"WHAT MAKES A WORK OF ART "GREAT"? When I was teaching art history, one idea that emerged in our classroom discussions was that the great work of art is often (though not always) polyvalent, proposing multiple ideas or themes simultaneously and readily lending itself to new readings by new audiences. In other words, it is the opposite of a question that answers itself, or an utterance that fully discharges its meaning in the moment of its uttering."
"Writing in defense of Thomson's "cleverness," Tumlir notes that every aspect of this video that may appear like a "one-liner" in fact "opens . . . to a radiating constellation of lines, pretty much inexhaustible." These include (but are not limited to) the analogous relationship of photographic prints and sculptural multiples; the feedback loops between Rodin's own photographs and sculptures; the modern paragone between photography and sculpture as mediums for freezing movement;"
Great works of art frequently exhibit polyvalence, proposing multiple ideas or themes at once and inviting successive reinterpretations. Mungo Thomson's Sideways Thought repurposes photographs of Auguste Rodin sculptures from published sources into a stop-motion video that foregrounds media echoes and reproduction. The work foregrounds relationships between photographic prints and sculptural multiples, feedback loops between Rodin's photos and sculptures, and the paragone between photography and sculpture as ways to freeze movement. The piece also gestures to the digital transformation of midcentury photo-based visual culture and employs a staccato rhythm that resonates with contemporary mediatized suspense.
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