First appeared in the Boston Globe.
CAN ART ILLUMINATE medicine? The exhibit “Pulse: Art, Healing,
and Transformation,” on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art until Aug. 31,
features an installation designed by the Brazilian artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres,
who died of AIDS in 1996. Called “Untitled (Placebo),” the piece consists of a floor
strewn with glittering, foil-wrapped candies, which visitors are invited to eat-as
they apparently have, since the original 1,000-pound allotment seems much reduced.