Another image comes to mind: Nietzsche leaving his hotel in Turin. See-
ing a horse and a coachman beating it with a whip, Nietzsche went up to
the horse and, before the coachman’s very eyes, put his arms around the
horse’s neck and burst into tears. That took place in 1889, when Nietzsche,
too, had removed himself from the world of people. In other words, it
was at the time when his mental illness had just erupted. But for that
very reason I feel his gesture has broad implications: Nietzsche was try-
ing to apologize to the horse of Descartes. His lunacy (that is, his final
break with mankind) began at the very moment he burst into tears over
the horse.
—MILAN KUNDERA, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING
It was really hard to make a base for it—that’s where the title comes
from. The stand has a double beveled edge as a nod to public sculpture.
It’s like a defaced memorial, like when you see a statue of a soldier on
a horse and someone’s put a traffic cone on its head—what does that
gesture stand for?
—STEVE BISHOP, ON IT’S HARD TO MAKE A STAND
7
THIS IS NOT A HORSEBiopower and Animal Skins in the Anthropocene