The piece that I found the most interesting/engaging was the body videos. I liked that they were all put together to be an installation of their own because they all work well and compliment each other. He seems to be really into the utilization of the body for performance and it is evident throughout the majority of his work. His work and these ones in particular force the viewer to look at and think about the body in a way the otherwise probably would not have. In this the viewer takes with them new thoughts on something they think they have already known so well and probably analyze what they have seen whether or not they were trying to. Will they be faced with these new ideas when dealing with their own bodies? I liked EYE TEXT.

I chose to look at Peter Weibel's "Tap and Touchcinema" and "From the Map of Dogginess", both 1968.  The play between the two movies cannot go unnoticed.  First one of Weibel on a leash being led on all fours through streets led by Export.  This piece leads to ideas of empowerment and submission and for a role reversal from the perceived society norm of males having the power over females.  Export saunters as though she is very comfortable as she is undertaking a normal everyday act.  Weibel has his head down the whole time and being in dark colors as well looks submissive.  Export wears light colored clothing and looks happy and carefree.  There are few instances of public interaction and they seem to not notice anything astray until those people are actually up close to Weibel and Export as they bump into them.  There are no major reactions or interruptions from observers they think there is anything wrong with the act.  All stays calm around the duo.

My initial reaction upon hearing the voice of Weibel through a megaphone was comparison to footage of Nazi Germany and the propoganda rallies.  Megaphone sounds demanding and increases in urgency by noise level and speed of talking.  A huge crowd gathers around to wathc the scene and to see what is going on.  Some of the crowd are giggling, some are watching amazed, some walk hurriedly past, others stand watching for a long time.  The crowd varies in age.  Three men are filmed walking up to Export and putting their hands through the opening of the box she has strapped onto her chest.  Export greets them by looking into their eyes and then begins to watch a stop watch.  Export times them for around five seconds and their turn is finished.  There are no confrontations, Weibel does not stop his loud use of the megaphone and no-one in the crowd steps forward to intervene.  Two of the men are captured by the camera as they finish with Export and they look very satisfied and look to say thank you to Export and then Weibel.  They appear to be nodding and smiling as though giving their approval for what they have just experienced.  Export looks unflustered and unfazed.  We could assume that the males are touching her breasts but we can't see it except for one part where the camera captures one side panel of the box moving.  The piece plays on male mastery and domination of a female, her willingness to interact and be violated or offer her body for pleasure.  The tension created from Weibel offering Export up for consumption and Export seeming to not mind and be willing to be a consumable and the crowd interaction or non-participation in this act.  The scene plays on sex for consumption, violation, dignity, male domination and female willing or non-willing participation.  Crowd reactions include: (what could be read as suggestive) sucking an ice cream, incredulity, partaking in the scene, giggling and disbelief.

The comparison between the two movies shows the contrast between male and female roles and the acceptance of domination in a public domain.  There was little reaction to seeing a male dominated by being led around on all fours on a leash compared to the reaction of a woman's breasts being offered up for any takers in a public domain.  They were disturbing and interesting social experiments.  I think the question is whether either party, with Weibel on the leash and Export with the box, lose their dignity or power over themselves or were they willing participants and therefore lost nothing.

To me, it seems similar to the power play in William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", when at the end of the story, the question is posed that has the wife gained control over the man, now that they love each other and realize they are under the spell of each other.  Was the wife the shrew when she was so angry and resisted all attempts at affection or was the husband the shrew and he was tamed by the wife.  It poses the question of either one losing their dignity and strength because they relent to the wishes of the other.

Peter Weibel - Tap in Touch Cinema

So I think everyone knows already how I feel about Performance Art. This piece is ridiculous. I do think that having a woman with a box attached to her breasts and letting random people touch them is relevant to anything in life, unless she wants to go work as a hooker. I have no idea why he would have such an idea. So this is how I feel about it and I really do not favor any of his work. He calls his work conceptual, so what is so conceptual about this? He is exploiting this woman. I really just think that he couldn't think of anything better to do.

Peter Weibel

So, I forgot to write down the name of the piece I like.
Weibel is sitting on a corner at a table and has some kind of recording machine with a tape inside. He says "On" and presses the play button on the machine. The tape says back "Off" and he turns off the machine. This process repeats as the camera slowly zooms out after each cycle.
I don't understand why I liked this one so much. It was simple, non-invasive, and made any passerby wonder what he was doing. Eventually, a few people walk by and one guy stops and watches him. He stands there for a few moments, longer than I expected him to stand there.
There isn't much else to say about this piece. I enjoyed it because of its simplicity and it invoked people's curiosity.

