DO IT at e-flux

Douglas Gordon: Three Steps to Heaven

Gordon’s “Three Steps to Heaven” consist of a bottle of tequila, a bottle of champagne and a glass tumble. From the start it sounds as if it is leading to trouble. The concept is that one would mix the two in a glass and drink it immediately in three easy steps. The last statement in the performance is that one should repeat this as necessary. The repetition is the key part of this performance. Many of Gordon’s works deal with some sort of repetition. This performance dances around the misuse of alcohol and consequences of such behavior. After researching other works that Gordon has done I noticed that he uses death as a theme in his work. “Twenty-four Hour Psycho” and “Psycho Hitchhiker” are two pieces done by Gordon that both influenced by Alfred Hitchcock deal with death and murder in some way or another. I feel that Three Steps to Heaven is associated with death in that alcoholism is definitely a common reason for unnatural death. I agree with the concept of his performance but I feel that as a performance it lacks some sort of audience to capture the message.

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/douglas-gordon

Yoko Ono: Wish Tree

Yoko Ono was a successful avant-garde artist and well-known for her performance work. During a concert performance she lit one of her painting on fire in front of the audience. Prior to her performance John Cage had told her to put flame retardant on her canvas. John Cage, being the influential artist that he is, left his mark on her and she was accused of her work being too similar to that of Cages. Her famous “Cut Piece” is what got her a name for herself as an artist. Her “Wish Tree” was a performance that took place over a period of time. One would make a wish and put it on the wish tree then get friends to do the same until it started to grow into a tree full of this wishes. I feel like her intention was to be this metaphor for life in a sense. How it starts out as nothing and slowly takes shape into this tree and keeps growing so long as the artist takes care of it. I like the concept of life in this wish tree, however, it also seems as though there is no closure to this performance. It conveys this concept of life very well, but what about everything else that goes along with the life of a tree. The changing of seasons and death also play a role in the concept of this piece.

http://www.a-i-u.net/index.html