Transparency Report
Series of four sculptures · 2014
- ArtistDavid Spriggs
- Date2014
- DimensionsTwo sizes, approximately:
81 × 28 × 152 cm / 32 × 11 × 60 in
56 × 28 × 152 cm / 22 × 11 × 60 in - MaterialsEngraved glass sheets in transparent display cases
- PresentedArsenal Contemporary Montréal; Musée des beaux arts de Sherbrooke
Transparency Report explores how visibility becomes an instrument of power.
Four sculptures of luggage and their contents recall airport security scans, exposing personal belongings to inspection. Identified as Profile Types A, B, C and D, they invite the viewer to examine each bag and construct an identity from what it contains.
Transparency is both the material and the subject of the work. Images engraved across successive sheets of glass combine into three dimensional forms, giving the bags a ghostly presence. Overlapping contours reveal interiors and exteriors at once, recalling the penetrating gaze of radiographic vision.
The subjects range from a violin, a major subject of the Cubists, to a camera bag containing the apparatus of photography. The camera creates a feedback loop of seeing: an instrument for making images becomes an object of inspection.
The title refers to reports through which governments and corporations disclose information about their activities. Placing the viewer in the position of an examiner, Transparency Report connects the scrutiny of personal belongings to the authority to classify, judge and intervene.
