Here’s a sunny piece of news: researchers say we’re currently living through a mass extinction event. The depressing factor is increased by a few finer points of this grim story. While the dinosaurs had the copout of being smacked by a rock from outer space, we get to contemplate the likely death of our species and the death of life as we know it, secure in the knowledge that this is all our fault. Everyone has to deal with the fact that they will one day cease to be, but this news puts an ugly spin on that by saddling us with the culpability of destroying many other creatures and the uncertainty that humanity as a whole won’t be around for long after us. Existential nightmares never sucked so much.
Even though researchers say the extinction event is progressing rapidly, it’s still progressing too slowly for us to run out the clock with a drunken end of the world Bacchanalia. Instead, maybe we should pass the time with some soul searching. That reflection is at the heart of Bangkok artist Nino Sarabutra’s installation What Will You Leave Behind? The work, according to her web site, was most recently installed at the Palazzo Grimani Museum, Venice, Italy.
The work includes more than 100,000 miniature porcelain skulls covering the floor of the exhibition space. There is clearly a debt to Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds at the Tate in 2012 but that does not remove the charm. And where Weiwei had to withdraw the offer to walk on the porcelain seeds (dues to toxic manganese dust that rose from the work), visitors here have to walk on these skulls as they pass through the room— a message that every step you take brings you one step closer to Death. The artist states:
“I want people to ask themselves how they live, what they are doing— if today was your last on earth, what will you leave behind?”
Whenever I encounter questions like hers, my first thought is inevitably one of relief— thank god I’m not the only person who thinks these things. Death is a trip that everyone ultimately makes alone, but the collective confrontation of Death present in this work takes a little bit of the sting away. We’re passing over thousands of skulls, meaning that many, many people have done this before us. This isn’t a horror unique to our own experience. The skulls were crafted by Nino and a range of people she knew, such as family, neighbors, friends and co-workers. While they were crafting the skulls, the artist told them to think about their life and what they would leave behind. Answers given by these people, along with answers Sarabutra collected from the Internet, are projected on the gallery wall.
Given the rather immediate timeline given by the researchers who wrote about the extinction event, I doubt I’ll leave behind much more than a contribution to the fossil record (if I’m lucky). Oh well. Maybe thinking in the collective is the right way to go. Maybe the invertebrate monstrosities who inherit the planet in the future will learn about us and avoid making the same mistakes. Maybe I’ll fossilize in a dramatic pose that could be read as a warning by whatever digs me up in the future. That would be helpful.
That leaves the question of how I should spend my remaining time now that I have this knowledge. Sarabutra included some pieces that gently nudge viewers in that direction, a way out of the memento mori panic attack initiated by the thick carpet of skulls. The carpet is joined by heart-shaped plates that hang on the walls. These plates encourage viewers to “act now” and “do today.” The artist states in an interview with My Modern Met:
“I don’t see the skulls as images of fear or sadness. They are liberating: look at all of the opportunities, all the lives you could live, how serious your life is. Then go out and make the most of it.”
It’s easy to be arrested by your fear of mortality, to fear it so much that it corrodes your enjoyment of the life you’re experiencing now. The reverse is to live how you like, to live in a way that benefits others and to enjoy that all the more simply because these experiences are ephemeral. Sarabutra could be an art therapist.
Nino Suwannee Sarabutra was born in Thailand and studied ceramic art at Silpakorn University in Bangkok. Upon graduating she joined different advertising agencies, pursuing advertising along with her artwork. She began her studio in 2006 while running a small ad agency at the same time. She held her first studio exhibition, Exploring Love, in 2008.
Bill Rodgers is a Contributing Editor at CFile.
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Nino Sarabutra, “What Will You Leave Behind?” installation view. Click to see a larger image.
Nino Sarabutra
I would like to buy one where can I do that? Thanks
I like that people are hung up on the use of the word carpet but it’s not really wrong to call it such. I get it, it’s mostly associated and used with soft woven textiles and the idea that these skulls look hard but could compress comfortably under foot would be appealing. Fortunately I’m certain an identical surface can be made using a mold of the display and then filling it with a foam similar to ones used in those cushy floor mats stationary workers are given for relief. More to the point of the word use though I recall the term carpet bombing being used quite a bit and that certainly was no cushy surface. It’s another use where the word is used to convey the covering of an area. A forest floor carpeted in leaves, field carpeted in flowers or snow. It’s usually for soft things that could be compressed in a footstep but wouldn’t argue is wrong to call a layer of skulls on the floor a carpet specially as we are talking about an abstract art display anyway. If it were a product description then yea I would call it misleading but as a work of art I say fair play.
I wanna buy this carpet though it’s an art work..
It’s not a carpet numbskulls. You can’t buy it. Not everything is a fucking commodity.
No need to be a douche about it
“It’s not a carpet numbskulls. You can’t buy it. Not everything is a fucking commodity.”
Oh, my gosh! What a *wonderfully* thoughtful and encouraging response!
Let’s see… you must be a counselor by trade, right?
wow, be less of an asshole next time…
Are people not reading the article?! This is not a carpet but tiny miniature porcelain skulls on the floor!
The sunflower seeds that this reminds them of were porcelain and had to he removed due to toxic dust, these skulls are not porcelain.
“The work includes more than 100, 000 porcelain skulls, covering the floor of the exhibition space.”
Not a carpet.
Ah, but the possibilities! It is fascinating and beautiful!
We have established that a floor/ground covering is indeed a carpet
I would love to buy this where do I purchase this rug.
So has anyone came back with where you can purchase this “carpet” from have been searching up on it I can find it but nothing about how or where you can get it from
You can’t. It’s not an actual carpet. It’s 100,000 porcelain skulls glued to the ground at a museum.
BUT—
You could probably recreate this at your own home with a few skull molds off etsy, a ton of porcelain clay. Get them fired at a local pottery co-op or shop, cement them down onto your floor and cover them with a clear coat of epoxy to protect them from damage!
I love the concept…in would love that carpet
This would go great with the skull of my enemy coffee cup!
I find this to be one of the most beautifully thought provoking pieces of installation artwork ever. I think it’s absolutely wonderful.
I need this in my life
Did you people not read the article? This carpet symbolizes all those who have lived and died before us. How morbid to want it as a interior design.
Lol yes i fully agree. And yet i still want it in my house. As death is just a new beginning to a new end to something else. Most people fear death i my self don’t and i don’t see death as a bad thing. I am not say i want to die but having something like this in house would remind me that every day is a blessing, good or bad i should in joy the day as it might be my last and all ways play the game of life as if i will play it tomorrow. Even though i might not.
Would love to have this in my life and about me. Ignore the struggles and strife, you are doomed to repeat them.
That’s what that price represents however for one to want to do this in their own home doesn’t need to have the same meaning , try being a little open minded before trying to bash someone else’s likes. Way to many clowns like you in this world.
“Beauty is in the eye of it’s beholder”…. Or something like that
I want.. i want.. i want!!!!
Even just a small portion of it would make me happy!!
Is the skull carpet available for installation throughout a house? If so, what would the cost of something like be?
Where can i get this carpet?
A couple people have asked about this. To my knowledge it was a one-time installation. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MONEY!!! I NEED THAT RUG IN MY LIFE!!! WHERE DO I GET ONE?
I love it
I love the skull carpets where can I buy one. They are beautiful magnificent.