C.W, or Cold War Installation

The sink appears to be a traditional porcelain sink with chrome faucet; wall mounted with somewhat rusted pipes. What distinguishes it from any other sink, apart from not functioning, is that it has one tap for hot water and four taps for cold water, as well as a water fountain tap. A black and white photograph by Elliot Erwitt inspires the work. The original picture depicted an everyday scene from North Carolina in the US in 1950. An African-American man, clad in a white short-sleeved shirt, slacks and a hat, pauses from drinking water from a water fountain. The man glances to his left, at another fountain, somewhat more modern or streamlined, with a cabinet underneath the sink that hides the pipes. Over the fountain the man is drinking from, is an enamel sign spelling “Colored”. Over the other basin is a sign that says “White”. Knowing its position within the segregated period of modern American history, a strong and deeply troublesome context of both racial and class-based discrimination is deeply embedded in the photograph. Being a young Cuban man in Norway, Milanés Benito identified with the outsider’s position which the man in Erwitt’s photograph is placed in, and with the political violence portrayed. Using the sink as a protagonist and an updated reminder of past discrimination he draws attention to present-day situations of discrimination. Milanés Benito works consistently with the same materials, constructing works of art that have a startlingly realistic appearance. His work balances uncomfortably on the fine line between reality and fiction. They seem to be ready-mades while always being meticulously crafted replicas. In CW he creates an imitation of the sink meant for people of colour in the 1950’s photograph, placing an object that belongs to a different context (and time) in a gallery space. While the title of the work, Cold War, is a historical reference to a political standstill, a violent deadlock, and cold water is a strong metaphor for the enforcing of a standstill. To be cold-blooded is not to let your emotions cloud your judgment and carry you away. The sleekness of the sculpture and its realistic appearance gives it a certain glow. At the same time, the four cold-water taps disturb the familiarity of the object, causing an uncanny effect. The sculpture appears to be real, but CW invites us to question our known reality, and what produces reality. The question of who the insider is and who remains on the outside of society is oftentimes decided upon by relying on existing infrastructure. These infrastructures compel us to move on, not taking notice of our surroundings and fellow citizens. CW encourages us to ask how something as ordinary as a faucet can be a discriminatory instrument and invites us to see our surroundings anew, to uncover such instruments in our own lives. Cold War is an eloquent reminder of the discrimination of those who are different than the majority; its polished appearance eliciting the cruel radiance of witnessing history manifold times repeating itself. It requires us to pause and reflect on what we know to be true is true, only by looking and asking: How can this be?