3.10.

Index-A~ Index-P
An index can be seen as the 'cause' of itself. To convey an idea of this, imagine
being a spectator at a performance of the Chinese State Circus's acrobatics
team. At a certain point all the acrobats start clambering over one another and
lo!-as if by magic they have turned themselves into a majestic human pyramid.
But who or what has made this pyramid? Clearly, the acrobatics team.
And of what does this pyramid consist?-the acrobatics team. The human
pyramid as an index (and a kind of work of art) is a 'patient' in the sense that
it is something that is made by someone (a collective someone, in this instance)
but it is also an 'agent' in that the act of 'making' is one that it performs on
itself; it is self-made. There are many works of art (indexes) which have characteristics
similar to a human pyramid created by acrobats. For instance, long
yams are displayed at annual festivals by the Abelam of the Sepik district, New
Guinea, as cult objects. They are in fact decorated (painted and provided with
masks) but the object on display is the yam itself, rather than the mask. Yams
grow themselves. It is true that yam-growers can assist yams to grow, technically,
by hollowing out the earth around the growing tuber, and socially, by
refraining from sexual intercourse, which is deleterious (or more precisely,
offensive) to yams. The yam must be magically protected, but the magic of
yam-growing does not cause tuberous growth. The powers of growth inherent
in yams is precisely why they arc cultivated ceremonially and exhibited; they
are objects of wonderment, attaining, sometimes, lengths of over ten feet.
Yams of these dimensions are utterly inedible, their only destiny is to be looked
at and to be a source of planting material (yams are, of course, alive and social
agents, just like people). The ethnographer (Forge 1966) is quite explicit in
stating that yams are 'art objects' categorically assimilated to the sculptures and
painting which the Abelam also make and display.
Abelam yams provide a suitable example of indexes which exert agency with
respect to themselves. This is the abductive inference drawn by the Abelam,
but it is not in the least obscure; all living things are agents with respect to
themselves in that their growth and form may be attributed to their own
agency. What is counter-intuitive, from our point of view is that 'yams' should
be considered person-like agents and 'works of art'. But of course horticulturalists
frequently do personify their plants and the blooming back-gardens of
England abound with unacknowledged animists. The behaviour of attenders at
garden shows is exactly comparable to the behaviour of spectators at art shows
except that it is generally less self-conscious and solemn. Highly nuanced aesthetic
judgements are freely voiced on the subject of roses and cauliflowers by
no-nonsense matrons who would hardly care to utter any opinions at all on
'works of art' explicitly identified as such. Such is the nature of our art world,
which is no more rational than the one operated by the Abelam, but which is