willem wilhelmus      action art
  • home
  • words
    • own words
    • words of others
  • cv
  • actions
    • 2019 >
      • On Another Level
      • Fading Colours
    • 2018 >
      • Mother's Tongue Book Launch
      • To Pieces
    • 2017 >
      • This Is Known Too Well
      • District Five 2057
      • The Old Red Ribbon
      • Stop It!
      • The Peepshow
      • Do Not Fear
      • The Last Match
    • 2016 >
      • The Curtain
      • The Red Flood
      • Red Shoes Dancing
      • The Wig
      • When Things Start Falling
      • Phantasmagoria
      • Moondrops
    • 2015 >
      • No News
      • Yin Yang 7.5
      • Elements
      • The Line
      • Success
      • Instead of Tea
      • Three Lines
      • On Finding the Right Tone
      • Fire, Dust & Water, with Air
      • I Don't Know What To Do
      • Deep Rest
      • A Balance Act
    • 2014 >
      • To the Center
      • Introductions
      • Rites
      • The Dancing Table
      • Layers
      • Me Against The Trees
      • Right Foot Mind
      • No Voice No Power
    • 2013 >
      • Through the Screen
      • Fear
      • From Nothing
      • Something to Push Against
      • Expand and Define
      • The Line Is Finally Drawn
      • Thin Memories
      • Ec Gillet Larut
      • A Sticky Handshake
      • La Magia y El Secreto
      • From a Great Distance
      • I Need More
      • Instead of Colors
      • Wallflower
      • I'm So Happy
    • 2012 >
      • Global Dust 7
      • Esperanza
      • I Wanna Be Like
      • Not Ready Yet
      • Fake Finns in Fiskars
      • Global Dust 6
      • The Object
      • Letter Soup
      • A Piece of Thread
      • a Handshake, a Kiss and Some Money
      • Snow from Finland
    • 2011 >
      • Time to Kill Time
      • Time Enough
      • Occupy Myself
      • Kick the Bucket
      • A stone from A to B and Back
      • One Way or the Other
      • Present 1 & 2
      • Global Dust 5
      • On Finding a Solution
      • Communication Anyway
      • Unstuck
      • Contact Adhesive
      • 6 P
      • Personal Posters
      • Old Papers
    • 2010 >
      • Caught in the Act
      • Afrique 3
      • Afrique 2
      • Afrique 1
      • The Snowball
    • 2009 >
      • Sold Out
      • Nails and a White Egg
      • Forward!
      • Global Dust 4
      • Nails
    • 2008 >
      • The Human Cost
      • A Los Olvidados
      • Where Are You?!
      • Global Dust 3
      • Time Drops
      • Global Dust 2
      • Take Your Money Back
      • Improvisation
      • On a Drop
    • 2007 >
      • Global Dust 1
      • Fun with artists anno 2007
      • Still
    • 2006 >
      • PS project
      • Preemptive Strike
      • The Weight of Questions
      • Downstream
      • Spin
      • No More Questions
      • Residue of Questions
      • Abundance / Runsaus
      • I Love Olive
      • Faces
      • America
      • Knitted
    • 2005 >
      • The Storyteller
      • Dark Times
      • The Price of Art
      • A Public Preparation
      • With All Senses
      • A Coffee Ceremony
      • Blind date
      • NowHere
      • The Storyteller
      • Red 3
      • Red 2
      • Red 1
    • 2004 >
      • Opening of Eyes
      • Sharing
      • The Latest News
      • Red: Almost!
      • Initiation
      • Invitation
      • White: 100 private performances
      • Winter Spring
      • ContAct
      • Black: Back to Earth
    • 2003 >
      • Black: 100 Private performances
      • Traces
      • Yellow: 100 Private Performances
      • Red: Göteborg
      • Red: Connection II
      • Red: Connection I
      • Tell Me What You See
      • Head On
      • Red: Combined Forces
      • Replacement
      • Blind Man
    • 2002 >
      • Red: Changing Landscapes
      • I Wanted To Be
      • Head On
      • Milestones
      • Yellow: Too Much Inspiration
      • One Percent For Art
      • Success etc.
      • The End of the Rope
    • 2001 >
      • Ready to Grill
      • The Latest News
      • No Title
      • Against Time
      • Constrain
      • Stations of Love
      • Repentance
      • Let's Get Emotional (in a restricted way)
      • Radical Answers from a Briefcase
      • Content?
      • NowHere
      • 49
    • 2000 >
      • Against Time
      • ContAct
      • Entwicklung
    • 1999 >
      • ContAct
      • Go North I
      • Go North II
      • The Box
  • news
  • curating
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
  • not ready yet
  • photos
  • videos
    • Not Ready Yet >
      • 90 Years
      • Working Our Way Up
      • O
      • Expressing Fear
      • Time Drops
      • Cafe Latte
      • Framed
    • in exhibitions >
      • The Lying
      • Perfprmance Voyage 5
    • Time to Kill Time
    • Take Your Money Back
    • The Human Cost
    • Wallflower
    • Without Title
    • Untitled
  • links
  • contact
  • blog

From Nothing

From Nothing presented in November 2013 at the Afiriperfoma First Biennial of African Performance and Live Art in the Faculty of Art of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

The action was as minimal as possible, involving no material whatsoever, and still it managed to make an impact in that specific situation. The optimal use of the space, the inclusion of the audience and the suspense in timing brought this action as close as I can imagine to a pure form of ephemeral action.

It all started from nothing. The great Afiriperfoma Biennial turned out to be a farce. Almost no artists from Africa, a few from outside and no organizer present. I turned my disappointment into an appointment to present an art action at one of the first days without knowing what to do. No plan, no idea. Just the decision to go with whatever is there.

In the morning there were lectures as they are presented nowadays: powerpoint presentations in a dark room with everybody staring at a screen. The audience in neat rows waiting for what will roll over them and trying to respond in an intelligent way.

When it was my turn the audience was back to its place, staring at the empty screen. I opened the curtains to let the light flood in, took a bench with four seats, placed it behind the audience and said "I have no idea what to do" and repeated that in four different languages.

Then I took the seats from the audience, putting all the chairs along the walls of the room, thereby creating a huge space in the middle. There I placed two tables close to each other, leaving a space of ca. 10 cm. I asked the audience to come as close as it fitted for them individually and drew a curvy line along their feet.

It made me thirsty. I took a sip from a bottle of water and another to empty it. I placed the bottle on the floor between the tables and climbed on top of the tables. Standing straight I tried to spit the water - and the saliva - back into the bottle. The flow seemed to be endless but very little found its way into the bottle. When my mouth was empty I jumped from the table, checked the contents of the bottle and swallowed it.
Picture
photo: trésor malaya


First AFiRIperFOMA Biennial Performance 7 Live Art Festival in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe
8 - 22 November 2013

A biennial of African contemporary performance/live art is indispensable as a way of replenishing the visual culture of performance in the African continent. 1st AFiRIperFOMA Biennial will mainly focus on the African continent, the culture and its people, as observed by artists through a contemporary visual outlook. This first African contemporary performance art biennial will aim at inspiring the participants and the world at large to appreciate contemporary performance art in Africa.

More here
Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.