Alison Knowles Made Art That Was Designed To Delight And Disappear

The artist in the video is elfin, mischievous. Even at nearly 80, she is taller than many of the assistants who join her, chopping lettuce at a long counter. Her index finger is bandaged, perhaps from an earlier chopping incident. In the video it is a cold, wet day in 2012 on New York City’s High Line, and Alison Knowles cheerfully narrates the question she assumes passers-by are posing as they wa