the historic level

The key work of the exhibition, the Limes that separates the aforementioned areas, is the installation the historic level: a blue neon lettering in the artist’s handwriting (‘the historic level’) hanging at exactly 78 cm (78 centimetres derive from a porcelain figure made by the artist of this height which is about the average height of pandas).

Note on the origin of the term 'the historic level'
The artist adopted this formulation from the Spanish historical philosopher and sociologist José Ortega y Gasset. Ortega y Gasset uses the term ‘historic level’ to describe the level of the overall population averages in terms of standard of living, education, work, and leisure opportunities, etc. He is explicitly interested in the sudden rise of the historic level since the 1880s. In doing so, Ortega y Gasset states the accompanying loss of beliefs that guarantee existential human security. (See the essays History as a System, 1935 and The Revolt of the Masses, 1930).