190FOLLOWING MATERIALITYidentified by Fried in relation to the theatricality of minimalist art was
that the embodiedness of the perceiving self also played a key role. As Hal
Foster thereafter acknowledged in 1986: “In short, with minimalism ‘sculp-
ture’ no longer stands apart, on a pedestal or as pure art, but is repositioned
amongst objects and redefined in terms of place. In this transformation
the viewer, refused the safe, sovereign space of formal art, is cast back on
the here and now.”^85
This “effect of presence” of the minimalist object is, however, also a
condition shared by the everyday object recontextualized as art object. But
the substantial difference between the theatricality at play in minimalist
art and that involved in Monogram lies in the impossibility of muting the
presence/materiality of the objects conjured in the space. As seen, their
intersection and juxtaposition constantly gesture toward disparate dis-
courses of practices that reach beyond the experience presented in the ex-
hibiting space. But in this sense Monogram’s link to speculative taxidermy
is feeble—works of speculative taxidermy tend to inscribe past and present
discourses and practices intrinsic to human/animal relationships, they
sometimes feature ethnographic aesthetics and approaches, and, most
regularly, they derail the discourses and practices involved in human/
animal relations for the purpose of revealing inherent contradictions
and ethically problematic biases.
However, in more than one way, Monogram certainly is a three-
dimensional materialization of the tableau-objet—the work of art that
challenges the viewer’s preconceived notions of realism through the de-
liberate subversion of classical representation and the flaunting of abra-
sive materialities. The body of the viewer is once again displaced in this
unorthodox sculpture in the round, which refuses to be seen from one
specific angle. Walking around Monogram is an experience in itself, one
that is heavily defined by the materialities incorporated in the piece. Yet
I have never experienced this as a confrontation of any sort. The disloca-
tion of the viewer’s body from the sovereignty of central prospective in
classical art is a complex performative operation involving a nonanthro-
pocentric negotiation, not a confrontation.