Robert Ladislas Derr
Prestidigitation, 2011
Having succumbed to fires through the years, this Capitol building in Colonial Williamsburg has been rebuilt several times. With legislation moving to Richmond, fire finally left the building in ruins. Then in 1881, its foundation became grounds for the railroad. The current Capitol building was reconstructed to its 1705 - 1747 appearance in 1928, when restoration efforts ensued to restore and preserve the town as a living history museum. Today, the town is an artificial reality with everything inside its limits from the buildings, costumes, to dialect recreating the colonial era. With this and all simulacra, there is a concern that the artificial blurs the real and degrades morality. A sleight of hand, I veil and unveil the copy with a copy.