Being & Doing - ACE144.5

Black and white film of man slung by arms and legs between roof beams. ASSOCIATION. "image: ‘The Big Sleep’ Jan Micoch Czechoslovakia 1974". VO quotes "text: The trial of Milan Knížák Czechoslovakia 1971": "on St Valentine’s Day last year, 1971, Knížák was sentenced to two years imprisonment ..." for producing art works the authorities didn’t approve of. Woman hangs up dresses; seats herself at sewing machine. Pop music over. Sewing machine arm going up and down; woman’s voice counting. Darkness. "‘Temporary Unlinking’ Sonia Knox N. Ireland 1981". Woman and dresses. Music, distorted voice, and sound of gargling over. Bereś, naked, painting the soles of his feet, walking and leaving black footprints on the floor. "‘Political Mess’ Bereś Poland 1980" Woman’s voice (in Polish) saying she first saw Bereś in a small village near Gdansk, three weeks after the government had signed the agreement permitting the formation of an independent trade union, and describes the performance. Bereś sets fire to a piece of paper on which he’s painted. Narrator says this work brings up the issue of the reproduction of all performance behaviour, as this was reconstructed, with description supplied by a witness to an earlier performance. Woman’s VO (in English) continues witness report over film of Bereś painting the word "ghost’" on his body. Narrator suggests that "without a witness, the work does not attain artistic or social reality. Without a witness, the work has no existence". Darkness. Man’s VO: "It is simple. Things are not what they seem to be. On the face of it, past experience doesn’t seem to provide an adequate basis for analysis. In fact, there may be no distinctions to be made between on thing and something else." "‘Between’ Brisley/Rbertson U.K. 1979". Two naked men, on slippery incline, shuffle around and shove each other from time to time. Man’s VO continues.