I appeared on an episode of the Echologorrhea podcast that was published last week, Thomas Friedman’s 1,000 Hours of Staring, where I talked to Wrev and Saath about one of my favourite works of art.
I love Echologorrhea. The podcast opens with the following announcement: “This podcast is rough around the edges for a simple reason: we are amateurs; we make this in the spirit of samizdat”. Echologorrhea is about sharing excitement, not about joining the podcast industry.
I have several favourite works of art that I love intensely, including The Invisibles, Twin Peaks, and the Tate Modern’s Rothko room. And then there is Thomas Friedman’s 1000 Hours of Staring. I saw Friedman’s ‘sculpture’ back in 2012, at the Hayward’s Invisible exhibition. I wrote a little about the piece and the exhibition at the time: Thousand Hour Stare and The Art of the Unseen. I’ve only seen it that once. While the work is in Moma’s collection, it is not currently on display.
Friedman’s work appeared in a room where all the exhibits were ‘blank’ sheets of paper, which would be identical to a careless glance. Friedman’s particular artwork stood out to me and has haunted me ever since. Hopefully, I successfully communicate this in the episode. We also get into a broader discussion of what we love about art.