ABSTRACT
Artists have long used art to present theological approaches to the Apocalypse. Eschatological images of judgment, fiery horsemen, or radiant thrones are easily found in the art historical record in contrast to contemporary object-based artworks with eschatological considerations. This chapter will compare Anshie Kagan’s “Break Glass in case of Moshiach,” a shofar, or ram’s horn, placed in a fire emergency box and David Shrigley’s “Bell,” a handbell accompanied by a handwritten note, “Not to be rung again until Jesus comes.” While Duchamp’s readymades take ordinary objects and transform them into works of art, removing them from our experience and their original “use,” Allan Kaprow allowed participants to interact with objects during performances, maintaining their original purpose. Though Kagan’s shofar and Shrigley’s bell are removed from our experience for as long as they are not yet needed, they are reserved for a specific purpose, to be used at a given time or under given conditions. As tools for the announcement of “The Last Judgment” and “the World to Come,” their “yet to be” condition creates a new type of artwork, where the objects exist in a space situated between the ordinary and the eschatological, highly informed by religious belief that is expectant of a distant, or perhaps very near, future.
