Marc Berghaus The six cubes in the display counter contain the substances produced by the six machines standing on either side of it along this wall. They are all parts of the same piece, and they are arranged in the same order, left to right, as those substances in the case. They are arranged, roughly chronologically, as some of the more confusing concerns as we, or at least I, pass through a life: relationships and betrayal; money; aging (the fourth machine remolds crushed athletic trophy figures into artificial hips and knees); one’s legacy; and death, or what comes after. This piece, and later the entire Rules & Regulations series, was first inspired by a scene I watched while still in college, years before I had begun building any sculptures. During a slow day at the record store (Pennylane Records, Lawrence, Kansas) where I worked, I spent the better part of an hour watching a strange episode across Massachusetts Street at Penny Annie’s candy store. The owner and several of his sons or employees were trying to carry an old-style candy display counter up the narrow stairs that went above the store. It was made of glass and wood, with many glass bins inside the larger glass counter. They were having a very difficult time. The case would barely fit through the door at all, leaving no room for enough people to carry the corners, and then the thing wouldn’t fit under the ceiling of the stairway, so they had to hold it very low. They backed up and went forward for a very long time, becoming sweaty and very frustrated with each other. I loved the precise organizing principles of the glass bins within glass, and I was fascinated by their struggle with getting it up the stairs. It stuck in my mind for years as some kind of strange metaphor, for what I’m still not exactly sure.
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