Recent works from the artist are increasingly obsessed with revealing conditions of the art institution, the Gallery, the Collector, the Artist... and cleverly undermining them whilst foregrounding them. In the tradition of our own enigmatic
Billy Apple for works which are of and
are the actual economic transaction of art (Billy Apple's famous exhibitions of the 1980's include 'Art for Sale' and 'Transactions' where shows were made up of the receipts of payments made to the artist), Larson has followed suit, appropriating eBay as a means for this work to perpetually re-sell itself.
The black box is contractually required to be connected to the internet, whereupon it is programmed to list itself in an online auction with no warning. The current owner (the Collector) is able to control the listing to some extent, to include gallery commissions for example, but must adhere to strictly to the Terms of the Agreement (included very carefully in every Auction listing), or else – and here's the kicker – the work "will no longer be considered a genuine work by the Artist and any value associated with it will be reduced to its value as a material objects and not a work of art." (Clause 12).
You don't need Walter Benjamin to realise how clever Larson is being here (although Benjamin is
illuminating on the subject), but to thwart the art institution the way he is, by being absurdly institutional, is something I have always enjoyed, especially about architectural practice.
The work of art in this case, as a work of 'the architect' might be, is legitimated by the contract, which guarantees its authorship -and thus its artistic 'value'- but is also conditioned by the work being somewhat self-directed, and perpetually on its own mission. The poetry at work here is as wonderful as its subversive institutionalisation.
If you're keen, you can
check it out here, and make a bid, and also check out Larson's
other work, where you can unravel the lineage of his works including the "in progress" '
$10,000 Sculpture'.