Second Lives: A Mixture of Frailties by Susie MacMurray

Image from Susie MacMurray used with permission of the artist

The new Museum of Arts and Design has not been getting great reviews and neither has its opening show, Second Lives. I think that the critics are perhaps a bit harsh, there is some great stuff in it. Everything in it is recycled or repurposed. One of my favourites is Susie MacMurray's "A Mixture of Frailties"- a dress made out of 1400 rubber "washing up" gloves, as they call them in the UK.

The artist writes in the catalogue: "My choice of materials is a search for ways to explore the contradictions and paradoxes of human existence. I am often attracted to "Stuff" that generates a measure of ambivalence. Memory/mortality, power/fragility, seduction/repulsion, terror/wonder- I am drawn to materials that help me make sense of these juxtapositions, and I see sites and cultural references as further materials that must be juggled and finely balanced until nothing superfluous remains." ::Susie MacMurray at the ::Museum of Arts and DesignMore on the Museum in Treehugger:New Museum of Arts and Design Opens With Second LivesMore Adhocism in TreeHuggerChair made from Brooms: Adhocism in Action Glowing Adhocism : Lamps From Recycled Materials : TreeHuggerFinally a Good Use for Aviator Sunglasses Chandelier from Banana Boxes by Anneke Jakobs