October 21, 2011

One Year Performance

I never tire of these.

Hsieh created a number of fascinating performance pieces including Cage Piece (1978-1979) where he locked himself in a cage and didn't allow himself to talk, read, write, or listen/watch media for an entire year and Outdoor Piece (1981-1982) where he lived outside in New York City for a year without shelter. Hsieh stopped making art in 1999. Read his Wikipedia entry to learn more.

(via La Boite Verte)

Related: Solargraphs, Alexey Titarenko, Manhattan Bridge, Michael Wesely, Photobooth 1993-2006, Time Photography, Ahree Lee, Obsessive Photo Projects

posted at 01:01 AM by raul

Filed under: art

TAGS: Time (1) Time Photography (1)

Comments:

10/21/11 09:51 AM

I first learned about Sam Hsieh through the Rope Piece he did with Linda Montano. These sort of performances tend to get boiled down to acts of endurance but Hsieh is pretty clear to focus on them as acts of existence.

I think of On Kawara’s work and how it formalizes that documentation of time/life even further. I’m not sure which works ‘better’ for me. Hsieh’s work is more visceral but somehow Kawara manages to seem more human. Don’t know… interesting stuff anyway.

10/21/11 11:00 PM

Hsieh's work seems near impossible. It almost strikes me as nihilistic. All of his projects in those years would have driven almost anyone else completely mad, and yet his descriptions of his process are always calm and eloquent. On Kawara's work for me is much more of an intellectual/conceptual game... which is not meant as a dismissal, but it activates a different part of the cortex.

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