Face to Face

1989, SF Camerawork, San Francisco
Performance / Video Installation: Two videotapes, two identical video monitors, two slide projectors, a large sheet of white butcher paper

Two video monitors, in a vertical format, were placed back to back in the middle of the gallery. On one monitor was a man’s back, on the other a woman’s back. Both people were pressing their backs against glass and appeared to be face to face. A long scroll of paper was suspended from the ceiling hanging between the two monitors. Slide images of the front of a man and a woman, both partially in shadow, were projected on either side of the paper, combining to create a full, androgynous figure as they were superimposed. The performance began as a man and a woman stood face to face, in front of the slide projectors on either side of the room, and then moved towards the video monitors. As they moved, their bodies blocked parts of the projection coming from each side, causing the central figure to become more man or more woman. After the performance, viewers stood in for the performers, also blocking part of the projections as they watched the videos.

other performance: Sitting in the Green; Sweet Red–1; Sweet Red–2; Weeping Wall
other installation: 0–>∞->0; Moving Light; Green Light / Red Light; Sweet Red–1; Sweet Red–2; Within / Beyond; Weeping wall; Light River in Black See; What Does a Chicken Think About?; Baby Green; On the Way Home; Egg Works; Support of Art; Just One Thing; Continuous Thread