In "Theorizing Religion" today I projected this picture of my hand grasping the proffered bronze replica of the hand of Genesis P-Orridge in her "Touching of Hands" (2016). That work is part of the current iteration of Shrine Room Projects (all brilliant) at the Rubin Museum of Art. I'd asked students to go to the museum in lieu of class Monday (thinking I might be late because of a doctor's appointment, though that turned out not to be an issue). The photo was a test of their attendance - I didn't see that many when I went - and I was gratified that most students recognized it; some even grasped it. I'd unwittingly taken my picture from an angle which allowed people to imagine its caption making diametrically opposed claims:
Wisdom can [...] passed on by the touching of hands
Can only be? Can not be? The actual text is the former, but of course the hand in question isn't actually a human hand; the only human hands you come into contact with are the others which have touched the bronze and will eventually, P-Orridge hopes, polish parts of it shiny. Tricky! It turned out to be a great way to consider the religious work that statues can perform, as well as the somewhat forlorn experience of religious statuary in an art museum - even the quasi-devotional Rubin.
