![]() ![]() The process is based on five works that he made between 19, each a performance lasting twelve months. He has given up art-making altogether to devote himself to a different task: documentary re-presentation. That’s because the artist doesn’t re-create his works. Hsieh trained as a merchant sailor, jumped ship in the Delaware River, and swam to shore.Īll that is left now of Hsieh’s yearlong exposure is the documentation. Taiwan, a country that is not currently recognized by the United States or most other nations, is the place he ran away from, at a time when it was a military dictatorship. You are left to wander-and to do little else. And when you have no nation to call your own, you have the burden of freedom to contend with: your home is essentially anywhere, everywhere. He was an undocumented alien, a stateless person. “Outdoor Piece” could be read as a dramatization of Hsieh’s immigration status in New York, in all of America, at the time. The threat of annihilation is very real, though most often you are simply asked to move on-to keep moving when there really is no other place to go. The problem is that you’re still in human form and thus vulnerable not only to the violence of the elements but also to systematic abuses by your fellow humans-negligent passersby, street thugs, police officers, and property owners whose patience your very presence tests. Surrendering to the natural elements for a prolonged period makes one, in effect, an animal. For “Outdoor Piece,” 1 he forbade himself to enter any “building, subway, train, car, airplane, ship, cave, tent” from September 26, 1981, to September 26, 1982. The only thing separating him from a typical homeless person was a sign hanging from his knapsack, specifying the rules of the performance that he had embarked upon. So throughout that winter, in the freezing cold, Hsieh could often be spotted on the streets of SoHo warming his hands over a fire. ![]() In the fall, Tehching Hsieh, a then little-known performance artist and an illegal immigrant from Taiwan, had declared that he would not take shelter for an entire year. THE WINTER OF 1981–82 was one of the coldest on record for New York City. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |