Tyler, I was just wondering about the connection that you brought up about memories (sometimes ones that slip your mind) and the glass balls by Ryan Gander. Are the balls just meant to arouse discussion, or do they hold a particular meaning for you?In other words, why did Gander produce this artwork? Additionally, did you find a relationship between the several Gander pieces in this year's International?

tkd yes they do hold a particular meaning to me. I see the spheres as symbols for memories, ideas, and thoughts drifting around in the mind. My interest in psychology probably reflects why I see the spheres this way. For example if I saw something that was interesting to me it would stay with me like a picture froozen in time just as the paper is suspended in the glass ball.

There is one particular piece within the current Life on Mars
International which I beleive is tragically overlooked: "A sheet of
paper on which I was about to draw, as it slipped from my table and
fell to the floor" by artist Ryan Gander. This work consists of 40
total crystal balls of uniform size with what appears to be a delicate
sheet of paper suspended within the transparent glass. These 40 balls
are placed at somewhat random areas of the main gallery of the
exhibition, with no noticable pattern or reason. I think that
Gander's piece gives viewers a brief glimpse into an entire universe
of knowledge that chance obliterates from our own world.

The title, "A sheet of paper on which I was about to draw, as it
slipped from my table and fell to the floor" helps to emphasize this
notion of lost ideas, lost possibilities, lost opportunities. If the
artist was, as the title states, about to draw something - he must
have had some drive, inspiration, or reasoning to do so. However, by
the mere act of chance, this sheet of paper, the artist's literal
plane for creation, has fallen to the floor - thus indicating a quiet
and delicate loss of an idea. The fact that the paper, symbolizing
the absence of a certain spark of genius or knowledge in the world, is
ironically inside something as solid and constant as crystal glass
serves to maintain the blank sheet as a legacy, paying homage to what
could have been.

The image of a small piece of blank paper suspended in space (glass)
causes viewers to question what would have been on the sheets - Maybe
a heartfelt letter, a would-be famous quote or poem, a revolutionary
discovery, an inspirational drawing. Whatever the artist had planned
for the sheet is now no longer in existence because his means with
which to commemorate his idea is now gone, fallen onto the floor.
Although such a small paper, the idea on it could have been
life-changing, revolutionary, earth-shattering - but because of
chance, the world will never know how things could have changed had
that paper not fallen.

The fact that so many visitors at the museum tend to overlook this
piece is a reflection of how these lost and forever-forgotten musings
and inspirations are overlooked, never missed. As viewers pass on to
other works forever cast in bronze, painted on canvas, or immortalized
in photography - Ryan Gander's piece silently remains on the cold
galley floor, a quiet, peaceful, and empty memorial, honoring the
infinite number of lost and forgotten possibilities that our world,
tragically - will never know, never document, never remember.

MORGAN