The Museum of Capital Punishment
2004 | 12 Laser Etched Stainless Steel Trays - 12.25" sq.
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This originated from a workshop with Constantin Boym in which we were asked to invent fictional museums. The “Musem of Fiction†workshop objective was to develop a line of souvenir products to commemorate the museum experience. Successful proposals were to challenge our conceptual assumptions of both ‘museum’ and ‘souvenir.’ For example, how might the cultural context of the museum and its brand influence the meaning of the object a new legitimacy or authority. We were given 24hrs.
The Museum of Capital Punishment was to have an installation in their cafeteria where you would order from the last meal requests off a menu and take your tray to a long communal table sectioned in small contemplative units.. These twelve meals are exerpts from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website. This Final Meal Request section is no longer live, but the original content has been reposted in it's entirety for the first 301 inmates at The Memory Hole.
The Museum of Capital Punishment introduces this Stainless Steel tray as a platform for debate. Playing the role of both museum and souvenir, it juxtaposes two portraits. One through appetite, the other through paperwork .
A collaboration with Erik Strom.
