Contingent 1968

Editor: Eva Hesse's "Contingent" at the National Gallery of Australia is a striking work composed of cheesecloth, latex, and fiberglass. It makes me think about fragility and impermanence. What underlying narratives or social critiques do you find woven into this piece? Curator: Hesse's use of unstable materials like latex, particularly in the context of the 1960s, can be interpreted as a feminist critique of traditional artistic mediums and the patriarchal structures they represent. How might the work’s fragility challenge conventional notions of artistic permanence and value? Editor: I never thought about it that way. The impermanence of the materials could symbolize the fleeting nature of social constructs, then? Curator: Precisely. And Hesse's own biography, marked by displacement and loss, profoundly shaped her artistic vision. This piece embodies a powerful commentary on vulnerability and the search for meaning in a transient world.