AN UNKNOWN VARIABLE
The missing twenty minutes
Years into the work, the artist's wall was full of explanations. A simple departure unsettled them.
A guest left without saying goodbye. The room supplied an explanation immediately.
The observer wrote: The guest does not care.
Then a note was found. The guest had told the host they could stay only twenty minutes.
The departure remained a departure. The explanation had to move.
Unknown Variables do not always excuse a behavior. Sometimes they make caution more reasonable. They change the available information; the people still choose their response.
What changed in your explanation? What remains unknown?
The observer added a smaller sentence beneath the first: The empty chair had been accused of being distant.