Kirsten Bates, Bill Beirne, Dieter Froese, Ana Mendieta, and Virginia Piersol

Kirsten Bates describes her installation, I See You Seeing Me, as follows: “A situation is established in which the viewer is invited to sit in front of a rear projection screen 4×5′. On the screen are life-sized slides of the artist acting out some of the things (fear of other people, loss of self) discussed on the tape which the spectator hears on headphones. The chair and screen are bolted to the floor so that there is an uncomfortable distance (psychology) between the viewer and the projector. Behind the viewer, seated on the chair and facing the image of the artist, is a full-length mirror. This serves as a prop, and helps create an area of tension for the person on the chair, between the screen and the reflection of the screen in the mirror.”

Bill Beirne’s piece, friends are always giving me hats a half size too large but, i can’t resist wearing them anyway, consisted of a continuous street performance during gallery hours, and a text printed on the workshop windows. The artist describes: “Viewed as a street performance the work intends, through the constancy of my activity, to divert the flow of pedestrian traffic around me and through the implication of my attention perhaps subvert that flow from its intended destination, forcing it into the art gallery or art context. Once inside the gallery the work centers on the socio-political activities involved in my being invited to exhibit there as it is understood from three points of view (my own, artist a, and artist e). The work also utilizes the focusing device of the viewers’ eyes, as one can not read the narrative on the window surface and view the performance outside simultaneously.”

Dieter Froese’s Installation ’90 Degree Re-Stage/Loop’ A(Dina) B(Carol) appears in his catalogue as Surveillance, Re-Stage (NYC, 1976); Running time: Continuous Gallery Installation at 112 Greene St., NYC. 2 Channel: One Pre-recorded Loop, One CCTV Installation; 2 Soundloops (Pre-recorded)(with Carol Parkinson).

This was one of a series of Re-Stage works of the artist. He describes the process in his catalogue: “Re-Stage (to Re-Stage—to Re-Enact): Re-Stage pieces deal with investigation of human behavior in which certain events are isolated by documenting them and re-enacting them in media such as photographs, film, and video. This process bestows upon the event a quasi-historical authenticity. I use the term Re-Stage for both the Process and Presentation”

Ana Medieta’s Nanigo Burial consisted of an arrangement of large candles on the floor resembling the outline of a person lying down with arms outstretched. The candles were lit and the floor pattern of melted wax remained throughout the installation period.

Virginia Piersol presented an on-site film-loop installation. A film of fire was seen within an area cut out of the center of a square of green fake-fur material. The artist recalls, “I was interested in the opposition of a still object having a textured surface with a moving image. From a distance, the opening in the center was very small and the fire appeared to be realistic. As one approached it, the surrounding field of fake-fur became dominant so one became aware of the various materials and their textures.”

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.