Joe Alterio detail 2
Pages 179 – 187 (detail)
2010, Joe Alterio
From "Landscapes of Quarantine," a group exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture, NYC, from March 10 - April 17, 2010.
Myths, legends, and folk tales weave their stories around a grain of inherited wisdom: taken together, they form a catalog of humanity’s recurring weaknesses and occasional strengths. Some lessons are never learned, however, and many tales have been lost along the way. Alterio’s rediscovered myth tells the story of a town that delegates responsibility for imposing quarantine onto a machine, in the hope of bypassing human prejudice. The disastrous result – everyone is suspect because no one can be proven completely healthy – shows the fundamental arbitrariness of the labels on which quarantine relies.
Joe Alterio detail 2
Pages 179 – 187 (detail)
2010, Joe Alterio
From "Landscapes of Quarantine," a group exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture, NYC, from March 10 - April 17, 2010.
Myths, legends, and folk tales weave their stories around a grain of inherited wisdom: taken together, they form a catalog of humanity’s recurring weaknesses and occasional strengths. Some lessons are never learned, however, and many tales have been lost along the way. Alterio’s rediscovered myth tells the story of a town that delegates responsibility for imposing quarantine onto a machine, in the hope of bypassing human prejudice. The disastrous result – everyone is suspect because no one can be proven completely healthy – shows the fundamental arbitrariness of the labels on which quarantine relies.