Actress Tilda Swinton has a new role.
Sleeping Beauty.
The Academy Award-winning Best Supporting Actress for 2007’s Michael Clayton made a surprise appearance last weekend at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Not on a stage.
But in a glass box.
And not acting.
But, rather sleeping.
And not by accident.
But, rather as - cough - art.
A spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that the star did indeed appear at MoMA - on purpose - and put on her “piece” in which “Swinton lies sleeping in a glass box for the day.” She again will “perform” this (first featured at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1995) again a half dozen times by year’s end.
So this stunt was not some kind of preparation to reprise her roles in films like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Deep End. This is not The Chronicles of Narcolepsy or The Sleep End.
She has titled her siesta, I mean magnum opus, The Maybe.
As in Maybe this is the most lethargic excuse for a masterpiece ever? As in Maybe Ambien should be neither an art muse, nor medium?
And Maybe I’m just totally bitter as a lazing expert who entirely missed her calling. Here I am just an ordinary, average snoozing slacker when I could have been a slumbering virtuoso!
We can all agree that Swinton is a piece of work. But is her work artistic?
We asked some Arkansas art experts for their thoughts.
Would Clarke Huisman, co-owner of Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock, consider including a work like The Maybe?
“Sure, why not?” he says with a laugh. “[The zoo] used to have a painting elephant. Why not have someone lying in a glass box?”
Putting it in the performance art category, he likens it to magician David Blaine’s feats.
“It doesn’t sound as interesting, but I’m sure it’s supposed to spark some conversation,” he says.
And here we are talking about it. So was Twitter. “If Tilda Swinton needs someone to fill in for her at MoMA, I’m available. Wld be 1 way to get more sleep!” and “How about making Tilda Swinton hang out outside Penn Stationall day and letting a homeless person take a nap at MOMA?” and “People are upset with Tilda Swinton, who sleeps all day at the MoMA in an ‘art’ piece called The Maybe … she must have kids” were some of the comments that #themaybe inspired.
Stephano, owner of Stephano’s Fine Art Gallery in Little Rock, works with celebrity artists, including Tony Dow, clarifying, “They’re true artists.”
He’s not so sure about Swinton.
“I think she’s got way too much time on her hands,” he says with a laugh. “The acting world must be tough right now.”
His gallery would have little use for an inactive human installation.
“‘If I lie down in a box, would you put me in your gallery?’” Stephano muses. “I can’t really sell you. We’re here to make money. It’s a business.”
He could maybe see The Maybe like that working in a museum. Although maybe not the Arkansas Arts Center.
“I’ve seen some crazy stuff in the Delta,” he says, referring the Arts Center’s yearly - and often offbeat - juried exhibition. “But nothing that insane.” Sleep on it, and e-mail: jchristman@arkansasonline.com Spin Cycle is a weekly smirk at pop culture and a weekly segment on Little Rock’s KURB-FM, B98.5, at 7 a.m.Thursdays. Listen live and hear podcasts at b98.com.
Style, Pages 49 on 03/31/2013