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Life As Art - Literally
By Tracey Zeng
“Life is art”-it’s an adage only too over-used in our society. After all, in our hectic world of instant coffee, fast food, speedy cars, and busy schedules, who has time to consider the aesthetic values of our everyday existence? The answer is a resounding ‘not I’, heard from all corners of our nation.
That is, perhaps, why Lauren Argo’s project, ‘Life as Art’, is so astounding. For two weeks from the dates June 4th to June 17th, 2006, the Kentucky-born artist will display her everyday life for the world to see by living in an 8 x 4 ½ x 12 glass display case in the 21c Museum Hotel’s restaurant, Proof on Main. With breaks only to shower, change, and go to the restroom, Argo will quite literally be living the life of a piece of artwork. The wall facing her viewers will be blank, with the purpose that Argo, in her two weeks of living in the box, will decorate it as a physical manifestation of her experience in the display case.
For those who are lucky enough to be able to see the exhibition in person, their interactions with Argo exemplify the essence of the motto ‘life is art’-beautiful and touching to both parties. The artist sleeps, eats, dances, and scrawls messages onto and behind the glass window from which her visitors watch her. At night, the 24-hour web cam at the corner of her room records her sleeping and waking. She is a human in a glass cage, left to find for herself what it is to experience life, devoid of the typical rush or bustle that distracts us from its essential beauty.
As Argo wrote in her blog, “They [the people who stop to see the exhibit] had touched me so simply, so deeply. I can't tell you how much it meant …that is why I’m doing this piece. For the people that are willing to ask questions. Those that are willing to wonder about my life, their life, our lives as art…I will remember how much they touched my heart on my first Monday as the girl in the box.”
And perhaps the girl in the box, too, will touch enough people to bring the spirit of ‘life is art’ back into our society.
To read more about Lauren Argo and her project, go to www.proofonmain.com. Tracey Zeng is a student of Arcadia High School.