Eight Caryatid Figures, 1906–07, that were made by the renowned American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the Buffalo AKG’s east portico, and which still face out from the museum to this day. Four of these eight caryatids—or columns designed to look like women, which were common in ancient Greece—are allegories of the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music; the other four are allegories of victory that flank the other figures. Each is identifiable by the symbolic attributes that she holds or wears: for example, “Painting” holds a palette and brushes, while “Sculpture” holds a small replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, an iconic Greek sculpture now at the Louvre.
Zucker refers to her versions as Vision, Thought, Wink, and Recursion, representing the four pillars of her own practice. Each features Zucker herself in costume; her bright pink shawl looks vaguely like an ancient garment, as well as the folds of a woman’s labia. The square capitals on the heads of the Eight Caryatids have been replaced by large blue boxes that bear the Wi-Fi logo, and she holds in her hands the modern tools that represent her art: a camcorder and a computer keyboard. While the sculptural caryatids are forever motionless, each video caryatid makes a different gestural movement (such as side-to-side or up-and-down), which is then repeated through video feedback, forming rippling patterns. Together, these colorful, dynamic, brazenly silly caryatids upgrade our categories of art for the digital age, while also queering the idealized female body and the “heroic” values of Western art."> Eight Caryatid Figures, 1906–07, that were made by the renowned American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the Buffalo AKG’s east portico, and which still face out from the museum to this day. Four of these eight caryatids—or columns designed to look like women, which were common in ancient Greece—are allegories of the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music; the other four are allegories of victory that flank the other figures. Each is identifiable by the symbolic attributes that she holds or wears: for example, “Painting” holds a palette and brushes, while “Sculpture” holds a small replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, an iconic Greek sculpture now at the Louvre.
Zucker refers to her versions as Vision, Thought, Wink, and Recursion, representing the four pillars of her own practice. Each features Zucker herself in costume; her bright pink shawl looks vaguely like an ancient garment, as well as the folds of a woman’s labia. The square capitals on the heads of the Eight Caryatids have been replaced by large blue boxes that bear the Wi-Fi logo, and she holds in her hands the modern tools that represent her art: a camcorder and a computer keyboard. While the sculptural caryatids are forever motionless, each video caryatid makes a different gestural movement (such as side-to-side or up-and-down), which is then repeated through video feedback, forming rippling patterns. Together, these colorful, dynamic, brazenly silly caryatids upgrade our categories of art for the digital age, while also queering the idealized female body and the “heroic” values of Western art."> Eight Caryatid Figures, 1906–07, that were made by the renowned American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the Buffalo AKG’s east portico, and which still face out from the museum to this day. Four of these eight caryatids—or columns designed to look like women, which were common in ancient Greece—are allegories of the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music; the other four are allegories of victory that flank the other figures. Each is identifiable by the symbolic attributes that she holds or wears: for example, “Painting” holds a palette and brushes, while “Sculpture” holds a small replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, an iconic Greek sculpture now at the Louvre.
Zucker refers to her versions as Vision, Thought, Wink, and Recursion, representing the four pillars of her own practice. Each features Zucker herself in costume; her bright pink shawl looks vaguely like an ancient garment, as well as the folds of a woman’s labia. The square capitals on the heads of the Eight Caryatids have been replaced by large blue boxes that bear the Wi-Fi logo, and she holds in her hands the modern tools that represent her art: a camcorder and a computer keyboard. While the sculptural caryatids are forever motionless, each video caryatid makes a different gestural movement (such as side-to-side or up-and-down), which is then repeated through video feedback, forming rippling patterns. Together, these colorful, dynamic, brazenly silly caryatids upgrade our categories of art for the digital age, while also queering the idealized female body and the “heroic” values of Western art.">