A Binding “Kiss”

The most-talked-about work at this year’s Tate Britain show of contemporary work is Cornelia Parker’s “The Distance (A Kiss with String Attached)” that binds up the lovers in Rodin’s famous sculpture “The Kiss” in string. “It’s my homage to two artists and a way of showing that love is more complicated than just a kiss. In fact, Dante’s punishment of the illicit lovers was to condemn them to be entwined in an embrace for eternity. ‘The Kiss’ used to be considered indecent. People thought it should be covered up, which in effect is what I’ve done. I don’t think I’ve hidden the eroticism. If you conceal things, they become more charged.”