Le Xi Visit to PS1’s The Gatherers: Reflections on Found-Object Art
Recently, I visited PS1’s The Gatherers exhibition. The exhibition explores the “afterlife” of objects—their disposal, accumulation, and the shifting line between use and disuse. It draws on a long tradition of artists working with everyday remnants, from ancient trompe-l'œil “unswept floors” to Dutch still lifes and post-war assemblage.
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While historically rich, many works remain rooted in Duchamp’s “found-object recycling” tradition. They critique overproduction and waste and carry symbolic meaning, but feel somewhat removed from the subtle, everyday interactions we have with objects. Media and conceptual experimentation also feels cautious.
Le Xi, The Union of Self and Objects, video, 01:11(Loop), dimensions variable, 2023
How might contemporary artists approach these themes in a more immediate, embodied way? In my own work, I focus on the interaction between body and object. In “The Union of Self and Objects”, I used stop-motion animation to rearrange items I’ve carried for twenty years, tracing life and bodily changes in the digital age. In “In Sync”, I mirrored the movements of saplings to sense their fleeting rhythms and how the body resonates with nature.
Le Xi, In Sync, video, 01:03(Loop), dimensions variable, 2023.
These projects suggest that objects are not just static symbols—they exist in a living relationship with our bodies and a sense of time and space. Perhaps we can ask: when we touch these objects, what are we really touching?
