the art of watching (after vermeer) thorpe’s feet, pittman’s knee, bradman’s house, schwensen’s arse
Tony Schwensen’s recent performance entailed watching the entire coverage of the Commonwealth Games from the confines of a building site office. An interest in sport has fuelled much of his artwork, such as the memorable 1997 performance Australia A (all apologies) for Brian McKechnie at Artspace, Auckland. There the artist evoked a solitary midnight feast by indulging in a six foot Subway roll naked—the work was intended as an apology on behalf of Australia for the underarm bowling incident. When I visited Schwensen’s most recent performance, his partner was delivering a meal, also from Subway, a fitting thread of continuity from the 1997 performance.
In this instance it is Schwensen’s political antennae that have driven him to view the televised version of the Commonwealth Games. When I first read of the proposed performance, I was reminded of Tom Marioni’s description of Allan Fish Drinks a Case of Beer: ‘I had a TV set, my easy chair, a tape recorder, a refrigerator and a can opener hanging down on a string from the ceiling’.1 I assumed that this would be a similarly laid-back affair: a sort of lounge room, with the artist reclining and enjoying the entertainment. Far from it, the interior design of Schwensen’s container was guided by austerity—it contained only a yoga mat, a fit ball, a bucket and a television. No visitors were allowed inside the container. The artist had a notebook and pen for recording observations, and was prepared to make work on the interior walls of the container.
When I visited the installation, Schwensen was dressed in an emblazoned tracksuit bearing the title of the work: The Art of Watching (after Vermeer) Thorpe’s Feet