The Acquired Inability to Escape

This is “The Acquired Inability to Escape,” a sculpture by Damien Hirst currently held by the Tate.

The descriptions at the Tate’s website and at Art UK focus on the materials and, especially, the cigarettes. The elements of office furniture don’t get much of a mention.

The work is obviously crap but I like the word “acquired” in the title. It’s the idea that one learns that escape is impossible, overriding a more naïve set of beliefs, which may in fact be more useful. I think this is right: most people learn (from parents, teachers, social cues, television) that escape is not an option. But if you’re lucky enough never to learn that, you’re laughing.

Hirst says, “I like escape formally, as an idea. There’s a religious element to [this work]… A spiritual, not physical escape, if you decide to choose it…”

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I’m Out is available from all good bookshops (and some lousy ones too). The Good Life for Wage Slaves is available directly from its teeny-weeny publisher.