1999 / TIME TIME TIME, FADO Performance Inc., Zsa Zsa Gallery, Toronto, ON
From sunrise to sunset, Belmore performed a twelve-hour durational performance, Manifesto. Her goal was to write and simultaneously speak what is written. Belmore sat, wrote and spoke getting up only to sharpen pencils. As each piece of paper is filled, it was dropped to the floor. After sunset the doors were opened, the paper was piled together and placed on top of the table with a small stone on top. The audience was invited into the space to view the work. Rebecca Belmore explains, “Manifesto is a place to hear the sound of my own writing. It is a private inner place made public. I like writing. But never real writing, like a writer. Just my hand and my head working to mark down and speak beyond my body… I view this experience as a process where I have the time and space to make my thoughts into an object. The result of this performance work will be the writing, not to be read, but to exhibited as an object.”
Paul Couillard, Manifesto: Rebecca Belmore, 1999
Photo credit: Paul Couillard / FADO Performance Inc.
