Bronx-born postminimalist Lawrence Weiner is one of the pioneers of conceptual art, best known for his use of language as an artistic medium. Descriptive rather than prescriptive, Weiner’s work does not instruct the viewer to perform a particular action or interpret it in any particular, unequivocal way. Rather, it presents the viewer with an infinite number of meanings and possibilities for realization.

ATTACHED BY EBB & FLOWis an installation Weiner created for Nivola Museum in Orani, Sardinia, Italy. The title refers to the tides and to Sardinian artist Costantino Nivola’s experience of exile and relocation, as well as to the current migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Sea. Sentences are translated from English to Italian to local Sardu, using different words and constructs and presented simultaneously to show many various possibilities for interpretation. While things may be lost in translation, Weiner shows, many more can be found.