imparts to the whole a nuance of playfulness, festivity, and irony.

(Text: imagine limerick catalogue, 2004)