Micheal Landy, Breakdown, 2001
2001, Breakdown, an installation/event in which Michael Landy destroyed everything he owned: A particular ethical puzzle was raised by the fact that among his possessions were some original artworks by his contemporary - Chris Ofili, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Gary Hume and others.
One of the last objects to be destroyed was his father's sheepskin coat. "The things I valued the most I left till last." [M. L.] The coat became a testament to his new value system as it circulated through those two weeks to its destruction. The coat assumed a kind of totemic significance during the show, and it's one loss that seems to weigh heavily on Landy.
Landy got us to think about how we feel ownership for other people's possessions, and how it's possible to think we have rights over stuff that we really don't have. And how we attach ourselves to objects as if they have a power outside the object itself.
Angela
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