Photograph as Performance

The photograph I chose is a Light Art Performance Photography (LAPP) piece. LAAP is a one-shot long time bulb exposure photography technique, performed additionally with movement of light. It was developed by two German artists, Jan Leonardo Wollert and Jorg Miedza.

In this project the photograph is the actual artwork and not the performance itself. The men created it by moving lights around. I like the idea of this kind of performance because it reminds me of traditional film photography. It's similar because with film photography you don't know what your photographs will look like until you develop the film, and with this performance photograph the artists do not know what the photograph will look like until the performance is over. I never thought of performance art this way and I fell like it has opened new doors for what I can do with photography.

Peter Weibel

The piece from the show at Slought that I chose was the "Tap- and Touchcinema" from 1968 performed by Peter Weibel and his lover at the time. The basic idea of this performance was that passerbys had to reach into a box that was attached to the woman's chest and touch her breasts. Weibel is speaking into a megaphone to a large crowd of people, he is reading off of a piece of paper, but he's not speaking a language I can understand so I feel like I didn't get to experience the full effect of the piece. I wish it had subtitles! The most surprising part of this performance was that the woman didn't look uncomfortabe, but most of the audiance does. I didn't understand the purpose of this performance, I feel like it has something to do with feminism or maybe sexism.

So I did a little research on the video and found out that the name of the piece relates very much to what it means. On Media Art Net is says that:

"the film is ‘shown’ in the dark. But the cinema has shrunk somewhat – only two hands fit inside it. To see (i.e. feel, touch) the film, the viewer (user) has to stretch his hands through the entrance to the cinema. At last, the curtain which formerly rose only for the eyes now rises for both hands."

It also explains that the performance is about the sexual freedom of the woman:

"The tactile reception is the opposite of the deceit of voyeurism. For as long as the citizen is satisfied with the reproduced copy of sexual freedom, the state is spared the sexual revolution. ‘Tap and Touch Cinema’ is an example of how re-interpretation can activate the public'."

Peter Weibel

I watched Peter Weibel's 1967 video Tramping on the Law with Feet. The camera is pointed at the pavement, and on the ground is the word Recht written in white sidewalk chalk. It was written multiple times overlapping scribbled and in all kinds of ways and directions. 

     Weibel video taped people walking across the area with Recht written on it. The only part you can see of the people is from the knee area down.  But you can somewhat judge what type of people they were from what they were wearing, which also makes you consider the type of area it may have been done. For example there was a couple people with dress shoes and brief cases, so they were probably professionals, and they may have been traveling to or from the office. But then there was a couple people also wearing casual shoes and pants, which leads me to think it was a public area not only open to business professionals, maybe a walk way by a train or bus.

     you could also pick up people reaction from the speed the were walking. Some people slowed down as if they were trying to read it and didn't have time to stop, while others barely stopped as if they had seen it before. There was a couple people that stopped but not for a long period of time.

    The element of performance could be the act of Weibel actually taking the time to write all over the sidewalk, and how his actions were perceived by on lookers. Also how the passer beyers reacted to being filmed on camera. What about after he finished filming did the word just stay there, or was it washed away and did he get in trouble for putting graffiti in the public space.  

Peter Weibel- Vulcanology of Emotions

Vulcanology of Emotions, is one of Peter Weibel's six body videos that were shown at the Slought Foundation. It was made in 1971, so it was the earliest of his body videos that was shown. Vulcanology is the study of volcanoes, so one can come to the assumption that what Weibel could be relating to is an "explosion" of emotions, that similar to a volcano. The way the video is filmed is almost voyeuristic. There is a bold vignetting that makes you focus on what Weibel is doing. The camera is focused on a corner of a room with white walls and white floors. Weibel is in the room, naked, in different positions. He first starts out by lying down on the floor, his face away from the camera. However, each position is a clip of about 10 seconds at first. In between each clip the screen turns black and the sound of whales is then played. Having the sound of whales in my opinion was a good choice because they make somewhat sad sounds and the clips that show Weibel are depressing in a way. As the video progesses the camera moves closer, some of the images are now video and others still. Also, the images move faster so instead of being on the screen for 10 seconds its 6 seconds. Weibels positions also change and don't involve him just lying down on the floor and he is now allowing his face to be shown. As the video speeds up the camera moves further away and this brings us to the end.
I found this video to be one of two that I could actually stand to sit down and watch all the way through other than his tele-action videos... which some were in fact quite entertaining even though the tv-aquarium made me feel very uncomfortable

