Monday, August 7, 2023

Barbara Kruger | Untitled (Too Big To Fail Wall Clock)








Barbara Kruger
Untitled (Too Big To Fail Wall Clock)
Chicago, USA: Art Institute Chicago, 2012
25.5 x 25.5 cm.
Edition size unknown


The phrase "too big to fail" was popularized by Republican U.S. Congressman Stewart McKinney in a Congressional hearing, in 1984. The premise is that some financial institutions are so interconnected with the larger economy that their failure would be calamitous, and therefore should be supported by the government during times of crisis. The term did not enter the zeitgeist until the global financial crisis of 2008, when critics (and Occupy Wall Street activists) argued that if a bank is too big to fail it is too big to allow (see protest images, below). 

Barbara Kruger created this wall clock to accompany her THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago, in 2012. Based on her large scale vinyl print of the same name, the clock face is printed on laminated MDF . The quartz movement is powered by a single AA battery (not included) and the work has a built in self-levelling hanger on the verso.





 

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