I wrote an essay about "Rope Piece" for
@momusart . It's a love letter to all of us navigating collaboration dynamics and the gnarlier aspects of power play. As Tehching Hsieh said of the work: “Because everybody is individual we each have our own idea of something we want to do. But we’re together. So we become each other’s cage.”
For more than twenty years, Linda Montano has been teaching me how, as she said in High Performance magazine, “negativities are raised to the dignity of art.” Most recently, I was undone watching Montano and Hsieh discuss Rope Piece together for the first time in 43 years at
@dia.beacon - link in bio to read why.
I can’t tell you how much I love
@momusart and the way they care for their writers. Deep thanks to
@cgwagley and
@sky.goodden — and what a joy to have a photograph by
@mollie_mckinley in the essay, too. It’s a love fest. Also if you can, go to the High Performance magazine celebration at
@welcometolace in April - it's such an important publication.
"For Rope Piece, Hsieh and Montano were tied together with an eight-foot rope for one full year, from July 4, 1983, to July 4 the following year—an ironic nod to American independence. They agreed to remain connected at all times without ever touching. Any accidental touching had to be written down in a log, and all verbal exchanges were taped, creating a meticulous record of their constraints and transgressions. They practiced Rope Piece for one week, figuring out which ropes were most comfortable to wear and how they might navigate space together. Once Rope Piece began, Montano and Hsieh had to negotiate every aspect of daily life: coordinating time in the bathroom, deciding when to wake up, figuring out meals, and constantly battling for space, pace, and boundaries in their living quarters. Movement in public demanded constant, highly attuned choreography, as everyday actions like riding bicycles or taking elevators became potentially dangerous."
