Artist: Aviva Silverman
Exhibition title: We Have Decided Not to Die
Venue: VEDA, Florence, Italy
Date: September 28 – November 30, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and VEDA
If only one were not obliged to disappear in the end. If only one could practice how not to vanish forever. – Arakawa + Gins, Reversible Destiny/ We Have Decided Not to Die., 1997
Silverman’s installation, We Have Decided Not to Die, takes the model train set as its point of departure. Traveling in infinite loops, the train’s cargo comprises a range of mass-produced plastic figurines from Catholic women in prayer, to WWE wrestlers, to chimera like creatures from Spawn. Its litany of forms recites a convoluted matrix of history, sexuality, consumptive value and holiness in miniature. At the rear of the train is the quote from John 14:23 – “He who loves me follow me.”
Here, Silverman proceeds with her broader investigations of cyclical patterns as they manifest in both religion and capital. Loops of eternal return and recurrence — the material affinities of spiritual yearnings and secular manufacture. The disparate values implied by its plastic cargo converge under the rubric of mass production, acting as a beacon of contradictory reverence. We Have Decided Not to Die attends to the repetitions of history, questioning what critical mass might interrupt its rhythms; why we still follow its train.
We Have Decided Not to Die, 2019
plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds
Variable dimensions
Aviva Silverman (born 1986, New York) works with sculpture, performance, photography, and theater. Solo exhibitions and performances include: The Living Watch Over The Living ii, LVX Pavilion of the Volksbühne, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin (2019), Protect Me from What I Am, Swiss Institute, New York (2019) and Twister at MoMA P.S.1 (2016). Group exhibitions include Greater New York, MoMA P.S.1, New York (2015); It Can Howl, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia (2016); and I Surrender Dear, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (2016).
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger I (God Loves Fags), 2019. Plastic figurines, box car, moss, artificial wild flowers. 42 x 26 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger II (Tomorrow’s Patients), 2019. Plastic figurine, oil tanker. 42 x 20 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger III, 2019. Plastic figurine, flat car, ribbon. 43 x 16 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger VI (End of Dreams), 2019. Plastic figurines, flat car, artificial grass. 41 x 12 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger IV (Little Wing), 2019. Plastic figurines, flat car, artificial wild flowers. 57 x 27 x 19 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger IX (Decreation: in two halves), 2019. Flat car, moss, mylar, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. 42 x 14 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
Passenger VII (The Escort), 2019. Plastic figurines, flat car, velvet. 33 x 17 x 10 cm. On view at VEDA, during We Have Decided Not To die, solo show by Aviva Silverman. photo: Flavio Pescatori
We Have Decided Not to Die, Aviva Silverman, 2019. Installation view at VEDA, Florence. Plastic figurines (mules, weapons, angels, WWE wrestlers, Catholic peasants, spawns, a flutist, Joe Horn, a baby girl) boxcars, flat cars, ribbon, moss, mylar, artificial wild flowers, resin cast peach slices filled with dirt, lentils, rice, black eyed peas, and chia seeds. Variable dimensions. photo: Flavio Pescatori.
