The Show Is Over - American Dream and Disillusion

With his Double Steel Cage Piece, Bruce Nauman invites the visitor to enter the space between two concentric cages. The resulting sense of physical constraint appears to be a metaphor for the human condition.

This presentation places the Double Steel Cage Piece from 1974 amongst a selection from the museum’s collection of American works from the 1990s. Mankind is the starting point in each of these works: by choosing a historical point of departure, appealing to nostalgia or working in an anecdotal fashion. By starting with specifics, these works make universal statements. Together, the works give a sombre vision of America’s promises of freedom and equality. They reflect the disillusion of an enforced dream, in this case the American dream.