The Ways in Which Things Operate (2009)
2009
Commission for the permanent collection of the Spertus Museum, Chicago
Synopsis: You, the story's central character, are being haunted by a ghost in your dreams - possibly a dead relative of yours. Refusing to sleep, you stay awake at night, eating salami sandwiches and reading back-issues of Cat Fancy, but the ghost manages to visit you when you're awake as well. Your search for the identity of the ghost leads to a run-in with Robert De Niro posing as an old-school Jewish mobster in preparation for a movie on Chicago Jewish mobsters, an argument over how a corned beef sandwich should be prepared, an exploration into a familial connection to Lee Harvey Oswald, and various revelations on how the Depression Era generation of your family attempted to make ends meet.