The Bruce High Quality Foundation from New York will be in the fair´s foyer and various locations throughout the fair with some sound sulptures during the fair’s open hours. Part of the VIENNA LIVE program.
The Bruce High Quality Foundation, from New York, is the official arbiter of the estate of Bruce High Quality, dedicated to the preservation of the legacy of the late social sculptor, Bruce High Quality. In the spirit of the life and work of Bruce High Quality, they aspire to invest the experience of public space with wonder, to resurrect art history from the bowels of despair, and to impregnate the institutions of art with the joy of man’s desire.
Inspired by a line in the American author Don Delillo’s sprawling novel Cosmopolis (2003) “a rat became the unit of currency” the artist-collective decided to play dead-pan with the art world and produce a pack of human-scaled animatronic rats – that can sing. In this case there is a group of them that sings the Lorraine Ellison song (that gives them their title) Stay With Me Baby an RnB classic from the mid-1960s; it is all about keeping good faith. And there is another group titled Apology, which are mute, sorry no critique here! Cosmopolis, meanwhile, is about the eventual and inevitable demise of a money-market manipulator; while rats, along with cockroaches, are considered to be one of the earth’s great survivors. Great company for an art fair – reminding collectors that speculation shouldn’t be too high on their agenda that they, too, should act in good faith. Caveat Emptor / Buyer Beware
Watch The Bruce High Quality Foundation on Vimeo!