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| Installation view of Portable
Thai-inspired Art Display Unit, 2007 "Tony May, Old Technology" installation view, 2011, institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA |
| This work was specifically designed so that all of
its contents would collapse inside a suitcase in order to be hand-carried
to and exhibited in Bangkok, Thailand. The architectural structure
also references aspects of a traditional elevated Thai house. There is a long history of artists using suitcases, tracing back at least to Duchamp's pre-WWII miniature reiteration of his major works in a small suitcase titled "Box in a Valise." May's suitcases take this tradition into spatial terrain, almost out of a pragmatic necessity. The works conveniently expand and collapse, making them easy to move and display. --Susan O'Malley |