DISMANTLINGS :: Guenther Rabl

SLUG PLAGUE

Artists are known to have a few loose screws. Therefore, curators are needed to tell them what they are allowed to do and what not, and, in case of emergency, to also protect the public from undesired art. Best suited for this are people who have had their fingers in everything for so long that they generally become regarded as competent. We, in Austria, already have almost more of these types than we have good artists. As opposed to good artists, they are not lacking of work and they readily find employment everywhere – and, in not too few cases, even surprisingly as artists. What spontaneously comes to mind is the ‘story of the ugly duckling’ or ‘putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.’ Both metaphors, however, cannot grasp this phenomenon in its whole. Alas, if it were only the foxes! Their character, nonetheless, more closely resembles that of the slug: slimy, slow, shiftless, homeless, defenceless, unprotected, no friends, not even natural enemies, pitiable and worthy of mercy.
Nonetheless, all the lettuce is gone every morning.

© Günther Rabl 2006
translated by Brian Dorsey
This text is understood as a literary work of art.
Quoting in context with a reference to the source is allowed until otherwise revoked.