TOTART: Natalia Abalakova & Anatoly Zhigalov
WORK
Performance
1983 January 15
Place: S. Sokhransky's studio. Moscow
Duration: 18.00 - 24.00
Material: Pieces of clay (2 heaps in opposite corners of the studio space).
The "work" begins before people come to the studio. N.A. carries a piece of clay from one heap to the other, A.Z. - from the second to the first. This monotonous action goes on until the last person leaves the studio, if not interrupted by viewers. In reality it was interrupted, when some spectators began to fetch clay with a bucket from one heap to the other, but it could not stop the work. N.A. and A.Z. immediately changed the scheme of action and both continued to carry the pieces of clay from one heap to the other, regaining the broken balance. Such a "perpetuum mobile" pattern or "progressus in indefinitum" which is a "opened/closed system" from the “Work” on becomes a type of TOTART performances: "total action" and "total presence" where each person is put in a situation of choice.