Langlands & Bell
The Ministry   2002

(Health & Education)

Woven wool carpet

340 x 340cm

The Ministry is putting the viewer in a new position. It allows you to walk around it and as you do so your relationship to it continually changes. You ask yourself: is it a picture, or is it carpet? is it a photo of a building, or is it a geometric design? is it an optical experience, or a tactile experience? is it primarily a usable object? or is it mainly there to contemplate? The answer is that it can be any or all of them: what it is, is shifting the whole time. It has a multiple focus, yet it’s purpose is art, and it prompts us to question how we can make or find art in life.