At first I was surprised a few days ago when Lauren brought up Martin Luther in our conversation about my disillusionment with the art world. She was not sure where he had nailed the Wittenberg Proclamation, and I told her it was the door of his church. Only gradually I became aware of the parallel between the church door and the shutters of Phoebe Tait’s art space, Made to Measure, in Spitalfields, where my proclamations pasted on postcards have been appearing for a while now. The fourth postcard is currently on show, but there will be many more. Both Luther and I question the authority of the church. Both of us espouse faith. Although nearly half a millennium separates us, we are both concerned with reformation that begins from within. Anyhow, I just realized that the piece currently on show in Made to Measure, “Magister dixit” (July 7, 2000), is a most pertinent quote from Nick Serota’s Experience or Interpretation: “I have been suggesting that a willingness to engage in personal interpretation, to risk offence by unexpected confrontation, can yield rewards.”[1] This is pure Luther from the mouth of the Pope, as it were. Magister dixit, indeed.

Footnote

1. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000, p. 50.