"HERE'S THE CATCH"

Stephanie Hier

April 16 - May 9, 2015

“It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two people on a train. One says, “What's that package up there in the baggage rack?” And the other answers, “Oh, that's a MacGuffin”. The first one asks, “Whats a MacGuffin?” “Well,” the other says, “it's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.” The first person says, “But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,” and the other one answers, “Well then, that's no MacGuffin!” So you see that a MacGuffin is actually nothing at all.”

(Alfred Hitchcock, 1939)

In works of art, a 'MacGuffin' is a device that furthers the plot and purpose of the work itself. It often perpetuates some goal, desired object or other motivator with little explanation and without much impact on the overall effectiveness of the plot or purpose. Is there any purpose then to the MacGuffin in art making, or is it just a catch? Here's the catch eschews with ulterior plots and purposes, instead offering itself as a dissolution of contexts, marrying disparate aesthetics for the sake of itself.