Groundbreaking

Performance on video, performance 2 hours, video 6’34”, 2003

This performance came directly out of a personal existential crisis, for which I felt a need for catharsis. I wanted to experience living under a constant threat of death.

On a different level, I was responding to the constant demand for 'breaking new grounds' in current art atmosphere. Through a self-mocking ritualistic process, I intentionally played with the loftiness of artistic aspiration and the self-importance of artists.

In the performance, I directed my assistants through a walkie-talkie to bury myself, with my head in the earth first. The two hour long process culminated in a seemingly perfect sculpture of an ass sticking out from the ground. Yet the whole time the viewers were experiencing vicariously the physical and psychological duress, presented with humor and irony.

Video duration: 6'34, with sound.

Press Coverage:
The Portland Phoenix, coverage on the 2005 Portland Museum of Art Biennial.