Poison Shelf: general view of installation

Occupying a large section of the La Jolla Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, Ming Mur-Ray's installation for inSITE94 was entitled "CYM55296." Arranged on long shelves, the artist neatly installed rows of square wooden tablets displaying an invented language of calligraphy. Another element of the installation was rows of books sealed tight and with the phrase "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil," on their covers, alluding to Censorship within the arts. Also, part of the work was a bookcase randomly stacked with books fond to be controversial or drawing public complaints. Together these elements created a dialogue around language and how public and private opinion often categorizes based on content. --inSITE94

• 1994

• Mur-Ray, Ming (Hong Kong installation artist, born 1951, active in United States)

• InSITE94

This image is a scan of a 35mm color slide from the InSite Archive (MSS 707, Box 310, Folder 03, Item 241)

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.))

shelves; wood (plant material); tablets; books; bookcases

• InSITE94

• Mexican-American border region

• Installations (visual works)

• Calligraphy
• Censorship
• Language
• Political art
• Prohibited books
• Writing

• image

Shared Shelf: 16715522

Online finding aid

• inSite Archive

Sculpture and Installations

[Title, Date]. InSite Archive. MSS 707. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Unknown (US)

Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.

Constraint(s) on Use: This work may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires the written permission of the copyright holders(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Libraries. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Libraries department having custody of the work.

Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/sca)

2020-10-27