 Whose words have touched you? Which words have changed your life? Over the past few months I asked these questions of both friends and strangers. Sometimes I asked in person, other contributions were written anonymously in blank notebooks that I left in libraries and other public spaces.  I collected 78 quotes, which I printed onto greaseproof paper and baked inside fairy cakes. Visitors to the performance event chose two texts, baked inside cakes - one for themselves and one to give away. Each cake was labelled with the words: 'This cake is a work of art. If eaten it will cease to be a work of art. If given away, its value as a work of art will increase.' Thus a chain is forged between people, through the experience of the giving and receiving of gifts, both physical and intellectual. The exchange of gifts is central to all societies: the most tangible examples being money, goods, food and services - all are given and exchanged - as are affection, commitment, sex, even language, the gift of speech, building and maintaining relationships, networks and hierarchies in society.  The cake is perishable and - if not eaten - sooner or later
will decay. The text alone will remain. Like a plastic toy in a
cereal packet, the text gives
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| "Phenomena are illusions which decay and die. Ideals are unchanging, perfect. Phenomena are definitely
inferior to Ideals!"
Plato
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something lasting,
something you can retain, long after the cake has been chewed,
enjoyed and digested. Similiarly, many of the people quoted are now
dead, but while their seemingly too, too solid corporeal presence
was subject to decay, and ultimately death, their ideas have
survived them. | This website is
one window into the interdisciplinary artwork 'icing over
influence', devised by Kate Longman, a third year Fine Art
student at Sheffield University. The project synthesises the subtle art of cake baking/decoration, with a series of performances and installations; appearing in conventional performance spaces, public areas and on the internet. The audience's interactions and contributions are incorporated into the work. We are presented with a panoply of different methods and opportunities to view and interact with the themes and content of the work, and offered the space to examine a microcosm of how ideas are transmitted and interpreted. |
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| Have any of the quotes above affected you? What words have changed you - and how? Email your reactions and reflections to Kate Longman and we'll post your responses on this site... |
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'Do I contradict myself? Well then, I contradict myself. I
contain multitudes.'(Walt Whitman, Song of Myself)
This has always chimed a deep chord with me- I think there is a big problem with trying to be too consistent in your world view - people take up a position, identify with a political ideology, religion, sub-culture etc., and then take on a whole set of attitudes consistent with that decision/identification. This can inhibit true dialogue that has as its driving force the desire to truly understand what we feel and believe, and what others feel and believe, and to accept that these feelings and beliefs will change, and to acknowledge that this change is good.
Contributed by Sarah, London
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