Event: Democratic Convention, Denver
Republican Convention, Saint Paul 2008
In response to the national conventions in 2008, LigoranoReese reinstalled The State of Things in Denver and Saint Paul. The sculpture vanished at the MCADenver, lasting just over 24 hours. In Saint Paul on the grounds of the state capitol, the piece quickly disappeared as thousands of activists and demonstrators stroked and touched it, breaking letters into chunks to quelch their thirst as if they were stragglers starved for democracy in a desert.
“This sculpture,” Ligorano said, “dramatizes the perils facing Democracy since 9/11, the impact of the War on Terror on American democratic values and institutions – how censorship, surveillance, torture and the invasion of Iraq – have transformed and damaged American society.”
