detail 'Crown Royal Flush'

ARTNET.COM Thursday, July 21, 2005 ...All of these pieces seemed to be at home at the event, nicely straddling the Scope Hamptons directive to expose viewers to something resembling a new experience and the need for nifty collectable objects. But it was outside, on the sweaty, sunlit lawn, that two special projects most directly thematized the spirit of the day. ....And finally, there was Lifeboat, a project presented by Mary Mattingly and Paul Middendorf "providing education, training, and security for the Hamptons and other Micronations." Walking the fine line between cutting edge institutional critique and New Yorker cartoon, the artists presented a miniature Hamptons in the form of a fully stocked pool complete with a tower of Evian water, American flag and martinis at the ready -- leaving it nicely ambiguous whether this weekend the artists had taken over the Hamptons, or the Hamptons had taken over the artists. -BEN DAVIS is associate editor of Artnet Magazine.

back