Materials Variable
Dimensions Variable
Public Installations
Synthetic Felt, String, Monofilament
Installation dimensions variable
Stripped to be rebuilt.
Beginnings are raw and immediate, unmediated. Rebuilding is unrefines and intuitive, stitched crudely, childlike. The inner lining, the insulation, the bare minimum of what makes an individual. It is as if all other details, outer manifestations of self have been erased, taken away, denied. Raw and exposed, naked, bare, without inhibitions. Still, almost silenced and muted.
With transition something is always lost. yet, ready to be imprinted, regenerated, tailored in a new form, transformation is now possible.
Synthetic Felt, String
Bricks, String, Paper, Paint
A personal burden whispered to each brick. Each brick and burden numbered and catalogued. Bricks left out in public for the taking.
Burned Clothing
Wood, Leather, Resin, Utensils, Light
3' x 5.5' x 3.5'
Wood, Found Object
Aluminum Frames, Carpet, Linoleum, Cotton Sheets
Found Object, Resin, Teeth, Hair, Flour
Installation Dimensions Variable
Binding #1, #2, and #3
String, Velvet Lined Wooden Shadow Boxes
String wrapped 18 times around neck, wrists, ankles and waist and worn for 8 days before being cut off.
Public, Outdoor Slide Projection
Dimensions Variable
I collected a fortune cookie every day for 30 days and then projected a single image of a fortune every night, in the same order in which they were collected.
Synthetic Felt, String
2.5' x 2.5' x 2.5'
Box created around the space taken up by my own body curled to its smallest dimension.
Table with Food, Time
I committed to bake for 17 days and to provide two tables of baked goods for the duration of the show. Some food was eaten, some piled up and got stale. I provided no utensils or garbage facilities. I created a declaration stating my intentions. The declaration was signed and notarized. It read as follows:
Declaration of Offering
I, Elana D. Rubenstein, present this as an offering to you.
I commit to baking every night from May 19 through May 30. I will spend entirely too much time and energy in my kitchen in hopes of introducing myself, of proving myself, of winning you over, of winning you back. In so doing, I will give too much of myself. I will deny myself in order to ensure that you are nurtured. As this is my offering to you, I may take no pleasure in it. I will lick no spoons, no bowls, sample no batter. I will eat no cookies, no cakes, nothing. This is a sign of my dedication and devotion. My respect, my admiration, my caring is shown through sacrifice. Only when I take from myself can I truly give. I must be selfless in my service of you. I must shower you. I will bend over backward for you as I know I should. It is the only way. Forgive me if some of these offerings are not perfect. I am sorry if they do not look like the picture in the book, on the box, in your head. I am doing my best not to disappoint you. I am doing my best to please you. Maybe you will accept this offering. Maybe this will fulfill me.
Bricks
Installed on a public path overnight
