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M+, Hong Kong, © Tehching Hsieh
Tehching Hsieh 謝德慶
Tehching Hsieh 1986–1999. Thirteen Year Plan 謝德慶1986–1999(十三年計劃)
1986, printed 2000
The entire artistic oeuvre of Tehching Hsieh consists of six performances, which the artist defines as his ‘lifeworks’. Hsieh carried out these performances with extreme rigour, establishing a set of rules and conditions and then adhering to them for an extended period of time—the first five of his performances lasted for one year and the sixth lasted for thirteen years. He adopted the aesthetics of administrative function, often incorporating elements like legal documents to emphasise the constraints he placed on his art and his life.
One of the most influential performance artists of the twentieth century, Tehching Hsieh followed a series of five year-long performances with Thirteen Year Plan. In this artwork, completed between 1986 and 1999, Hsieh vowed: ‘I will make ART during this time. I will not show it PUBLICLY.’ The documentation includes recurring elements of Hsieh’s work, such as a paper statement or legal contract, and a calendar poster announcing the performance. However, as opposed to the black-on-white graphic treatment of documents for his previous performances, this final statement and poster are inverted, printed in white on black.
After disengaging from art the previous year as part of his One Year Performance 1985–1986, Hsieh further withdrew from visibility by making art but not exhibiting it to anyone. During this period, he attempted to disappear, and spent the majority of the time, in his words, ‘surviving’. At the end of the performance, on the first day of the new millennium, Hsieh reported: ‘I kept myself alive.’ The artist’s self-imposed exile underlines his practice’s concern with duration, discipline, freedom, and endurance. The acts of thinking, living, and passing time become the primary expression and method of his final, challenging performance.
One of the most influential performance artists of the twentieth century, Tehching Hsieh followed a series of five year-long performances with Thirteen Year Plan. In this artwork, completed between 1986 and 1999, Hsieh vowed: ‘I will make ART during this time. I will not show it PUBLICLY.’ The documentation includes recurring elements of Hsieh’s work, such as a paper statement or legal contract, and a calendar poster announcing the performance. However, as opposed to the black-on-white graphic treatment of documents for his previous performances, this final statement and poster are inverted, printed in white on black.
After disengaging from art the previous year as part of his One Year Performance 1985–1986, Hsieh further withdrew from visibility by making art but not exhibiting it to anyone. During this period, he attempted to disappear, and spent the majority of the time, in his words, ‘surviving’. At the end of the performance, on the first day of the new millennium, Hsieh reported: ‘I kept myself alive.’ The artist’s self-imposed exile underlines his practice’s concern with duration, discipline, freedom, and endurance. The acts of thinking, living, and passing time become the primary expression and method of his final, challenging performance.
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