Part of Lan's installation includes seven “sculptural combines” created to be displayed alongside artifacts within the third-floor Egyptian galleries.

As she held this small wooden carving of a pair of arms (pictured at left), she began to animatedly recount a myth about Rhampsinitis, a thief, and disembodied arms. I was impressed; she had clearly been reading a lot about Ancient Egyptian culture and seemed to have become immersed in it.  I wondered and wanted to ask her: What drew you to the Egyptian Galleries?

Here’s what Lan had to say:

I wanted to learn from the Egyptians.  I wanted to see what types of ritual practices they established that distinguished their culture.  More selfishly, I wanted to think like an Egyptian sculptor so I could “read” our historical present differently and make artifacts for rituals that don’t yet exist for our time.

Fragments of feet, including Lan's installation, in the Body Parts exhibition on the third floor.

My attention was caught by a small fragment of a foot in the Body Parts Gallery.  It was made in wood and perhaps because it was both a fragment and a miniature, it was simply perfect.  I imagined making sculptures that could somehow sit next to these artifacts.  My thoughts were arrested too, with the image of lifting the glass cases and inserting a contemporary sculpture in this frozen moment.  It was a Duchampian move on my part to make this simple gesture – moving one thing outside into the preserved space of the cases.  It meant moving back in the time that these artifacts were made, a willful art historical amnesia when objects had a lived experience and psychic capacity.

Kristof with "Self Portrait." Photo by Alice Proujansky. All rights reserved.

The answer, I’ll admit, was not one I was expecting—here’s what Kristof had to say:

There’s a lot I find interesting about pumpkins. Firstly, they’re thought to be native to North America. They are in my mind the classic harvest vegetable, signaling the final period of summer, maturing right before everything else dies. I imagine their volume to weight ratio is similar to that of human body parts. They have a satisfying weight and they’re also anthropomorphic in shape. The stem can appear like an odd phallus and the underside like an anus, not to mention the bulbous stomach or breast-like form of the pumpkin body itself. Whatever it is, there’s a robust fullness to pumpkins that I like. There’s also strong connection to the supernatural and American folklore, which goes back to the Native Americans.

Last time you were at the Brooklyn Museum, you probably didn’t notice the hidden door next the portrait of George Washington in the Luce Center for American Art, but now you can see what’s inside once you have a key!

Key to the City, by Paul Ramírez Jonas, allows every New Yorker a chance to go behind the scenes by giving you a key to locked doors all over the city.  From June 3^rd to June 27^th, Creative Time will have a kiosk in Times Square, where they will bestow you a key and a sitemap, guiding you on a scavenger hunt across the five boroughs.  There are over 20 sites, including the Brooklyn Museum, Gracie Mansion, and the Bronx County Courthouse.

Tell us about your discoveries, post photos to our flickr group, or tweet about them using hashtag #keytocity.