Park McArthur

Another word for memory is life
2017

Two monochrome brown rectangular shapes like empty signs, with reflective tape around their edges

Not on view

Date
2017

Classification
Sculpture

Medium
Painted anodized aluminum and reflective tape

Dimensions
Overall (each): 90 × 120in. (228.6 × 304.8 cm)

Accession number
2018.214a-b

Edition
1/2

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee

Rights and reproductions
© Park McArthur

API
artworks/56040

Visual Description

These signs of which the title is calledAnother Word for Memory is Lifeare hung together in pairs, each sign individually is seven and a half feet tall by ten feet wide, so they are longer than they are tall. They are on a thick aluminum with a bracing on the back, so they sit a couple of inches off of the wall as if they are floating. The entire surface of both of the signs is covered in a warm, dark brown color with a white half-inch border around the entire sign.

The edges themselves are rounded so they are not sharp 90 degree angles. The signs are hung together behind the welcome desk of the Museum or the ticket desk of the Museum and inside the gallery spaces as well.

Audio

Verbal Description: Park McArthur, Overview

From Whitney Biennial 2017 (Spanish)

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Verbal Description: Park McArthur, Overview

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Park McArthur: Estas señales, cuyo título es Another Word for Memory is Life (Otra palabra para la memoria es la vida) se colocaron en pares; cada señal mide siete y medio pies de altura por diez pies de ancho, por tanto, son más anchas que largas. Están montadas sobre aluminio grueso con un soporte en el reverso, de tal suerte que se separan un par de pulgadas del muro, como si flotaran. La superficie entera de ambas señales está cubierta de un color marrón oscuro cálido con un borde blanco de media pulgada.
Los bordes mismos están redondeados para evitar ángulos de 90 grados. Las señales están montadas juntas, detrás del mostrador de recepción en el Museo o de las taquillas del Museo, así como en el interior de los espacios de la galería.
Park McArthur, Overview

From Whitney Biennial 2017 (Spanish)

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Park McArthur, Overview

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Park McArthur: Mi nombre es Park McArthur; soy una artista criada en Carolina del Norte, que vive en Nueva York.
El Departamento de Transporte y el Manual de Dispositivos de Control Unificado de Tránsito utilizan el marrón en sus señalizaciones para identificar instituciones culturales, parques nacionales y sitios históricos. En el Whitney Museum se usa el mismo color y el mismo diseño de estas señales pero sin el lenguaje o palabras que suelen aparecer en la señal para indicar hacia donde van las personas.
Aquí interesa que, al igual que en el mundo exterior, la señalización marrón indique, literalmente, que el Museo es un sitio cultural, y que, al mismo tiempo, permita marcar un espacio descriptivo de los lugares históricos o lo que haya existido antes que el Whitney Museum en este vecindario. El hecho de que las señales estén en blanco propicia una apertura o una multiplicidad, así como un espacio imaginativo de lo que pudiera estar ahí.
Narrator: Park McArthur ha realizado una descripción visual de su obra para los usuarios de visión reducida. Si desea oírla, por favor, oprima para continuar.
Verbal Description: Park McArthur, Overview

From Whitney Biennial 2017

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Verbal Description: Park McArthur, Overview

0:00

Park McArthur: These signs of which the title is called Another Word for Memory is Life are hung together in pairs, each sign individually is seven and a half feet tall by ten feet wide, so they are longer than they are tall. They are on a thick aluminum with a bracing on the back, so they sit a couple of inches off of the wall as if they are floating. The entire surface of both of the signs is covered in a warm, dark brown color with a white half-inch border around the entire sign.
The edges themselves are rounded so they are not sharp 90 degree angles. The signs are hung together behind the welcome desk of the Museum or the ticket desk of the Museum and inside the gallery spaces as well.
Park McArthur, Overview

From Whitney Biennial 2017

0:00

Park McArthur, Overview

0:00

Park McArthur: My name is Park McArthur and I’m an artist living here in New York, and I’m originally from North Carolina.
Brown signs are used within the Department of Transportation and the Manual of Unified Traffic Controlled Devices to designate cultural institutions, national parks, and historical places. In the Whitney Museum the same color and design of these signs is used but without any of the language or wording that would typically go inside of the sign to indicate where you were going.
The interest is both to allow for a description of the brown signs to literally indicate the Museum is a cultural site, as the signs would ordinarily do out in the world, and at the same time that they also might allow for a descriptive space of historical places or what has come before the Whitney Museum in this neighborhood. The fact that the signs are blank allows for an openness or multiplicity to happen there. As well as an imaginative space of what might go there.