{"data":{"id":"13875","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":13875,"topgoose_id":14482,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":13875,"title":"Human Hang-Up Machine","display_artist_text":"Agnes Denes","display_date":"1969","accession_number":"2001.165","dimensions":"Sheet: 11 × 16 1/2 in. (27.9 × 41.9 cm)","medium":"Pen and ink on paper","department":"collection","classification":"Drawings","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art by exchange, and the Postwar Committee","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eAgnes Denes, \u003cem\u003eHuman Hang-Up Machine\u003c/em\u003e, 1969. Pen and ink on paper, sheet: 11 × 16 1/2 in. (27.9 × 41.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art by exchange, and the Postwar Committee 2001.165\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eBest known for her environmental projects in which she works directly with the land (for example,\u0026nbsp;planting wheat, or reclaiming earth previously used for industrial purposes), Agnes Denes began her career as a painter and has worked in various media. For Denes, drawing became an important tool that allowed her to visualize complex ideas and analytical concepts. This drawing combines the artist’s interests in philosophy, science, psychology, and myth. \u003ci\u003eHuman Hang-Up Machine\u003c/i\u003e displays a series of interrelated parts that appear to be the blueprint of a device. But closer inspection reveals its hypothetical, even fantastic, status as a mechanism that weighs “positive thought” against the constants of time, evolution, and other abstractions.\u0026nbsp; \u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Detailed technical schematic of a complex mechanical device with labeled parts on orange graph paper.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T17:20:33.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:01:00.862-05:00","images":[{"id":103893,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/13875/2001_165_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"345","type":"artist"}]}}}}