The installation was created in 1993 as a tribute to New York and its citizens who invigorate the city’s public spaces daily

The textual guidelines for the implementation of the fundamental concept of this imaginary 1993 installation were initially designed to allow viewers to visualize it from the exterior of the observation deck on the Empire State Building’s 96th floor, facing towards the southern tip of Manhattan/Downtown

Later, the project’s conditions evolved to allow for its realization in additional chosen locations, such as specific intersections or plazas in Manhattan

Subsequently, the accompanying text on the gedankenskulptur.ch website confirmed that the artwork was theoretically adaptable to other cities worldwide, with a preference for public and highly-trafficked locales. And based on the assumption that the latter half of the project’s title, „Imagination for New York City,“ would remain consistent in other areas

Thirty years later, in August 2023, the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of this work was celebrated with an exhibition displaying the original idea. An early basic text version has been adapted into a poster and was showcased at the Artbox Rio Bar in Basel (original press text in German)

A limited edition fine art print of this text version, numbered and signed, has been published (DIN-A4 format) to commemorate the occasion and the exhibition

 

Further explanations of the background and genesis of the work / history:

The instructional text for this conceptual work was developed between 1993 and 1994. In the process, several different versions of the text were created, all of which had the same core content: all of the solid materials present in public space, such as asphalt, steel, glass, plastic, etc., are imaginatively covered with a thin layer of matte white paint, thereby stylizing the real ground and all other materials of a given environment into a kind of giant exhibition pedestal, from which all living things are explicitly excluded. This places all visible life on a pedestal, so to speak, thus heightening the perception of life and organic growth of any kind.
The performance was published for years under the original working title „White/Imagination for New York City“ until it was renamed to „(Pedestal for) Life“ in 2020 in the course of the translation of the entire website in order to avoid possible misinterpretations of any kind – the new title of the work in German: „(Sockel für) Leben“.

„(Pedestal for) Life“ was previously exhibited in Basel in 2001, in a German version, for a short period in the public area. At that time, the text was presented on an engraved panel mounted on a custom-made holder, slightly recessed in the handrail of the banister located in the center of the staircase towards the main entrance of the Stadttheater Basel. From this viewpoint, one can see the central section of Theaterplatz, including the Tinguely Fountain, as well as the staircase below it and the square’s ground level.

 

Note: In recent years, the Internet Archive has successfully saved and time-stamped the original text of this work. Furthermore, the text of the imagination was sent via registered mail as proof of existence (POE) to extend copyright protection

 

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