A Staff to Mark The Center of the World 2004

Curator: Today we are observing Jimmie Durham's work, "A Staff to Mark the Center of the World," created in 2004. It's a mixed-media sculpture comprising found objects and assemblage. Editor: Well, my immediate impression is how strangely evocative these totemic wooden forms are, burdened as they are with these colourful trinkets. It seems like a study in contrasts between the natural and the manufactured. Curator: Precisely. Consider the form; the verticality suggests a hierarchy, almost a linguistic structure with the wood's grain and the added elements contributing to a complex visual vocabulary. It recalls modernist interests in the sign, but then pushes beyond any clear rational system. Editor: Right, and if we consider Durham's engagement with the ready-made, we can read this as an investigation into what gets assigned value. These objects, whatever they may be, transform under his labor, suggesting a repurposing within commodity culture itself. Are these supposed decorative art elements now symbols? Curator: Symbols certainly factor in. Durham consistently engaged with questions of identity, and the assembled materials prompt contemplation of how personal and cultural meanings intertwine. The materials signify specific locations of origin or use, further muddying that interpretation, challenging any stable centre, just as the title implies. Editor: So you see that deconstruction as pushing against established hierarchies? The materiality here undermines a classical reading by refusing refinement. This resists the market; it resists a neat reading. Curator: In that regard, Durham invites a rethinking of conventional understandings of art historical precedents while simultaneously addressing social and political dynamics through the physicality and semiotic weight of found materials. The very nature of assemblage defies a single, definitive reading, which is integral to its communicative power. Editor: It’s quite thought-provoking to examine what remains of Durham's artistic project in this object – the tension between handmade marks, the exploitation of resources, and artistic expression remains present. Curator: Indeed, there's a lasting resonance. It reveals how art can simultaneously inhabit a tangible world of objects and occupy an intellectual space that encourages ongoing analysis.