The Tables Have Turned

1990s Chicago Avenue Events Staff

Naomi Beckwith recalls a memorable installation.

When the MCA's current building opened in 1996, I was here for the opening party, which was the coolest ever. But I distinctly remember seeing a work by Adrian Piper called Cornered, and it’s a work that stuck in my memory for years afterwards. It’s a video installation that is essentially a TV screen on a platform behind an overturned table. And, of course, an overturned table itself is already a metaphor: the tables have turned. So this is a situation where what you imagine is going to happen may not happen.

Adrian Piper, Cornered, 1988. Video installation with birth certificates, color video, monitor, table, and chairs; overall dimensions variable. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Bernice and Kenneth Newberger Fund, 1990.4.a–p. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

Adrian Piper, Cornered, 1988. Video installation with birth certificates, color video, monitor, table, and chairs; overall dimensions variable. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Bernice and Kenneth Newberger Fund, 1990.4.a–p. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

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