Photograph as Performance

I chose Mary Ellen Mark's photograph of these 2 children because it expresses a lot and it could be interpreted as a performance. I think that the little girl smoking the cigarette was obviously set up and that is much of what makes this a performitive photograph. Also, with the little girl seated in the pool the way she is, just looking at the viewer and probably wondering what the other girl is doing. They are very different children, or at least it seems that way. Even though Mark Ellen Mark typically documents people, circus performers, street performers, etc, she still makes her something other than a documentation of a performance. I feel as though she makes it a bit personal to the viewer. I love her work, and this photo especially. She took what may have been your average 8-10 year old girl and turned her into a different character, just by what she is wearing, or the lack therof, and giving her a cigarette. Also, the fact that the other little girl sitting down is wearing a tee shirt while the other little girl is in a bikini.

Peter Weibel "Tap and Touchcinema" 1968

This piece stood out the most to me and probably for a lot of the other students as well. I consider it absolutely degrading. I do not really care if it is for "art's sake." How come Peter Weibel didn't make show his sexual freedom by putting his own genitals in a box for everyone to feel? I guess it would look like he was crazy and he would probably get arrested immediately, but still, I do not understand what statement he is trying to make unless he was doing a tap and touchcinema for both sexes. It was disgusting to look at the faces of the men who were touching the woman. It was as if they did not even think about how this was making the woman feel or how they were being perceived as males. Although, Valie Export is considering her performance art, I do not believe that this shows some sort of sexual freedom, even for that period of time. I am trying to wrap my head around it and be open, but it just seems like too much. If she wanted to express sexual freedom then it would not just be contained in a box where your boobs could be felt up. I think sexual freedom is goes way beyond that. And I understand that it is open to the public, which takes away this idea of voyeurism, but it does not feel right to me. Maybe I will be able to discuss this better in class when we are all bringing up our opinions.

Performance from a photo

This is like a freeze frame of an action. There is a lot of emotion expressed by the actresses in this photo. It is filled with drama, making any who haven't already seen this photo think about what happened before it or what happened after. This isn't something that someone walking by with a camera normally sees. It is a staged event. In some elements, you can tell that these women aren't really in this position.
There are some things that completely emphasize a certain meaning or cause and the idea of performance to get the point across helps with this photo. You can definitely tell that the photographer was friends with most, if not all of the participants in this photo, due to the laughing faces. The overall tone of the photo is pretty serious and effective

Performance in a Photo

I decided to choose this photograph by Angela Pursell. The whole process of trying to photograph a baby is a performance in itself. You have to make sure the baby is happy and is clean along with the other aspects that one goes through when taking a photograph. Then, there is the idea of documenting someone when they are this age, they don't know what is going on... the whole idea is something the parents want to do. Some parents later on in life want to show off how adorable and innocent their child once was... when you grow up do you appreciate these photos that were taken of you when you were a baby? However, Angela Pursell was hired to take this photograph so can it be considered artwork or is it just her doing her job to make a living? Personally, I don't like being photographed now so why would I like it then? Recently when I was at my parents house I was looking through old photo albums and I found a photo of me, I have to be about 4 years old and it was taken right after I had been crying. The look on my face, its this look of "oh thanks your taking a picture of me after im done crying? thanks mom... ugh" I then asked my mom about it and she said "I wasn't trying to be mean I just really wanted to get a photograph of you in that outfit..." I'm not trying to bash baby photographs or anything but the whole process and concept of it is pretty silly if you think about it.

Rachael's performance

For the record, this is the most unusual and awkward thing I've ever done...

This is a performance photograph or should I say MY performance photograph. I went to a going away party last Friday knowing I would probably be inebriated and also knowing that many people would be doing just the same. My friend Alex said that we should play the game "chicken" with the other people who were putting each other on their shoulders. I agreed and of course, Rachael, being the party photographer that she is, caught every single thing that would make a great, drunken photograph. Everyone knew that she was going to be taking EPIC photographs of us and we also knew that they were probably going to be accessible online for our social networking buddies to see so ridiculous events such as this probably came about because we had known this and because we wanted to have fun. Its funny because I feel like so many people would not admit that but how many people pose or "perform" for a photograph these days knowing that it will eventually be online? Its as if its a sin, but everyone does it.

