On Constructing Intricate Rituals By Barbara Kruger (1981)
Barbara Kruger’s work Untitled (You Construct Intricate Rituals) struck a chord in me. It’s a laughably common belief that men fear intimacy. There’s a funny irony in that line of thought. Men who believe that they must always be strong; emotionally or physically. They must never show emotions other than anger. They must always be the ones with the best physical prowess. They are in many ways, comparable to a concrete wall. Much like a concrete wall, they will decay, one way or another. Thus, life has a funny way around these constructs. In the end, there can only be two ways that life directs itself towards a destructive construct. The first is, of course, to simply self-destruct. Pressure makes diamonds but humans are not minerals. We are not meant to be under pressure for all of our lives. The second is that it will manifest itself in other ways. That may be compensating in another form. Or it may be there will be the creation of a ritual that will enable those urges.
In the case of Kruger’s work, she places a form of hazing as an example. It is not hard to find the connection between the action and the intricate rituals mentioned in her work. For them, the act of touching another man is a sin. To act in a way that shows weakness, that they require the touch of another is something that must be punished. It is both laughable and fearsome that the act that Kruger criticized forty years in the past is still present in this day and age.
For men who construct these intricate rituals, I only have questions for you. Why do you construct these rituals? What purpose are you serving? Whose woes are you pleasing?
