Button March 1 1996 1996

Editor: Donald Sultan’s "Button March 1 1996," at the Tate, presents this everyday object with unexpected monumentality. I'm struck by how such a commonplace thing is rendered with such formal precision. What meanings do you see embedded in this image? Curator: The button is so ubiquitous that its symbolic power often goes unnoticed. Consider how buttons fasten and connect. Sultan isolates this function, forcing us to consider its role in holding things together, both literally and perhaps metaphorically. Think about the psychology of closure, of unity, that the button embodies. Editor: That's fascinating. So it's not just about the button itself, but what it represents: connection and unity? Curator: Precisely. And the date in the title—March 1, 1996—suggests a specific moment, a kind of time capsule. The mundane elevated to the monumental, holding a particular day, a specific memory, in its form. Editor: I never would have considered that! It's amazing how much symbolism can be found in something so simple. Curator: Indeed. It reminds us that cultural memory is often embedded in the most ordinary objects.