Ligorano/Reese:

The State of Things

In response to the start of the Democratic Party Convention in Denver, the artist duo Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese (Ligorano/Reese), in conjunction with MCA Denver, presented The State of Things, an ice sculpture of the word “Democracy.” The work was sited at the front entrance of the museum. The artists called the piece “a temporary sculpture.” It weighed almost 2,000 pounds and measured 36 inches tall and 180 inches in width. It was installed at Noon on Tuesday, August 26th and disappeared within 24 hours.

For Ligorano/Reese, the sculpture is a highly mediated event, reflecting the prevailing discourse of the times. The artists captured the sculpture’s disappearance on videotape and digital still photography transforming the event into a multi-faceted performative installation. The State of Things was available as a webcast the day after the disappearance to create a "viral projection." People from around the country were able to witness the event and use the internet video to project it on sides of buildings, in galleries, and other locations as a way to focus attention on the need to rebuild democracy in America. Later, in a documentary installation, footage of the event was combined with street interviews of passersby, giving their views on democratic values, with the ice sculpture as a backdrop.

Nora Ligorano was born in 1956 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Marshall Reese was born in 1955 in Washington D.C. They have been collaborating since the mid-1980s and their work is included in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; New York Public Library; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Getty Institute, Los Angeles. They live and work in Brooklyn.