Artworks

Gavin Turk

This kissing stone is made of a used granite curb stone from Hackney. Historically granite paving stone signified investment and longevity: the road was a permanent placing, whereas newly formed concrete or cement replacments give a transient quality. This small standing stone alludes to a mythical marker of something buried underground.

The viewer is asked to interact with the stone by kissing it. Reversing the usual "do not touch the art" barrier between the viewer and the artwork, you are now asked to bend down and kiss it, becoming part of the performance. One corner of the kissing stone is smoothed through a process that appears to be centuries of kissing. By touching the stone there is a transfer of energy, the performer is imbued with the gift of creativity, reminding us of the rubbing of Buddha's belly or St. Peter's foot in the Vatican or  the Blarney Stone, which, when kissed, endows the kisser with the gift of the gab.

There is also a saying, that if you fall and hit your face , possibly when drunk, or pushed, you are said to have kissed the curb.