Thank you! I added more under another comment :) looking at them is making me feel inspired all over again... plus now that my kid showed me how you can do details better by zooming in first, they might become "well drawn arms"!
Remember when people didn't even want to touch door handles 5 years ago? Now here we are with video of people holding their toddlers up to the communal salt lick.
Thats because if you give an infant (not a child, infant is under 1 year old) honey, there is a risk of botulism and to their immune system, it could be lethal. Aka, it’s an unnecessary risk for infants to eat honey.
IIRC a lot of bacterias and germs can't survive in a lot of sugar. They tested this out in pick and mix candy and the germa simply died because of the high sugar and chemicals in the candy.
Lmao it is true though, sugar is a preservative in the same way salt is, it dehydrates the microorganisms by sucking away their water.
This is still disgusting and its not like its an instant disinfectant, but its also not as bad as say, licking a random stone sculpture that others licked.
That's specifically dry sugar. It does not apply to this situation. If you're the first person to lick this statue, then this just means you don't have to worry about it any more than you would if you licked any other random public object.
If you're the second person to lick it, then you're instead dealing with a sugarry saliva slurry people before you have created. This makes it more concerning than licking other random public-licking objects.
Agree completely. The way this statue has been processed has made the sugar less susceptible to moisture, hence why he can have statues open to air and occasional mouth touches for 14yrs. That means that the sugar isn't able to absorb moisture fast or thoroughly enough to cause desiccation. Instead, just enough of the sugar is being freed as food to whatever is in people's saliva (which, spoiler, it's basically akin to a toilet). Also, I'm sure a good portion of the people that aren't licking the statue are choosing to touch it with their hands instead. Foul. Every which way foul.
This reminds me of the times I was in an orthodox church during COVID. Those Ukrainians didn't give a single fuck about some pandemic
they were standing in a line waiting to make out with a picture of some saint, we saw so many people doing it all over the temple complex, grannys, kids, middle aged, often wearing masks, but then they would make out with a picture on the wall that 300 people kissed that day (we were vaccinated, but Ukraine had very few vaccinated people back then)
I went to a Catholic elementary school and I remember some student bringing up “what about communal wine” when we got to the communicable diseases part of science class and watching the teacher blow right past the question handwaving it away with a non-answer
Reminds of a friend I had years ago who would use the tester lipsticks straight on her lips. I pointed out to her, "You don't know how many other people's lips have been on them." She said, "Nobody else would do it because they'd be afraid of germs, so I'd be the only one." Umm...
Even if its never been on anyones lips people are still defintiely swatching them on the back of hands or whatever which statistically a lot of those hands are unwashed......gross lol
I though on average global population is smarter. Covid disillusioned me. Now I know for a fact that majority of population ain't that smart. And pretty sure I heard of studies suggesting that proportionally the % of smart people in the world is getting smaller and smaller. So like in idiocracy.
Yeah there’s special events at Hain that allow for peepee and poopoo play. I only know about it and the dates it’s on so I know where not to go by accident
There’s a reason pictures are forbidden. There are a lot of people simply clubbing, but the most common thing you can see there is people dancing naked, so guess how far the rabbit hole goes
It was not in Berlin but the Netherlands and Madrid.
The sculptures in Berghain seem to have been covered in a resin and were not accessible/lickable.
(it's funny how this story gets misstold and reposted every couple of months/years and everybody things this is in Berlin, because the artist is from Berlin)
Quote from an article:
Later exhibitions and works were much more accessible for example, in 2017, in Marr’s exhibition in the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and in 2020 in Madrid at the Galerie Kreisler. Here for the visitors unprotected by resin, pure sugar sculptures were presented for people to smell and taste, an unusual behaviour. “In Madrid that was at the beginning of the pandemic, possibly people should have been a little more careful, but it was an exciting experience.”
It reminds me of how some parents would purposefully expose their children to diseases such as chickenpox, prior to the vaccine being widely available. Essentially, to "get it out of the way" so that they didn't have to deal with the infection later.
