An examination of a work that captures the spirit of the 1980s—commodification, seduction, and political inactivity.In Jeff Koons's One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (1985), a Spalding basketball floats in the center of a glass tank that stands on a four-legged black metal structure. It has been called one of the defining works of the 1980s—

but also described (by such critics as Craig Owens, Rosalind Krauss, and Hal Foster) as "an endgame,” "misleading,” and "repulsive.” The work presents what the artist called "the ultimate state of being”—neither death nor life but the absence of change. It captured a spirit of the time, characterized by commodification, seduction, and political inactivity. Its stillness embodied the opposite of social revolution. But the "total equilibrium” of the work is actually temporary. For purely physical reasons, the equilibrium is lost every six months and must be reset.In this extended essay on Koons's famous work, Michael Archer puts One Ball Total...