Learn Compassion The Wet Way

I was never one for co-operation.  Yeah, I watched Sesame Street and saw Bert & Ernie give each other half of a cookie, but I couldn't be bothered with Scouts and even now I keep a pocket full of coin-like washers to surreptitiously put into collection boxes.  Actually the washers are more expensive than just using pennies, but it's the principal of the thing.Still, even I would learn to love and appreciate my fellow man if faced with Lynda Abraham's 2006 art piece Compassion.  Perhaps that would be because I wouldn't actually be faced by my fellow man; I'd be facing a trough of water, laced up with ropes and cables and with my arms fastened beneath me.

If I draw back, my partner is pulled face-down into the water; should they struggle away, my own face is dragged down.  After some to and fro, eventually we would have to learn to balance against each other; in other words, learn some compassion.

There's a great description of the art piece in The Brooklyn Rail; I'm hoping it goes on tour somewhere I'll be able to see it in person.

The Brooklyn Rail [via we make money not art]