Chapter B Refexion

Tehching Hsieh, Time Clock Piece (One Year Performance 1980–1981), installation view with time cards, industrial time-clock, projector, photo-strips and flm.

https://sueannchen.com/writing/timeclockpiecehsiehtehching

Time Clock Piece (One Year Performance), (1980-1981), New York, Tehching Hsieh

The project began in mid-September, and the image collection took only a week or two, which was relatively quick. The majority of my time was spent on the book's layout and curation.

But the closer I get to the date of this exhibition, the more I doubt its signifcance. Even though, in fact, when I have an idea–can I ask 100 people to beautify my photo–this work has been completed for me. Because the essence of this exhibition lies not in these altered photographs, but in my actions.

Why do I think so? I have read many works by Tehching (Sam) Hsieh, who is my favorite artist, almost none of them. An art critic named Qiu Zhijie commented on Tehching (Sam) Hsieh's behavior and works, which gave me a lot of thinking about conceptual art. Each project of Tehching (Sam) Hsieh lasts for one year. For example, the picture on the left is a project called Time Clock Piece. For one year, from 11 April 1980 through 11 April 1981, Hsieh punched a time clock every hour on the hour. Each time he punched the clock, he took a single picture of himself, which together yield a 6-minute movie. He shaved his head before the piece, so his growing hair refects the passage of time. The whole behavior lasted for a year. So he can't go far away, can't do many things, and even his sleep is interrupted every hour. All these picture have been shown in the museum. There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year, so these pictures formed a oneminute video. Qiu Zhijie said that as a performance art work, you don't actually need to go to this exhibition hall to see what the pictures or the video and documents look like. These are actually nothing, you just need to hear that this happened to him.

So before my own exhibition opened, I was worried that maybe not many people would come to see it. Because it is enough, when one has heard about a schoolmate named Song Difei had held such an exhibition, the content of which was that she invited dozens of people to beautify her photos, and there was an interactive installation. I didn’t even need to go to the site then can I understand the major part of this exhibition. That's why I found this project more and more boring.

Tehching Hsieh, One Year Performance, 1980 – 1981 | © Tehching Hsieh. Courtesy the artist and Sean Kelly Gallery https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/the-10-nationalpavilions-you-cant-miss-at-the-venice-biennale/

Time Clock Piece (One Year Performance), (1980-1981), New York, Tehching Hsieh