50,000 Pencils

Interactive Performance and Installation

Medium: Pencils, paper

Dimensions: 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft

Duration: Ongoing since 1980

Description: During the course of this ongoing work, which Ilic has been creating since 1980, the artist and participants engaged in the cathartic act of throwing pencils against the page. To date, Ilic has used 250,000 pencils in the creation of this work, which has been documented in photographs and videos as well as the aged and marked paper.For Ilic pencils are an art material, tool, and weapon whose physical and metaphoric qualities he has been exploring throughout his oeuvre. In this work, he invites the audience into a participatory act of co-creation, expanding boundaries of drawing and performance, the individual and the collective.