What You See, Unseen

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To make Eureka, Antoni submerged herself in a tub filled to the brim with
lard. Once submerged, she re-flattened the lard at the top of the tub, removing
what her body had displaced. The removed lard was mixed with lye and
water to make a cube of soap. The artist then washed with the cube, slowly
rounding its edges by repeated bathings.
What You See, Unseen
This sculpture is inspired by a story of Archimedes. One day, the king asked
Archimedes how much gold was in his crown. Archimedes was trying his
best to figure out how to answer this question. One night while bathing, he
realized that his body was displacing the water in his tub. He could answer
the king’s question by doing the same experiment with the crown. The
submerged crown would displace the amount of water equal to its volume.
Archimedes jumped out of the tub, screamed “Eureka!” and ran through the
streets naked.
Like Archimedes’ body, the artist’s body becomes the instrument by which
she understands and makes meaning. Antoni is interested in what we can
know through the body and how she might elicit empathy in the viewer
through their imagining what she has physically done to make her objects.
Eureka, 1993
Bathtub, lard, soap, and Dorian