Daniel Eatock

Empty Drinking Glasses
2009 – ongoing

All of these drinking glasses in this disparate, “unmatched” set, is united by its identity as “packaging” that once displayed food items (spreadable cheese, pate, chocolate spread, etc). The collection plays on the appeal of getting something for nothing – in this case, the possibility of obtaining an entire collection of matching glassware. The promise of transforming food packaging into practical household wares is a time-worn strategy that now has critical implications for a culture that has finally understood the environmental advantages of recycling. (When one considers that the only difference between a jar and a drinking glass is a slight adjustment of the lip of rim and minor accommodation for the metal lid, it becomes baffling as to why this approach is not used more often.) To generate this collection, Eatock inverts the manufacturers’ assumptions. Instead of being interested in the contents of this packaging, he searches out glass containers advertising their identity as potential tumblers to generate a unique collection that he has actually used at dinner parties. (His guests report enjoying the differences of the mismatched glasses, distinctions which help everyone keep track of whose drink is whose.) Richard Torchia

Daniel Eatock in Conversation with Emily King from the Serpentine Gallery