Song Dong is a Chinese performance artist who has done some things I'm interested in.
Printing on Water, 1996, 36 photographs
"For this performance Song sat in the Lhasa River in
Tibet and stamped the water with a seal inscribed with the Chinese character for water. "
Breathing, 1996
"The artist chose two separate locations: in Tiananmen Square and on the ice atop Houhai (literally, "Rear Sea," a lake in the center of town, surrounded by leisurely locals and newly built entertainment venues). The artist lay upon the pavement at Tiananmen, and breathed onto the ground for forty minutes; the tiny breathed-upon area was covered with a thin layer of ice. On Houhai, the artist similarly breathed upon the icy surface for forty minutes, but the area on which he breathed showed no change at all."
He's also done a lot of work that involves writing down the time with water and has executed it in different ways.
He was invited once to perform this in Times Sqaure.
n collaboration with Times Square Alliance, Creative Time presents a special performance by Song Dong. For one hour, amid the crowds of tourists and workers weaving in and out of Times Square, Song Dong will continuously record the time using water and brush to paint directly onto the concrete surface that surrounds him. Within this hurried setting, Song Dongs modest gesture compels us to focus on the present by exposing our unthinking consumption of time. Writing Time with Water is a compelling example of Song Dongs interest in context and ritual. The performance stems from the artists ongoing series, Writing Diary with Water. For the past decade, Song Dong has employed a calligraphy brush dipped in water, rather than ink, to document his daily reminiscences on stone. The hand-drawn text lasts for just a fleeting moment before it evaporates with the steam that arises from the hot stones surface. This practice allows Song Dong to keep his thoughts and musings secret, while at the same time, provides the mental release inherent in traditional diary keeping.
Thanks,
Brendan
Brendan - thanks for a great post! This work is fascinating. Your interest in the documentation of performance art reminds me of an article by art historian Amelia Jones called "Presence in Absentia: Experiencing Performance Art as Documentation." She is writing about older body art and what happens when work designed to be experienced "in the flesh" is accessible to historians and students only as documentation. She challenges the idea that documentation is any more mediated than the live performance. The link above connects to a pdf if you're interested in checking out more.
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