Wednesday, July 24 | 5–6:00pm
Friday, August 2 | 5-6:00pm
The majority of the works in this series are made from a thick tarpaulin fabric (a thick type of canvas) and are stored in a thinner fabric sleeve when not in use. To be activated, each work is opened up by its user(s), activated for a self determined amount of time, and then packed back into its stored form. While many of the works from this set are for two or more people to activate together, there are a few that are meant to be activated alone by one person.
The activation of To Have Time is described as:
–to have time, resolutions, gathering–
The user - usually sitting at a table - pushes his forearms into the bag, presses
his elbows into the corner of the piece, places his hands on top of each
other and then remains in this position.
The activation of Night Piece is described as:
–night piece, shadows entertain–
The piece is laid out. The candles are placed on the floor on the right and left,
a few centimeters away from the piece, in an extension of the longitudinal axis
and lit. The user observes the movement of the shadows caused by
drafts. As the candles burn down, the shadow becomes larger and also touches the
cloth - black on black.
Translated from German from Franz Erhard Walther, Diagramme zum 1. Werksatz, Kunstraum München, 1976.
Franz Erhard Walther made the First Work Set, a series of activatable artworks, from 1963-69, shortly before he started teaching at Art Academy Hamburg in 1970.