Fiona Hall: Force Field Education Kit - Museum of Contemporary Art

MCA Education KitPage17SECONDARY CASE STUDY: MCA COLLECTION IN CONTEXTThe Price is Right 1994Polyethylene containers, ceramic plate, electrical components, dimensions variableMuseum of Contemporary Art, purchased 1995 © the artist photograph: Jenni CarterThe Price is Right is a major installation constructed from unassuming polyethylene ‘Tupperware’containers. Sensor-activated lights flash Morse code from inside the opaque containers whenviewers approach, cumulatively spelling out the sentence “I have the misfortune of not being afool”. The work’s obscure Morse code message is a line appropriated from Charles Dickens’ 1857rags-to-riches tale Little Dorrit, a book which cautions against precisely the kind of “get rich quick”aspirations now promoted by television game shows, such as the one which gives the work its title.Hall’s use of common household items is characteristic of her practice, suggesting the consumeristideals of middle class domesticity, such as the social activities of the ‘Tupperware Party’. Hallimbues these domestic objects with unexpected beauty, elements of the fantastic and wry socialcommentary.The Price is Right and Give a Dog a Bone (1996) are two works in Force Field from the MCACollection. Acquired by the MCA in 1995, The Price is Right reflected the shift in the Museum’scollecting focus towards major works by Australian artists. The collection of this work also extendsthe Museum’s substantial body of light works and art of political comment. 8Focus Questions:• How does Fiona Hall’s use of domestic objects comment on consumer culture?• Describe the process of transformation of the Tupperware objects, and the effect that this hason our reading of the work.• This work can be displayed in various configurations. How would you choose to display it atthe MCA or in another setting of your choice?• Why do you think the artist shows the tangle of electric cords at the bottom of this work?8Vivienne Webb, MCA Collection: New Acquisitions in Context , Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2005, p.17