New York‘s Intelligencer wants to make some hay out of the fact that Urs Fischer didn’t attend his own opening at the New Museum.

Fischer’s fans may have also been disappointed by a malfunctioning sculpture in the show. The work, a motion-activated replica of a human tongue called Noisette, is intended to result in a “mischievous slapstick routine” by popping out of a hole in the wall as visitors pass by. But it refused to emerge for extended stretches of time, resulting in visitors waving their arms or sticking their fingers in the hole to try to coax it out. At one point, a man wielding a large video camera hovered over the hole, hoping to catch the pink protrusion in action. One observer reported seeing Gioni trying to reset the device controlling the sculpture. “The tongue was working all night — however, it requires a short lag time in between [extensions],” Einsohn explained. “And with so many people, sometimes it had trouble resetting so quickly.”

Urs Fischer Skips Own Museum Opening (New York Magazine)