In 2012, Tony Conrad re-created a version of his exhibition Come To—first on view at Hallwalls in 1979—for Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avant-garde in the 1970s (March 30–July 8, 2012), organized by former Albright-Knox Curator Heather Pesanti.
On August 10, 2011, Conrad discussed the Hallwalls installation of Come To with Pesanti:
“To some extent the thoughts I had were related to my exposure to the artists at Hallwalls, and perhaps Robert Longo in particular, because of his interest in monumentalizing ideas about cinema. I began to think of sculpture more generally as a monumentalizing activity; something is being put “up above,” on top of a base, elevated in every respect—elevated socially, elevated physically, elevated intellectually or artistically. And this elevation was unattractive to me . . . Instead of elevating, it seemed to me that I should look at what that had to do with authority relationships, particularly with the father figure. So I became interested in a scheme of outlooks that took a variety of forms, but in the end had to do with the notion that it would be more interesting to see things taken from below, rather than above; to monumentalize the antihero, rather than the hero; to look at the conditions of manufacture of authority, and maybe contravene them or examine them more closely.”
The full interview is available in the Wish You Were Here exhibition catalogue.