A Productive Irritant
: Parasitical Inhabitations in Contemporary Art

“In 1969, artist Harvey Stromberg walked into the Museum of Modern Art in New York with a notebook, measuring tape, and a camera. Posing as an eager student, he returned on a regular basis, pretending to study the museum’s collection when, in fact, he was surreptitiously measuring and photographing various features inside and outside the museum in order to make an artwork. Later that year, after printing over three hundred of the photographs he had taken—of light switches, keyholes, bricks, air vents, and so on—Stromberg printed the photos out at a 1:1 scale of what they depicted and backed them with adhesive. In a series of visits to the museum, he attached his photos to the walls, floors, and other surfaces—subtly, and without authorization from the institution. Although they were often found and destroyed by museum employees, Stromberg was never caught.
” —Post Brothers & Chris Fitzpatrick