Box 18: The Dilemma of Language, Fabrics, 2006-2007

Box contains materials as used in the installations of the art project “The Dilemma of Language." The Dilemma of Language was in process from 2006-2007 and first displayed in a hallway at the Auraria Art Building in 2006. It was later adapted to three other environments in 2007 including the Auraria Library, MSCD Center for Visual Arts (CVA), and one other.

In this art installation, two people sat across from each other at an extendable table. One person (the inscriber) wore mittens (no articulation, intentionally), and was told to stitch an "i" in the corner of a silk handkerchief. They would then hand the handkerchief to the other person (the eraser) who would put the handkerchief into a bleach solution. They would then decide who to deal with the fabric and where/how to move it.

From bottom to top, this box contains the following items separated by archvial tissue paper: torn wrappers that had contained the silk handkerchiefs (the wrappers were something the inscriber had to remove with their mittens on), one ready to stitch silk handkerchief in an untorn wrapper, 2 groups of 25 ready to stitch silk handkerchiefs not in wrappers, a group of 20 "completed" handkerchiefs with stitched "i"s, a group of 50 "completed" handkerchiefs without stitched "i"s, the pair of mittens worn by the Inscriber, needle cushions that were attached to the table, and the labels that were removed from the silk handkerchiefs.