“JUMBO SPOONS” (1999)

Description: project for the exhibtion at the Art Institute of Chicago, January 2000.

I want to make a new work about the world condition, the World State. The World State is about the need to eat or the possibility of not eating. The World State is unjust, inconvenient, confused, fucked-up, shity. Everyone has to eat. That is reason why there are “Jumbo Spoons”. The “Jumbo Spoons” are about three meters high, fabricated out of aluminum and cardboard. These spoons are not for eating, they are destined for collectors, gifts, memories (“You are born with a silver spoon in your mouth”) . These spoons are hand-made blown-up real gift spoons, which are always stored away in a drawer. There are twelve “Jumbo Spoons”: the Fashion spoon, the Mies Van Der Rohe spoon, the Rosa Luxembourg spoon, the Degenerated Art spoon, the Malevich spoon, the Rolex spoon, the Venice spoon, the Gun spoon, the Nietzsche spoon, the China spoon, The Chicago Bulls spoon, the Moon-spoon. In addition to the spoons there will be mirriors; the reflect the space and the public and give a response to the cake. The Jumbo Spoons are not quite clean. There are drops of red color on the floor. Every spoon has documentation about it’s specific theme (for example: extracts of Nietzches books) There is an engraving at the ends of all the spoons; this is also where they are attached to the wall. The engraving of the spoon is reproduced by a tag. There are twelve little tables with books on each theme. Every book is tied up with a chain to the table. Under the table is a bucket collecting “the rest”. The twelve “Jumbo Spoons” are fixed on the wall covered with blue plastic, 2.5 meters in height. On top of the plastic there are blue cold neons. In the center of the hall there is the World Cake on a big table. This big pyramid shaped cake is about 5 meters in diameter, 2 meters in hieght, covered with aluminum and colorspray. This World Cake will be divided, stolen, conquered, cheated, protected. It is decorated with world-problems: famine, wars, undivided wealth, the war men, the lack of water. The spot lights are like local explosions. The big cake looks like a cake after dinner—used. Real spoons will be fixed to the cake. The big cake is rich with photographs, information extracts, and with four integrated videos (pictures from reality). Under the big cake there are buckets collecting the left overs of the world. The big cake is connectedon the top (2.50) with the spoons and every elelment of the work like an electrical network.

Thomas Hirschhorn, Paris, 1 October 1999