Transubstantiation - Conceptual Art

Conceptual Art

An Oak Tree is a conceptual art installation in the Tate Modern, consisting of a glass of water, which the artist, Michael Craig-Martin, declared he had turned into "a full-grown oak tree", "without altering the accidents of the glass of water". The text he included as part of his work states: "It's not a symbol. I have changed the physical substance of the glass of water into that of an oak tree. I didn't change its appearance. The actual oak tree is physically present, but in the form of a glass of water." In a Richard Dimbleby Lecture, on 23 November 2000, Sir Nicholas Serota said: "We may not 'like' Craig-Martin's work, but it certainly reminds us that the appreciation of all art involves an act of faith comparable to the belief that, through transubstantiation, the bread and wine of Holy Communion become the body and blood of Christ."

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