Lucky Pierre Response

I had found Lucky Pierre one of the most interesting and memorable artists that we had looked at the past few days. It was mostly memorable because of its uniqueness. I didn’t exactly find it appealing to look at. It was rather uncomfortable for me actually, knowing exactly what the project consists of and what the subjects are eating. I cannot imagine myself doing such a thing, knowing that the meal is someone’s last wish basically. The fact that the subjects knowingly commit themselves to it was kind of disturbing. Additionally, they never know what they are going to get, so they are in for a surprise. Even though they can easily decline the meal, I still see it as a risk that they are taking.

I also think this is a very interesting idea to get a person to experience art. Though the volunteers are not exactly audience, they are still participants in the project and have the most vivid experience of this particular work of art. For me, just watching the recording of a stranger eating a prisoner's last meal before execution makes me get a sense of what that person was like. However, I don’t really see the purpose of this piece. Is its main purpose to influence the participants, the people eating the meals? Or is it supposed to somehow move the viewer of the video? I most likely will never find out the experience of the volunteer, however, as a viewer of just the video, it makes me want to look away. The “scene” is so well put together that it almost gives the allusion of a real last meal. That just gives me goose bumps.

I included a picture of videos of “Final Meals” playing facing the street for people passing by to see. I don’t know if people would understand it or know what it even is if they don’t know the background.