I Am Not A Performance Artist - lee wen 李文

Performance,
Zug, Flexible X, performance art operation work
Dresden, Germany Dec 1998

In Singapore, we face much bureaucratic difficulties in organizing “Performance Art”. Some artists have denied describing themselves as performance Artists due to this difficulty, or changing their practice into dance or experimental theatre instead. I started using the words “I am a not a Performance Artist”, in response to this situation and this led on to the need to question and re-position the nature, rationale and philosophy of art in one’s art practice. The performances were meditations on the various questions on art such as what constitute a work of art? Or, why we should make art at all? And serve as starting point for various other discussions.

In Dresden, the alternative art group/organizers, “Flexible X”, led by Mathias Jackisch, had lost their permanent space just before the festival and was forced to carry out the festival outdoors. I responded by making a performance with my travelling trolley bag and using the materials from the bag to make a journey within a journey.

On the bag was a sign that reads, "I am not a performance artist, and as I took things out of the bag, items such as canned food, stationary, wine, clothes, blanket, etc. I also carried with me a golden egg that I had used in various previous performances. I borrowed a golden goblet and a pair of golden shoes that I found and felt they added overlapping meanings to the other mundane objects.

I started the performance from outside the pub that was the gathering focal point of the festival. Dragging my trolley bag like a traveler looking for a place to rest. I made three stops enroute towards the Site of the next performance. At each stop I took out the objects, from the bag and placed them in a circle or a square, with a sign which reads ﾒThis is not a work of artﾓ under each object, including the golden egg, goblet and shoes. Lying in the center of the circle of objects with blanket covering my entire body.

At the last stop that was near the vicinity of the next performance, I open the trolley bag and let all the objects fall out with detachment. Throwing the golden objects on the ground and I kicked them around with derision and contempt. Making a fire of the signs that read -"This is not a work of art”, I drank some milk and wine and poured them over the fire. I lay down once again and opened a can of dog food and let Jim eat the food off my bare chest and trunk. (Jim is Mathias Jackish’s pet dog).