ARTS & CRAFTS > FLORILEGIUM
Florilegium- a gathering of flowers; a collection of writing from several sources, an anthology
FOR BEST RESULTS:
Please take a key to own (the numbers run 1-104 in rows left to right), write the number of the key on the back of your selected key tag along with…
A prayer for the future, a song from the past. Something to remember or forget. The name of a loved one: someone no longer loved. A letter to your present self never to be opened. A thought, question, answer. Tell a secret; a lie.
…on the other side of the tag, the one without the number. Please place the key tag once written on in place of the key which is now yours to do with as you please.
Key #56 “i’m tired of who i’ve been”
What good is a key when you no longer have access to the door/object that it opens? Does it still have significance as an object though it is functionally useless? Is a secret still a secret when it is written with the possibility of being read? Do we as human beings have an obligation to hold others’ secrets when we are separated from their original context or importance? What does it mean to offer solace and to be trusted to hold others thoughts and feelings without being privy to the histories behind what is being held?
Florilegium is a piece that requires trust, though not honesty- and while I do not have answers to the questions I have posed for myself and now you, I hope that being somewhat privy to 103 thoughts, wishes, feelings, sorrows, joys, happenstances, among much more, help us to be more open to serendipitous happenings.
Key #72 “I HAVE NEVER fELT imPORTANT ENOUGH”
27 out of 104 keys remain in Florilegium’s third showing
After going through four exhibitions a singular metal key remains, the original key from my father that molded the rest. All 104 porcelain keys have new owners and coincidentally the last key was taken without leaving a tag, resulting in a sign that read “THIS PIECE IS NO LONGER INTERACTIVE” being put up next to the piece for the remaining duration it was shown.
By EROS C BACKUS | eroscbackus@gmail.com | initially comprised of 104 mold made ceramic keys, now holding zero of those original keys and 103 thoughts, messages, apologies, letters, questions and answers and one metal key whose duplication though prohibited was cultivated
Originally Made: December 5th, 2021