Dear Shaded Viewers,
Yesterday I went to see the latest exhibition by the artist MARIEVIC. The carnal exhibition consists of the Totem manifested in different sizes and materials. They were hand made in Morocco and are 25 euros a centimeter and you buy them in clusters. I was thinking what the reaction must have been in the factories producing the Totems and this is what MARIEVIC had to say:
“Finding a ceramic studio that agreed to take on the job was an adventure in itself! I received many rejections. But eventually, I was brought to this place in the desert, which I later found out is owned by Madison Cox.
The men there were all very friendly; I think they were amused by the project.
On the last page of the newspaper, there’s a photo of the label the transporter put on the shipping crates. Look how he spelled my name! MARIDIC.”
As nothing is ever really by accident, after the fact MARIEVIC found this out about the location:
Morocco, 2019. Kik Plateau, not far from Moulay Brahim where pilgrims come to invoke the Sufi saint in their fertility quest.
Our mutual friend, the author wrote the press release below, between the above and below, not much to add. The hat that MARIEVIC is holding is now on my wall above a portrait of me from years ago, not possible on my head.
On the main square
a white stone obelisk
rose like a phallus
without flesh or hair—
Robert Lowell, “Buenos Aires”
I know I am one of many hunting these things…
No, they are not mentioned in any guidebook, tourism website, or other offerings of
exclusive sightseeing adventures. My source was an unexpected dark-web-scavenged video and geo locations exchanged for bitcoin.
The mysterious structures were reported by witnesses to have grown from the desert floor. They have also been known to burst into spontaneous flames, leaving them a kilned burnt offering. Phallic-like structures the size of a small adult, they were rumored to be part mushroom, perhaps sprouted from subterranean spores, while some “scholars” have posited these phallic formations are the inexpungible ramification of interstellar hitchhikers, made Totem.
I have heard tell that, in the desert, a panoptic phallus was discovered occasionally encircled by local goat herds that were said to disappear when passing these totems. These same missing goats, however, always reappeared hours or days later, which perhaps explains why local goatherds have not become alarmed. A returned goat was reportedly calmer, holding itself a bit more erect, and possessed with a sense of humor – traits not known in goats, but welcome nonetheless.
The totems have been studied, pondered, debated. Are they a message from the ghost of Sade, taunting how, in the end, we are all only poles of pleasure? Are they reminders that the symbolism of patriarchy is woven into our everyday existence? These Monty Pythonesque monoliths, whatever they may be, whatever they may mean, these totems, are they being hunted and harvested in the hope that they would disappear?
Questions remain.
Under the auspices of MarieVic, totems will be gathered for the first time ever under one roof. This varied collection may generate a bit of delectation for those walking into the Stems Vitrine and catching sight of cryptic Totems in various sizes and colors. What they are made of, I can not attest to. What happens if you lick them, I cannot assure you. What I can tell you is, if you bring a goat and it disappears, it will come back, eventually. But it will never be the same goat.
Laura Albert, author of Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.
