When Tilda Swinton slept in a glass box in the name of art
There is simply no end to Tilda Swinton‘s talents. Over the last four decades, the British actor has delivered a wide range of performances doused in emotional nuance. She first came into the film industry by performing in a number of experimental films with Derek Jarman and cemented her place as one of England’s finest actors with roles in Edward II and Orlando in the early 1990s.
The 21st Century has seen Swinton emerge as one of the biggest talents in cinema, offering her skills to Michael Clayton, for which she won an Academy Award. From there, work on projects such as Constantine, We Need to Talk About Kevin and a number of Wes Anderson movies, including Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Asteroid City, has established her legacy within Hollywood.
But even away from her dedication to her acting career, Swinton has occasionally gone above and beyond her station in the name of artistic expression. In fact, she has, on a number of occasions, performed as a woman sleeping inside a glass box, famously taking the piece to New York City.
Back in 2013, the Museum of Modern Art in New York showcased an artwork called ‘The Maybe’, in which Swinton took a lengthy nap encased by glass. The piece is a collaboration with Swinton’s friend Cornelia Parker and was first shown in Hyde Park in London in 1995.
A year later, in 1996, Swinton again took to her position of rest in Rome at the Museo Barracco before she arrived in New York in 2013 dressed in a blue shirt, laying down on white linen. The sign next to the installation read, “The Maybe 1995/2013. Living artist, glass, steel, mattress, pillow, linen, water and spectacles.”
The Museum of Modern Art released a statement on the piece and explained its mysterious nature. They said, “An integral part of The Maybe’s incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance.”
The museum continued: “[There is] no artist’s statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real – shared – time: now we see it, now we don’t.” It was a genuinely intriguing piece, and the mystery surrounding it certainly gave it an extra edge.
But the most important thing about ‘The Maybe’ was that Swinton showed her dedication to art in general, proving herself to be more than just an actor – a genuine artist willing to give up her time for a peculiar piece which has its meaning purposefully obscured.
