Audience Understanding of Queer Subject Matter in "Untitled (Placebo-of-Roni)" (1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Art historians and critics laud the candy installations of Felix Gonzalez-Torres for their radical portrayal of the queer body, AIDs, and loss. The “candy falls” enact queer theory through the use of queer time and queer space, while also discussing the importance of ephemera, memory, and the archive in queer history. The installations invite visitors to take and consume the metaphorical body creating active relationships in the museum through intimate touch. While critical discourse widely praises the work of Gonzalez-Torres, little research exists on museum audience understanding of the work. Based on participant observation and visitor interview data conducted at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AR, this paper examines and compares visitor understanding and reaction to Untitled (Placebo-for-Roni) (1991) to the discourse around the piece. The piece had high interaction rates by visitors, but when interviewed, they did not perceive queer themes. This paper considers the parameters of queer theory and examines the role of abstraction and materiality in the construction of the queer body. Abstract queer work, like that of Gonzalez-Torres is stated to have the radical potential to reveal gender as a construct and challenge the gender binary, but limited visitor understanding of the work and their participation with it may further contribute to the portrayal of the queer body and experience as illegible or illegitimate.