Making of the Portrait was performed in Malmö, Sweden, at Skånes Konstförening on September 29th 2012. The performance was part of the event “Miraculous (Organic)” curated by Essi Kausalainen and Mikko Kuorinki.
The set-up for the piece (in a white wall gallery space) required a fake corner (approximately 150cm wide by 200cm high), a white chair, and three transparent buckets. The bucket on the left contained red soft clown noses, the bucket in the middle uncooked white eggs, and the bucket on the right contained red tomatoes. One tomato was sitting on the white chair.
On the right side was a table with an egg timer, envelopes, a pen, a pile of blank paper and numerous copies of (originally) a handwritten letter. The content of the letter was as follows:
29th September 2012 Malmö
Dear Stranger,
For the next 40 minutes I will work as your model for you to create a performance using the props provided (eggs, clown noses, tomatoes, fake corner) and choose from the advice(s) in the list below.
Making of the portrait:
- strange form
- the pose and proportions
- the atmosphere and notes
- the finding of the forms (the sphere – the hair – the forehead, the cheek, the eye, the nose, the mouth, the neck, the chin, the torso)
- blobbing
- the sculpting with hands
(the list was written in 1932 by Welsh painter Gwen John. (Gwen John: A Life; Sue Roe, pp. 92, Chatto & Windus 2001)
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If you prefer you can write me a letter in which you say what kind of performance you would create using the advice and props mentioned above. Also describe in what kind of space this performance would happen. Please indicate if you are happy, if I create this performance one day and please leave your contact details.