Performance 1: Tehching Hsieh

Jan 21–May 18, 2009

Tehching Hsieh. One Year Performance. 1978–79. Life images. Photo: Cheng Wei Kuong. © 1979 Tehching Hsieh, New York

This is the inaugural installation in an ongoing series that will bring performance documentation, original performance pieces, and live reenactments of historic performances to various locations throughout the Museum. The first artist to be spotlighted is Tehching Hsieh (b. 1950, Taiwan), who is best known for his five One Year Performances: between 1978 and 1986, the artist spent one year locked inside a cage, one year punching a time clock every hour, one year completely outdoors, one year tied to another person, and, lastly, one year without making, viewing, discussing, reading about, or in any other way participating in art. Hsieh’s final performance piece, Thirteen Year Plan, was completed in 1999 after a process lasting thirteen years. This exhibition focuses on the artist’s earliest performance, commonly called his Cage Piece (1978–79), with 365 photographs meticulously documenting the daily passing of time.

Organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator, and Jenny Schlenzka, Assistant Curator for Performance, Department of Media.

The Performance Exhibition Series is made possible by MoMA’s Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the Annenberg Foundation.

Publication

  • Press release 2 pages

Artists

Installation images

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