Work Sheet: E Altman and N. Davidson
INTENTION: In our discussion of the piece we understood each others emotional response and felt it was an exciting idea to work togetehr as an extension of Fisher’s original concept of sharing with other artists. The process of void was accomplished by use of paint, dirt, removal of grass and inate quality of video as low contrast image.
MEDIA: Video, paint, grass, dirt, marking materials, and body movement
*10:00 A.M. Altman and Davidson confronted area to be voided: paced off inner space (8’ x 8’ x 8’) of cube by physical contact with the sides corners and back of structure. *11:15 A.M. Measured and marked area of grass to be voided. *12:20 P.M. Voided ground by cutting and rolling sod to expose dirt. Displaced rolled grass to space directly in front of opening of cube. *3:10 P.M. Altman and Davidson painted interior of space black—from right front and left front to center of back wall. Experienced transformation of perception of structural space to intense density of solid inner space. The experience of the white cube as a defining structure of outer space is re-defined when interior space is chagned to a (black) void. *3:50 P.M. Unrolled 8’ x 8’ of grass to fill space 8’ x 8’ in front of cube. *4:00 P.M. Video monitor is blank———Void.
COMMENT: Because of the time/risk factor: the need to physically complete the piece and then restore the space by painting the walls and replacing the grass, we were barely conscious of the final moment when the void occured. Only the ability of the documentation to encompass the extended viewer’s space gave us the total experience of the process.
—Edith Altman and Nancy Davidson
