Barbara Bloom "Ongoing performance"
de Appel, Brouwersgracht 196, Amsterdam
'An image appears without text as a poster. It is placed around the city alongside advertisements and announcements. The image further appears in local newspapers, magazines and information sheets. It is not itself an advertisement or announcement as it refers to no place / time / occurence. It functions rather as a way to enable the people who come later to the performance to have seen the image. The performance is ongoing, lasting two hours. When one enters the space, it is completely dark and cut off from the outside. There is sound throughout the space. The room has been divided by a large piece of fogged glass behind which a figure is standing wiping the glass clean. The movement is slow and continual. The sound of sqeeking glass is heard along with the tape sound (a mix of dolphins talking, songs of humpback whales and Chinese opera, also slow and continual). Since the room is dark, the image behind the glass (the same image which has appeared in newspapers and as a poster earlier) is not seen. During the performance, a light flashes on behind the glass, revealing the image. This happens perhaps ten till fifteen times, not at any fixed interval.'
(Barbara Bloom, typewritten project description, archive De Appel / file Bloom.)
Barbara Bloom – Ongoing Performance
archive, 1974
Barbara Bloom – Ongoing Performance
archive, 1974
Barbara Bloom – Ongoing Performance
archive, 1974
Poster Barbara Bloom – Doorlopende voorstelling
affiche, 1974