Produced on the occasion of the exhibition I don’t know if Thomas Edison invented the excuse at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 7 May – 13 June, 2004.
“I regret that a previous engagement prevents me from accepting your kind invitation to dinner at your home, on Thursday evening, September seventeenth,” is a sentence taken from a letter written by inventor Thomas Edison. Pieroth’s interest in the life of Edison led to the discovery the inventor often made excuses to avoid attending social functions. Pieroth then wrote to the American Patent Office requesting a patent on behalf of Edison for the invention of the “excuse.”