RE-RECEIVED IDEAS

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Notes

* See PART ONE in Performance Research Vol. 11, No. 1 ‘Made to Order’ (March 2006), pp. 54–59. An expanded on-line version of the Dictionary will be available on www.performance-research.net (Autumn 2006).

for all entries by Hiroko Kikuchi: Æ indicates the process; X indicates pronunciation (pronounce out loud); = indicates the process of defining and meaning (HK)

* Alison Knowles's, Elements of Performance will appear in Performance Research, Vol. 11, No. 3 ‘Lexicon’ (September, 2006)

*FUTURE(S) compiled by Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Museum, Homeless (an interview with the Director):

DI What happens when people first encounter you in bed?

FN Most people behave as if I had caught them prying into my private life. All of a sudden, they realize they are being watched. It is actually a fascinating moment to observe, because it makes you realize just how powerful our sense of privacy really is. Basically, people don't want to intrude. I quickly dissolve their discomfort by welcoming them and striking up a conversation. I behave as if receiving people in bed is the most normal thing, and what started out as an awkward situation soon becomes an intimate moment among strangers.

DI Tell us about some memorable moments.

FN I once had the privilege of watching a young mother breast-feed her kid and perform a diaper change while we had a conversation about HoMu's Outreach Program. Of course, I had to have my picture taken with the baby! A Polish reporter once joined me in bed for a filmed interview. Most of the time, though, visitors just sit around my bed and we talk about art and the state of the museum world today. I encourage them to debate what we are to think of a society whose major cultural institutions claim ethical integrity while deliberately excluding low-income citizens. To lighten up some of the more serious conversations, I blow soap bubbles out of my pipe or have Florence, our ‘Director of Public Reactions'’ interrupt us with a comment.

DI We should mention that Florence is a taxidermy coyote.

FN I always introduce her as the ‘great granddaughter’ of the coyote Joseph Beuys used in a performance in NY in 1974 (I Like America and America Likes Me). Florence is positioned in front of a microphone in the bedroom. It's connected to an amplified, hidden tape recorder, which I can activate at will to ‘make her speak.’

DI What do you have Florence say?

FN I have original tapings from an Early Nineties' conference focusing on the legacy of Joseph Beuys, and I clipped short bits from it for Florence's tape, such as Lawrence Weiner's statement ‘There is nobody walking away clean in this world any longer’ and Huston Smith's comment ‘We're a flawed species!’

DI You once told me of the experience that inspired you to receive visitors in bed in the first place. Tell us about it.

FN A few years ago, I had a long meeting with the director of the Guggenheim Museum, Thomas Krens. The meeting took place in his office, and throughout it, his feet were literally in my face, firmly planted on his desk. I couldn't quite tell if this was a sign that he was comfortable, or being ‘cool,’ or if it was an odd power game. Either way, in his case, he was clearly in control, ‘the Boss.’ So I decided that at HoMu, I would create an even more ambiguous set-up.

I appear to be doing nothing, to be weak (as in ‘tired’), but it's just a pose. Some people link it to a form of political resistance, and we laugh about John Lennon and Yoko Ono's much publicized ‘bed-in for peace.’ Others view it as satire: I am mocking the image of the ‘hard-working’ and ‘committed’ museum director. Still, others relate the act directly to the theme of homelessness. They understand that for the homeless there is no private space: anyone can intrude upon their lives at any moment. (FN)

¹ Gavin Butt, Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the New York Art World 1948–1963, Duke University Press: Durham & London, 2005.

² Jonas Barish, The Antitheatrical Prejudice (University of California Press, 1985).