Cardena - rechauffe la main de la Princesse Beatrix - 21 november 1971, Live performance. Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Nederland.

Description

A photograph of one of Cardena's "Warming Up" performances together with then-Crown Princess Beatrix (1971). He warmly shakes her hand. There are several open questions around this work: it is unclear whether this photograph documents an actual performance, or whether it captures an event in which Cardena simply shook Beatrix's hand and later re-presented it as a conceptual performance work. No record of this specific event has been found within the archive or online. Please handle with care. The photograph sits loose within its frame, which has been taped at the back.

Note: For context — two years earlier, on 20 January 1969, a gathering took place at Kasteel Drakensteyn, initiated by Crown Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus, at which Cardena warmed up one of the castle's walls as a performance, and also performed "Symphonie voor 7 obers" (Symphony for Seven Waiters). The purpose of the gathering was to discuss modern art and its relationship to wider society. Cardena and the royal family stayed connected for several years afterward; in 2004 he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix.

The Boijmans exhibition catalog for Cardena's exhibition (CAR-M-6) mentions the 1969 event at Kasteel Drakensteyn, but makes no mention of the 1971 photograph or of any conceptualized performance work involving Cardena and Beatrix.