And in response to the reading I think underground art is bs. So many people can try to justify what underground art is and how only true underground art is produced by someone who doesn't receive money for it. I think people who are living in this society are desperate enough at some point to make sure that they are getting money for their work because they are unable to live without it. I understand that there is a fine line between making some money and a lot of money, but there will never be true underground art.

video performance

http://frankzadlo.com/project/three-revolutions/

I chose the video three revolutions, by Frank Zaldo. I chose this because I think I prefer the more minimal performances that address the little things that are usually carried out by most people in every day life. Certain things that we all do are never considered to be a performance until an artist decides to make it one. It is pieces like this that really hone in on the whole idea and issue of performance and the question of what makes it one, if it actually is one, and what about it is considered to be artistic enough to actually be considered art. 

I'm not questioning this videos artistic merit. Because for one,  I just like it and i also like how it is documented and composed. Also, the act of forcing channel surfing into being a piece of art personally brings to mind the age old idea of the couch potato. It sucks when there's nothing on TV and you just have to flip through a bunch of seemingly meaningless and mind- numbing crap. That's what this piece makes me think of; some couch potato lard sitting in the dark with the windows closed flipping through bad daytime TV. 

I suppose there is a number of performative qualities that have taken place with this piece. Starting with the act of planning to make this into a piece, then acting it out as a performance to be documented. Also, just the act of documentation of this is a performace.

Performance in a Photo

I picked a red carpet picture, because the whole thing is a performance, basically a media circus all to get a picture for the magazine or web site.
I picked Halle Berry at the NAACP awards.
Her performance would go like this:
She just had a baby so working out for months to get that figure back, watching what she eats all while being a mom. But the week before a red carpet event is even more crucial. She probably Stepped up the work out routine, her trainer was probably kicking her butt. The night of the awards hours before the event she had a personal make up artist and hair stylist come to her home. Her personal stylist picked up this dress for her. Then even after all that exercising she still had to put on spanx and control tops to suck and tuck for a flawless silhouette. You cant see her shoes but, heels are a must 3 inches at the minimum. Walking on the balls of your feet all night feels amazing, and if they are open toes she needs to get a pedicure.
Finally she hits the red carpet there is yelling over here look at me,multiple photographers and interviews vying for her attention. All the while she has to be aware of her face always smiling giving off that perfect glamorous red carpet image worthy of a Hollywood star.

diane's performance by rachael

Stumped for Ideas

If anyone is having a hard time thinking of things for their big project check out Philly Fringe festival website they had some cool performance pieces going in 2008 like urban bodies in public spaces ect. 

Philly Fringe

Blue

"What color do you feel like today? Pick/create an object or atmosphere using the color, that shows what you feel like." from Kelly

Erin's Performance Piece

Erin's directions were "The space you fill up is a black hole that means what."

Angela's performance piece

Angela I'm sorry I did not get a whole hoagie. I was being really cheap (of course) and I took a quarter of my friend's hoagie and THREW IT ALL OVER THE PLACE (well just around sartain and outside of Moore because that was kinda the specifics). 

I started off by throwing pieces, not hard throws, in the streets and the sidewalk. Since it was rush hour there were more people in their car rather than people on the sidewalk.

Once I hit the street I was scattering pieces on the crosswalk and I didn't get any comments about what I was doing.

When I hit the sidewalk outside of Moore, there was a lady behind me and she kinda gave me a look like I was being crazy. So that's it. The end.

Performance Piece

My assignment was to perform Bailey's piece where I had to go to a public place, preferably with 10 people, select a word to scream out loud if they hear a stranger say that word...like PeeWee basically. So, my first attempt was at Olive Garden.

It was Ashlie's birthday so it was perfect. We selected the word "like"... one of the waiters said it and we all went "LIKE!!!" and then we felt we were too loud in the restaurant and kept quite, however, their were a couple more instances where we made noises whenever we heard the word. Also...

Then, today I made another attempt, this time it was just with me and my boyfriend. We were in marketeast station... around 5pm and we selected the word "track". An announcement came on and he yelled "track" really loud and I just laughed... alot... it was hard to document so here is just a silly picture of me after the moment. It wasn't exactly on peewee's level, but it was okay.

