PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE WORK OF ART
Iterations Shown at: 1.) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2008-2009) | Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2009) | 2.) Lunds Konsthal (2007)

Etched carrera marble| Gold ink on 300 gsm gold paper | Gold vinyl lettering on wall
90 x 120 cm| 10 x 15 cm (postcard) | dimension variable

Raqs Media Collective presents an ironic monument to the persuasive powers of art, carved in stone for posterity and printed as postcards for disposable distribution. The series of possibilities in the words that constitute the statement Please Do Not Touch the Work of Art are prised open by rearranging them to form statements of an almost identical length, that bear very different attitudes. The ornamental gold patina and the gravitas of marble ascribes to each iteration of the statements an ‘elevated’ value. The work’s whimsical attitude asks for a greater degree of latitude for that realm of practice and discursivity that we call art.