Over the last week, the phrase “May you live in interesting times” kept running through my head. When I researched the origins, it differed from what I thought. It’s a Chinese curse and was included in a 1966 speech by Robert F. Kennedy in which he acknowledged “the danger and uncertainty” as well as “the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.” History is no doubt cyclical.
In Allora & Calzadilla’s Hope Hippo (2005), participants sit on top of a hippo sculpture, read daily newspapers, and blow a whistle when they read something that seems unjust. Part of what I love about the piece is the open-endedness, the allowance for personal perspectives, and the acknowledgment that we all see and think differently. And I still believe in truth.
