Setting a Good Corner (Allegory and Metaphor)

Lasting the full length of a video tape, 'Setting a Good Corner' documents Nauman’s efforts to construct a fence on his American ranch. From a fixed position, the camera captures the artist engrossed in various activities, including digging holes, securing foundations and setting tension wires. In the closing frames, comments from his neighbours scroll, like end-credits across the screen, offering an ambiguous finish to the film. With its detached staging of mundane activity presented in an unending loop, Nauman’s recording serves to reveal the laborious creative processes frequently hidden behind works of art.

Updated before 2020