Erin - From Breanna

"Take the persons paper to your right and claim this project as your own, present it or change it.

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

My performance piece script written by Stephanie:

 An egg on the sidewalk on a sunny day!

Unmarked Remarks

     One trait of performance art that keeps reoccurring is that it should not under any circumstance be recorded or documented. If it is documented then it becomes something other then performance art. The fact that it can disappear is apart of performance art. 

     Phelan argues that to preserve performance art is to alter it. Here is one point that I am struggling within performance, photography is all about preserving. Thats what camera do they capture the moment and document. So how can a photographer be a performance artist? Performance and photography are the complete opposite of one another.  You could perform with the camera and not take pictures but that would render the camera obsolete and purposeless. 

    Performance is also independent from mass reproduction in any form that could be copied and sold. Phelan argues this is apart of its strength as an art form. But in this current day of youtube, camera/ video phones everything is subjected to being documented. It is almost impossible to have something NOT be documented, because when ever someone see something weird, strange or remotely interesting they pull out their phone send it to everyone they know, post it on youtube, and in a week its on every info-tainment show and the news. 

    Does performance art in its early undocumented form have a place in contemporary world where everything is documented? 

Adrian Piper's performances

Adrian Piper's performances were reliant on camera for presentation.  The written accounts of her walking with a rag hanging out of her mouth or with a sign of "wet paint" do not get transmitted to the art world without the visual proof that the photos from a camera provide.  The verbal accounts of her productions or the written accounts do no justice to the actual pieces.  The photos provide real proof that she actually followed through with the actions and was out in public. 

The camera shows the viewer the true audacity of the piece.  No verbal or written account can provide an accurate understanding of what she looked like, where she was or the visual accuracy of how she looked.  The photos provide the proof that, for example, the rag in her mouth, whilst out in public, was not just a little sliver of a piece of fabric.  The size of the fabric is shown that she really did fill her mouth to the swollen cheek stage and that she would be obvious in the public arena.  The photos provide proof that she really did look weird in the context of every day life.  

If there were no photos of her performances, the public who happened upon her at those times would have just thought she was a person of imbalanced mind who needed to be avoided.  No account, except to family members, friends or acquaintances of the day would have found out about her performance and it would not be recorded in any artistic light.  Her performance would have not been successful as an art piece because those in the art world would not have found out about it.  It would have been passed off by those who saw her as another quirky thing in daily life, experienced but thankfully avoided except for the fleeting moment.  Piper needed the camera to record her acts for the future and for the acts to be remembered by anyone who can attach a label as artistic to her work and not just another freakish encounter.  Therefore Piper's performance was not for the camera, but its success relied on the camera capturing the moments.

Bruce Nauman pinch neck

It is clear that Pinch Neck by Bruce Nauman relies heavily on video. Video is an extremely important part of this piece because one aspect that contributes to the concept is the way the subject is framed.  The viewer is only able to see the neck and lower facial features and those things are forced into being the focal point of the piece and the only thing that the viewer is able to see. The video makes it so that the viewer must examine the framed area as Nauman seems to have intended.

Having video as the media does indeed lend itself to being a video piece. This is the type of performance that is better carried out on video because it is the kind that is an experience that we otherwise would not see; at least not in the way it is framed, which serves as an important circumstance that makes the piece what it is. If this were a photo instead of a video, it would be more of something staged, done only for the sake of taking a photo rather than being a performance. Could it still be considered a performance if it was a photo?

Overall, video was the best choice of media for this performance.  This is because it is the only media capable of capturing the pulls and pinches and movement of the skin and that in itself is the basis of the performance. This concept could not be executed as well, and maybe not at all if it were done in another way. 

Meat Joy

"Meat Joy" is a performance piece by Carolee Schneemann. It was first performed at the First Festival of Expression at the American Center in Paris. When viewing this piece one can tell that it is a "celebration" of flesh and material. The materials used were fish, chickens, sausages, wet paint, transparent plastic, rope brushes and scraps of paper. Film is the main documentation. Still photographs could have been used to document this event but it wouldn't have the same effect as if you saw it in person or in a film. This type of media functions well for the documentation of "Meat Joy". It functions so well that maybe it doesn't even matter if it was viewed by a live audience or not.
It doesn't appear to have any scheduled occurrences, its all pretty chaotic and random. However, performances don't have to always be intricately planned. It all depends on the statement the artist is trying to express. If the artist feels that they need chaos in order to make an audience understand what they are doing then that is okay. It is an act because it only occurred a couple of times (twice?). It is not an everyday thing, you don't see people dancing or rolling around in meat products normally. If we saw the acts like "Meat Joy" frequently it probably wouldn't get the same message across.
This piece isn't necessarily a favorite, but I consider it far more entertaining than Bruce Nauman's "Stamping in the Studio". However, there are many different things that are more entertaining than that. We can't like everything.

