A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily
1987–1988

Audio

• Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily, 1987–1988

  In Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 (Spanish)

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  Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily, 1987–1988

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  Play Transcript

  Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt: La idea es que sea algo agradable. Se supone que los materiales tienen una rica carga emocional, pero son económicamente exiguos. Si se los sacara de esa caja, podrían desbaratarse.

  Dentro de la obra se encuentra un disco de vinilo de 45 RPM. "Will You [Still] Love Me Tomorrow?" de The Shirelles. Era uno de mis discos preferidos de cuando tenía unos 15 años. Los discos de 45 ya no se fabrican, pero este está ahí porque se trata de un recuerdo.

  La fragilidad de los materiales es el mejor modo de acercarme a la fragilidad de la memoria misma. Se trata sobre todo de una combinación entre el recuerdo y la nostalgia. También está saturado de sexualidad, pero está muy reprimida y solapada. La cola del gato obviamente es una especie de símbolo fálico. La crisis del sida naturalmente forma parte de la obra, ya que se hizo cuando no había ninguna cura o manera de mantener viva a una persona con sida.

  En la vida, pasamos por diferentes ritos de iniciación. Primero atravesamos los años adolescentes como una transición de la infancia a la edad adulta. Es como si se calibrara por medio del deseo sexual, cuando nos enamoramos por primera vez y tenemos sexo por primera vez, cuando lo hacemos, o no lo hacemos.

  Está creado de tal forma que resulta agradable para una persona muy reprimida, o una persona que solo busca ver el lado poético del deseo pero no quiere lidiar con el lado animal, "Will You [Still] Love Me Tomorrow?" La canción está repleta de esperanza y de duda.

• Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily, 1987–1988

  In Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019

  0:00

  Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily, 1987–1988

  0:00

  Play Transcript

  Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt: The whole thing is supposed to be pleasant. the materials are supposed to be rich emotionally, but they're poor economically. If they were taken out of that box, they might fall apart.

  Within the piece itself is a 45 RPM record. “Will You [Still] Love Me Tomorrow?” by The Shirelles. It was one of my favorite records back when I was around fifteen years old. 45 records aren't made anymore, but it's there because it's about a memory.  

  The fragility of the materials is as close as I can get to the fragility of memory itself. It's mostly about longing, the combination of memory and longing. It's also saturated with sex, but it's very repressed and veiled, the cat tail is obviously a kind of phallic symbol. The AIDS crisis is naturally a part of it, because this was made when there wasn't any cure or way of keeping a person alive with AIDS. 

  We go through many rites of passage. We first have our childhood with a transition into adulthood through our teenage years. It's kind of calibrated through sexual desire when we first fall in love when we first have sex, or we do, or we don't.

  It's done in a way that's palatable to a very repressed person or a person who just wants the lyricism of desire, but doesn't want to deal with the animal side of it. “Will You [Still] Love Me Tomorrow?” The song is filled with hope and doubt.