A Pair of Shoes - Un Par de Zapatos, 1992
Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, Cal, USA
Medium :- 48 New and Old Shoes, Museum Display Boxes, Wood Stands, Acrylic, Cardboard Tags and Blackout Material.
Dimensions :- Various
"For the city, a mall offers haven to the public a controlled and untroubled atmosphere; a meeting place like a town square where one can come and go. Unlike the town square the mall is a place where one can forget the outside, where our sense of community is diffused. If we look closer at each area in which we shop, work and live in, we will remember the people: the gardeners, engineers, accountants, security guards, managers, custodians, painters, busters, secretaries and receptionists." NAD
Engaging with 25 workers, Atkinson.Davidson contrasts the impersonal, consumerism of the shopping mall as a community of employees. The artist gives each worker a pair of new shoes in exchange for a pair of used shoes and records their working life. This focus on the individuals involved gives the workers dignity and the trade of shoes is fundamental to the project - to give a pair of shoes - raising the notion of the useful artwork. The old shoes are pristinely exhibited, on top of a transcript of their story, throughout the mall in display cases, of the kind usually used for displaying new consumer items. The cases are also reminiscent of a museum. The artist identifies a number of otherwise anonymous workers and provokes the transient shopper to reflect on their lives.
Sponsors :- Dr Richard Guttler, City of Santa Monica Arts Division in conjunction with Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica Art Foundation and with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
