Sitting... six months later 1962

Curator: What a curious object. Is it trying to tell me a story or simply overload my senses? Editor: I get the same feeling! Let's orient ourselves. This is "Sitting... six months later," a mixed-media assemblage by Oyvind Fahlstrom, created in 1962. You can find it hanging at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. What draws your eye? Curator: The narrative panels, undoubtedly! I see tiny dramas unfolding, cartoonish figures interspersed with seemingly random objects—necklaces, combs, even what appears to be a miniature bus. It reminds me of decoding a cryptic dream, the logic allusive and personal. The palette itself feels like a faded memory, almost like viewing very old celluloid film stock. Editor: Yes, there's a powerful sense of personal symbolism at work here. Fahlstrom was known for his variable paintings, these game board-like constructions where the components could be rearranged to alter the narrative. While this piece appears more fixed, I sense that spirit of playful reconfiguration. Curator: It's interesting you call it "playful." I find it somewhat unsettling, maybe because the iconography feels so fragmented. The Pop Art associations are inescapable, yet there's a deeper disquiet beneath the surface. Perhaps that stems from the title— "Sitting... six months later." One senses a quiet passing of time and all its discontents. What do these symbols signify in that long interim, after everything has changed? Editor: Perhaps it captures the chaotic accumulation of experiences and objects that constitute our individual histories. Those disparate elements, juxtaposed, create new meaning and new resonances—as messy as life. There’s an acknowledgement, visually at least, that meaning changes over time in relation to everything that comes our way and sticks. Even discarded objects, presented as part of collage, have a cultural story to tell in how long they last and what form they eventually come to take on, no? Curator: It's certainly not easy art. Editor: No, but that difficulty, I think, encourages a prolonged engagement. In this artwork, Fahlstrom seems to be playing with the notion of meaning itself, offering up a visual puzzle box. Each object, each panel, hinting at something larger than we can readily grasp. It’s a conversation. I think he's asking, "What meaning are *you* bringing to this table?"