Artist Statements

by: Linda Chung

Gravity is no longer absolute, and the sense of perception is being played in Trisha Brown’s short, edited performance pieces. The two clips show a person or people struggling, yet carefully walking sideway on a concrete surface with safety gears tightly around his or their waist.

The first clip titled, "Man Walking Down the Side of a Building" (1970) shows a person, specifically a middle aged man, walking down the exterior of a tall building literally from the top; while at the bottom, a group of people, the walking man’s audience, were engaged with the spectacle, and curious about the walking man’s behavior and performance. Near the end of the clip, the walking man was seen unintentionally, yet comically hanging face down a few feet away from the landing point by perhaps someone holding onto the rope at the top. It seems as if the setting for this clip is not modern 21st century due to the audience’s pauper dress apparels. In addition, the scene is in black and white which further creates an impression that the time frame was around the late nineteenth century. What is interesting is that so many people were located in that small areal dungeon-esque space – Was it the hangout place? Was there a celebration? Were they hiding from someone or something?

The second clip titled "Walking on the Wall" (1971) shows a couple of people, who were considerably professional dancers, walking on a big, white, flat interior wall of an unknown building. Although this clip was also shown in black and white (from what I can tell), it appears to have a more modern setting than the first clip due to having no audience in scene, which in hand makes it more of a documentary rather than an ostentatious show. It appears that the dancers are practicing their skits while aiming to ease their way out of an awkward stance to a stabilize one, and trying to get comfortable with the protruding safety gears. I wonder if the final performance will be presented to a live audience or if it was enacted for an independent film.

Through the camera’s lenses, the first clip makes me feel that I am somewhat standing amongst the crowd at the bottom of the walked building due to the camera angle facing slightly upward and seeing a few random one second shots of the crowd in awe staring at the walking man. As for the second clip, it makes me feel that I am high up, yet alone, on a building myself looking down onto the sideway walkers stroll by wherever they pleased. In addition, whenever I see people walking parallel to the building structure ceiling, it enhances the illusion and imagery of myself looking down onto the walkers because the angular ceiling surface seems like an exterior side of a building.