29 IX 1979

Kapel Huis van Bewaring,  De Appel Gallery, Amsterdam

as part of the Works and Works meeting (September 15-30)

Manifestation description:

The interior of a large, austere room in a former prison. There are three stands marking the vertices of a triangle. The first stand: a rather large table – a worn out and crude top set on an iron structure. The second stand: on the raw brick or ceramic floor there is a canvas stretched over a triangular stretcher primed in white. The third stand: a normal table covered with a white tablecloth. A bottle of vodka and glasses are on this table. Action. A rather large audience is waiting in the premises. The artist enters, covered only by two rectangular boards which, like an apron, hang at the front of his body. The vertical board covers his chest, the horizontal board covers his privates. The horizontal board bears the inscription WORK. The artist carries a short piece of board, an axe and a leaflet informing about the Works and Words festival. He walks over to a crude table and chops the piece of the board he carried into small chips. He crumples the leaflet, puts it on the table and places the chips of wood around it. He asks for matches. Having received them, he sets fire to this little pile. He waits for a little while for the flames to burn properly, then takes off his wooden apron and sets it on the fire, placing it in such a way that the word WORK is on the outside. He now walks naked to the triangular white canvas. He applies blue paint to one foot and places it on the canvas. He does the same with the other foot. While leaving his footprints on the canvas he paints the word WORD on his torso. There is silence, the cracking of the fire burning higher and higher can be heard from the first stand. The artist walks over to the set table and pours vodka into glasses. Then he dips the paintbrush in green paint and puts his signature in the middle of a white tablecloth. He invites people present there to have a drink and talk. Meanwhile the fire begins to burn through the top of the table. There is no danger as the floor is non-flammable. The word WORK takes on additional meaning.