Of No Value beyond the Object Itself @ the ICA

Of No Value Beyond the Object Itself

ICA 9.05.10 10.00 – 7.00

Well here we go again I thought as I took my seat behind the reception desk at the ICA. I had already been asked if the café was open by a member of the public when I was setting up to which my response of ‘I’m sorry I don’t work here’ went down like a ton of bricks. A sarcastic ‘no, your just sat behind the desk’ marked the start of what was to become 1 of many people thinking I was a member of staff.

At first I revelled in people responding to me like I was a receptionist even when I was clearly ignoring them. People just didn’t seam to understand that playing with a rubik’s cube on a reception desk wasn’t normal behaviour especially when the rubiks cuber was taking photos every time they complete it.

I was working sure. But not in the way they wished of me. I was working to complete my pointless endeavour fuelled by this little box of iconic uselessness and my attempt to give it purpose. Each picture validated the time I had spent in it completion marking the success of myself.

This is why I when the ICA told me I had to have a sign saying position closed at my desk to stop people getting pissed of when I didn’t answer them I instead got pissed off. POSITION CLOSED. Position was not closed position was clearly fully functional just not to its original intension. POSITION NOT WORKING TO YOUR IDEAL NEEDS would have been more accurate.

Nevertheless I continued and as I got so into the task at hand that I started to become oblivious to people even asking me a question. All I could think about was completing the cube quicker, making the time go quicker.

‘Ok so average time is usually 8 minutes so I can do it roughly 6 times in an hour (give or take me being an idiot and having to start again) if I speed up my average time to say… 6 minutes I can do it possibly 10 times thus making my time go quicker.’ - alright so I am aware that this makes as much sense as a chocolate teapot but I had been cubing for about 4 hours at this point and my brain had turned into colours and patterns.

This was what had consumed me. Quicker, faster, complete the cube and complete the task, end the day quicker. Even when friends turned up and try and distract me lost in a world of coloured brinks and inverses I only realise it’s them as they leave.

The oblivion on my behalf is then matched by a couple of spectators. They stand and flick though my box of photos and talk about me like I’m not sitting less than a foot away from them. One bloke even picks up a photo, waves it under my nose and asks me ‘what is she doing as the ICA?’ What the fuck! Clearly ‘Sitting right in front of you’ would have been my response if able to communicate.

The nonverbal aspect to this endeavour clearly heightened concentration on the task but validated my presence less. The pictures alone weren’t validation enough here people wanted/ needed more. Confirmation that is was just another receptionist. Validation that in there belief I had more value than this.