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Bruce Nauman's One Hundred Fish Fountain, contained 97 fish. He made fountains throughout his career, surely because the nihilistic absurdity of the fountain as ubiquitous cultural motif(?). What is a fountain? Not quite art, nor quite architecture, no longer quite infrastructure. It is a peacock of public object. Uselessly functioning. So nothing more Naumanian than a public fountain, particularly a 100 fish fountain with 97 fish. The lure of pointing out the absurdity of a 100 fish fountain containing 97 fish is trap of expecting rationality in the absurdity of fountains, hosing the air. Questions of why fall apart, its simply nice to see air get wet, a bookshelf get fish, this is how the world used to be, decorative, useless.
