The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living is the somewhat daunting name of the conceptual artwork I am about to meet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. British shock artist Damian Hirst is infamous for his bizarre works which include a multimillion dollar diamond encrusted platinum skull with human teeth, a large glass tank filled with maggots consuming a cows head, and a walk in pharmacy lined with bottles of pills. His works often deal with broad concepts such as mortality, biological balance and the human condition. The work I am to interview consists of essentially two objects; a formaldehyde filled tank, and a preserved tiger shark encased within.
The first sight of this creature is quite an intense
experience. I approach the tank cautiously, and in front of me tiny wide set
eyes stare back, above an enormous gaping mouth lined with multiple layers of
jagged teeth. Despite the entire creature lying paralyzed under cold blue light,
its enormous body triggers an instinctual fight-or-flight reaction in me, which
I barely manage to suppress as I force myself to continue towards it. With its
fins splayed at odd angles it looks as if it is swiftly carving through the
water towards one. This doesn’t look like something which responds to the phony
social niceties of human bullshit, so I get straight to the point.
The Peaking Mind: Where did you come from?
Shark: I was captured and murdered off the coast of
Australia, then shipped on ice to London. I was put into this tank to replace
the previous inhabitant, another tiger shark, who was starting to rot. The team
who created the artwork didn’t make a strong enough solution to preserve her.
The Peaking Mind: Damian Hirst raised quite a few philosophical
questions about art when he replaced the previous shark with you, what do you feel
about the situation?
Shark: The previous shark was an object used to embody an
idea; I merely replace that function. I am only a part of a conceptual piece.
However I did see some biological beauty in the previous shark decaying, the
tank becoming murkier, the contents returning to equilibrium. It seemed to
change the meaning behind the whole piece, gave it some more complexity. Maybe
if they had let it be that way they wouldn’t have murdered me. I was 25 years
old. I was a mother.
The Peaking Mind: What do people think of you when they see
you?
Shark: I am an apt metaphor for the artwork’s title. As a
species we are deadly, we have been known to attack humans. We embody death.
The first thing people do when they see me is turn away; they cannot accept
looking at something so close up. The encounter evokes too much danger in them,
too many instinctual thoughts of death. Thus the title applies in a way to that
reaction. People cannot stand to face death, or the thought of death. It makes
them uncomfortable. I make them uncomfortable. They cannot empathise with me.
The Peaking Mind: What else do you feel you represent?
Shark: As a dead thing, I am able to be inspected, seen at
close quarters. It is quite a detached point of view, very clinically presented
as if I were a specimen. I am separated from my observers by a safe sheet of
thick glass – life on one side, death on the other. Again in regards to the
title I represent a concept that is an impossibility to really conceive in the
human mind, the living mind, and the glass represents this barrier of human
thought. I think this is what Damian Hirst wanted to show with this work –
these two realms which are so inconceivable and seemingly far removed from each
other, yet a bullet can reconcile the two, can make the other realm
conceivable, can make you a part of that realm forever.
The Peaking Mind: Do you think art is important?
Shark: Although I died for it, I feel it was a worthy cause.
Hirst could have simply have written down the ideas behind me, but nothing
is as effective as art. Art is a tremendously powerful medium, because you can
actually see the idea in front of you. It is tangible, it is right there, you
are not just imagining the ideas in your head but seeing a physical
manifestation of them. In this way you experience the artwork with your whole
body rather than merely your mind. Nothing can replace this experience. So to
answer your question, yes, I think art is extremely important.
The Peaking Mind: Why do you think people have paid millions
of dollars for you?
Shark: It is rather ironic that someone has paid so much to
own a manifestation of such a morbid idea, I think is quite interesting that
something which reminds one death all the time commands such a price tag. Death
is something people put out of their minds a lot, especially in Western culture
it is something rather taboo to talk about, but I can see this is slowly
changing. Maybe this is the value in me, that by reminding people that it is a
real possibility, I am going against this mass denial of death which seems to
occur in society. People will pay a lot for an idea which stands out.
The Peaking Mind: Where do you see yourself in the future?
Shark: I will be constantly shifted through art galleries
for as long as my physical body lasts. I have seen New York, London, Paris and
I am sure I will see more. I might last hundreds of years if they have indeed
corrected the preservative cocktail which surrounds me. In a way I wish they
haven’t. I almost envy the shark before me. Even in death I am chained to my
original form artificially, it is tiring. I almost hope sometimes that I do
start rot, to return to the Earth, to the ocean, it would be a relief. Life is
tough, especially being constantly confronted by it after you have left.
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