However, given that we have vaccines for most things now, licking the art is just plain gross.
That's so gross and so disrespectful.
Imagine being okay with licking, or even helping your child lick something that someone spent so many hours making, and has probably been licked before. 😭
The artist seems okay with it though and tbf, it turns it into a whole other form of art where, like he said, it's makes them feel like their part of it.... I mean if he wasn't okay he could just put a glass cube over them (unless it's the first time this is happening and the artist didn't have time to react yet but it seems like it's been a while and he's okay with it though he... and most of us don't get it)
But yeah... adults licking them is one thing. They're grown adults and should know the consequences of their actions is on them. But adults letting kids lick it.... Imagine you're the kid at school that caught that super rare disease because your mom let you lick some random cube of sugar in a museum
I’m going to be downvoted for this probably but sculptures made with sugar… eh. Yeah it’s different material, different process.. less durable blah blah. But like, hardly really that novel.
People actually tasting it? And changing it? And actually violating presumed typical gallery decorum? Like why? Do they not believe the artist when they said it’s sugar? Is this some primitive thing? And adults not only allowing but also possibly encouraging their children to do it?
Like they are willing to destroy the piece? Like the integrity of it. (Like people wouldn’t dare bring a pencil to write the tiniest line on any art piece in the most mundane gallery. Why do they feel like they could do it to these sugar pieces? Is it because it’s food related?
Like there’s a lot to unpack there. That makes it way more interesting.
If I were a sophomore/ junior in art history I don’t know how I could write a solid art criticism paper on just the mere fact that the sculpture was made with sugar. Probably involving a drastic amount of BS and comparison with like ice sculpture.
Now that the audience is involved? With various levels of emotions like apprehension, glee, intrigue, curiosity? Like is it about our age of narcissism? Oh and other people being repulsed by these tasters?
The whole thing now turns into like surrealist Dada/Duchamp type deal.
As a young adult, I can see myself doing something dumb like licking a sculpture cus I thought it would be funny. Reckless things for entertainment or whatever.
These people having their kids lick the sculpture are straight bad, nasty parents bruh. Thats like, the opposite of what you should be twaching babies to do.
True. It was before and just at the beginning of the pandemic. And it was not in Berlin but the Netherland and Madrid.
(it's funny how this story gets misstold and reposted every couple of months/years and everybody things this is in Berlin, because the artist is from Berlih)
Quote from an article:
Later exhibitions and works were much more accessible for example, in 2017, in Marr’s exhibition in the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and in 2020 in Madrid at the Galerie Kreisler. Here for the visitors unprotected by resin, pure sugar sculptures were presented for people to smell and taste, an unusual behaviour. “In Madrid that was at the beginning of the pandemic, possibly people should have been a little more careful, but it was an exciting experience.”
I avoid water fountains unless there’s absolutely no other choice, and I never put my mouth on any part of it since I was a small child. This is horrifying.
Imagine someone licking sugar sculpture you made, and you're like 'bruh, why are you dissolving precious details of my art piece i put so much time into?'. My brain refuses to think why would anyone lick them. Please send Men in Black ASAP
It's a miracle we haven't had more pandemics. This shit here is why it will most likely be a pandemic that finally wipes us all out. Well, if Trump doesn't get there first.
Need to hang a sign up that says “We are not responsible if you get a disease from licking the statues that countless strangers have also licked. We don’t disinfect the statues. Good luck.”
I can’t imagine people are instinctively licking the sculptures en masse as they walk through the exhibit. The museum should be telling them not to touch the sculptures to begin with, let alone lick the statues if they actually are.
But introducing his art in this manner, accompanied by the visuals, certainly adds to the intrigue and catches people’s attention (even if it is exaggerated). I doubt people are queuing up to lick the statues.
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u/ateuatoa 16h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/10FHR5A4cXqVrO