Barbara Bloom "An evening with Barbara Bloom"
de Appel, Brouwersgracht 196, Amsterdam
'The TV was turned on at 8:00 p.m. when the movie began and was turned off at 9:21 p.m. when the movie ended. The performance took place in the 'information space' of Foundation De Appel, a space used for reading magazines and books, looking at video tapes, drinking tea, and as a sort of meeting space normally used before and after performances. The scheduled activities and spoken lines coincided with the action and lines in the television movie to the minute and often to the second. The many scheduled activities and spoken lines were unannounced and happened in an unaccentuated tone as though nothing was going on.
I.e. Marie-Louise Stheins (the female star in the TV movie) rings the doorbell. When Barbara Bloom answers the door, Marie-Louise Stheins says ''It will be cold tonight", in a non-theatrical tone, not as though speaking a line. A few seconds later, she enters a scene in the movie and speaks the same line. Note that she rings the bell and enters four times during the hour and 21 minutes. Cards with lines from the TV movie typed on them, were put in magazines lying on the tables. A press photo of Marie-Louise Stheins hung framed and signed on the wall alongside other artworks. The movie script and newspaper interviews with the female star lay on the table. The tone throughout the hour and 21 minutes remained as though nothing was happening. The scheduled activities were derived from the activities normally occuring in the space. Slowly the coincidences became apparent. The set-up revealed itself.'
Barbara Bloom – An evening with Barbara Bloom
archive, 1976