One of the performances we have seen so far that incorporated video is from Alex Bag. The video "Untitled Fall '95" portrays her as the typical art student from SVA. Her ability to use video in her piece makes it obtainable for people in a variety of lacations to see her work. Because she is addressing many points that students, as well as artists associate with, connects her with a larger audience. 

If I had not known that this video was made in 1995, I would have thought that it belonged on YouTube and had a million hits by now. The fact that I cannot find it on YouTube is very surprising since her character portrayal seems universal in the art world. Even though video can be compact and easy to transport to many places, it does not necessarily mean that it will be shown to a wide audience. Only people who know about UBU will be able to see this work online or one might be able to obtain it if they know Alex Bag herself or her closest associates. 

So the question is, why isn't her work shown everywhere?

Bruce Nauman's Terrible Stomping Performance

I think that Bruce Nauman could have successfully done his stomping piece without recording it, which is alone, with absolutely no one watching. I think that the video does benefit the performance, but it is way too long and very boring. If a viewer came to a performance and he was just stomping I do not think it would have had as much as an impact as this boring video did. As much as I do not like the performance, I think that there is something that we as artists can relate to. Just think, when we are in our studio trying to think of something to do or cannot come up with a good idea, we may pace back and forth. I think that the frustration of him stomping shows us just how frustrated he may be. I have no clue what made him want to videotape himself doing something like this, something so awful. But I definitely could relate this to something contemporary, or at least that is what the artist may call it. This would be Jim’s “Break” why didn’t he film it? Because it’s boring and irrelevant?

Alex Bag's "Untitled Fall '95"

Bag has created "Untitled Fall '95" as a piece specifically to be viewed through video. This performance piece was created in the Fall of 1995, but has been created as the story and rantings of a female student over a course of eight semesters at art school.
Bag's only choice to create this performance piece was to use video. Bag connects made-up time with her stories and feelings about her made-up experiences. Video was the only way for Bag to believably make it seem like the viewer was watching a woman over the course of four years. If this piece had been performed in front of a live audience it would be obvious to the viewer that it was created in a shorter period of time instead of being made over the course of four years.
Bag also speaks directly to the camera, making the viewer feel like she is speaking solely to them, instead of an entire room of people. If bag had performed this live it would not feel as intimate to the viewer and the viewer may get bored. It feels more like a friend telling a story or a one sided conversation than a performance piece. The only practical medium for this project is video.
In this case I feel that the video as a whole is the artwork as opposed to the multiple performances being the piece. The work would not make sense to be performed without video, Bag would have to take frequent breaks to change her costumes and her short video creations in between her speaking would have to be shown to the audience using video.

How Stomping in the Studio relates to video

     Bruce Nauman's stomping in the studio was a private performance pieces that was record on video to show an audience. I find this piece incredibly long and drawn out which you cant do in other mediums; you can't make a photo or a painting drag on for hours.  A part of video that is different from other mediums is the length. I think Nauman is really testing the audience's attention span with this piece. He is posing the question how long can I get people to watch me do arbitrary and repetitive tasks? People will do repetitive task all day long at work and at home but they don't make a performance piece out of these tasks, maybe if they did they wouldn't seem so repetitive. 

    I am always trying to figure out why he made this video. Did someone ask his process and he said stomping in the studio and they refused to believe him, in turn he made a video and they had to believe his tactics. Or is stomping in the studio the way he releases stress and so he thought it would be soothing for others to watch too. 

     The way it is shot makes it look like a surveillance camera, which makes me wonder is he trying to make the viewer feel like a snoop. The camera is an aerial view, in black and white, not the best quality picture and Nauman never acknowledges the camera. These factors make it seem like its a surveillance camera looking in on what artist really do during their studio time. And if this is a artist in his studio does stomping qualify as "work"? Is this a process leading up to something more, and resulting in a tangible art work?