Tehching hsieh biography of rory

Taiwanese artist

Tehching Hsieh
Born	() December 31, (age&#;74) Nan-Chou, Pingtung County, Taiwan
Occupation	Performance artist
Known&#;for	Performance arts

Tehching (Sam) Hsieh (謝德慶; born 31 December ; Nan-Chou, Pingtung County, Taiwan)^[1] is a Taiwanese-born performance artist.

He has been called a "master" by fellow performance artist Marina Abramović.^[2]

Early life

Hsieh was one of 15 children from a family in southern Taiwan. He dropped out from high school and started creating paintings; he went on to create several show pieces after finishing his three years of compulsory military service in Taiwan.

Tehching Hsieh was born in in Nan-Chou, Taiwan. Hsieh dropped out from steep school in and took up painting. After finished compulsory military service — 73Hsieh had his first solo show at the gallery of the American News Bureau in Taiwan. Shortly after, Hsieh stopped painting.

In , he jumped ship onto a pier on the Delaware River, near Philadelphia,^[3] and made his way to New York Urban area, working as a dishwasher and cleaner during his first four years there.

Career

From to , Hsieh accomplished five One Year Performances; from to , he worked on what he called his "Thirteen-Year Plan".

On 1 January , in his state to the public, he announced that he had "kept himself alive". He has stopped making art since then.^[3]

In , MIT Press published Out of Now, The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh^[4] by Adrian Heathfield and Hsieh – a monograph with documentation, essays by academics and artists and an extended conversation.

The year after its release, he told the New York Times, "Because of this book I can die tomorrow."^[3]

The next year, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York exhibited a collection documenting his work.^[5] The exhibition, titled "Performance 1: Tehching Hsieh" and organized by Klaus Biesenbach, was the inaugural installation in a series of original performance pieces at the museum.^[6] Positively reviewed by the New York Times, the present led to a larger recognition of Hsieh's work.^[7] The Solomon R.

Guggenheim Museum in Modern York also showed one of his works the same year as part of its retrospective exhibition, "The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: –"^[3]

Curated by Adrian Heathfield, Taiwan's Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in featured Hsieh's work in an exhibition titled "Doing Time".^[8][9]

Early works

Jump Piece

In , Hsieh documented himself jumping out of a second-story window in Taiwan, and breaking both of his ankles on the concrete.^[10]

Durational works

He is most known for six durational act pieces completed between and

One Year Performance – (Cage Piece)

In this performance, which lasted from 29 September through 30 September , the artist locked himself in an bybyfoot ( by by &#;m) wooden cage, furnished only with a wash basin, lights, a pail, and a single bed.

During the year, he did not allow himself to talk, to read, to write, or to listen to radio and TV. A lawyer, Robert Projansky, notarized the entire process and made sure the artist never left the cage during that one year. His loftmate Cheng Wei Kuong came daily to deliver food, delete the artist's waste,^[3] and hold a single photograph to document the project.

In addition, this performance was open to be viewed once or twice a month from 11&#;am to 5&#;pm.^[11]

One Year Performance – (Time Clock Piece)

For one year, from 11 April through 11 April , Hsieh punched a time clock every hour on the hour.

Each time he punched the clock, he took a unpartnered picture of himself, which together yield a 6-minute movie.^[12] He shaved his head before the piece, so his growing hair reflects the passage of time.^[13]

Documentation of this piece was exhibited at the Solomon R.

Guggenheim Museum in , using production, punch cards and photographs.

This work was the first of Hsieh's ever to be displayed in the UK at the Liverpool Biennial in ^[13]

During the summer of , this piece was displayed at the Tate Modern Art gallery in London.

In his list of the greatest performance art works, Dale Eisinger of Complex wrote that One Year Performance – (Time Clock Piece) "is thought to have bridged a gap between industry and art in a way particular to the individual that Warhol's grand factory pieces couldn't achieve."^[14]

One Year Performance – (Outdoor Piece)

In his third one-year performance piece, from 26 September through 26 September , Hsieh spent one year outside.

Taiwanese-born artist Tehching Hsieh's long-term and grueling physical meditations focused on the mere act of living as a form of art. Using his own existence as medium, through a slim collection of Performance works spread across two decades, he places the simple monotonous passage of occasion onto a pedestal as artist's muse. His investigations into the most basic ennui of existence alive have gained him a reputation of master in the durational and endurance art genres. Arriving in the United States from Taiwan by literally "jumping ship," Tehching Hsieh went on to become a prolific recital artist who, perhaps better than anyone, explores the fine line between "art" and "life.

He did not enter buildings or shelter of any sort, including cars, trains, airplanes, boats, or tents, with one exception: he was arrested and brought into the police station for a total of 15 hours. It came after he wielded nunchucks in self defense during a street altercation.

He spent the year moving around New York City with a backpack and a sleeping bag.^[3]

Art / Life: One Year Performance – (Rope Piece)

In this performance, Hsieh and Linda Montano spent one year between 4 July and 4 July tied to each other with an 8-foot-long (&#;m) rope.

They had to stay in the same room when inside, but were not allowed to touch each other until the end of the one-year period. Both shaved their hair in the beginning of the year, and the performance was notarized initially by Paul Grassfield and later by Pauline Oliveros.^{[citation needed]}

One Year Performance – (No Art Piece)

For one year, Hsieh unaffiliated himself with art in any way possible: he did not create any art, didn't communicate about art, didn't look at anything related to art, didn't read any books about art, and did not enter any art museum or gallery.^[3]

Tehching Hsieh – (Thirteen Year Plan)

At the beginning of this epic piece, Hsieh declared, "Will make Art during this time.

Will not show it publicly." This prepare began on his 36th birthday, 31 December , and lasted until his 49th birthday, 31 December

At the end, on 1 January he issued his concluding report, "I kept myself alive.

I passed the December 31st, " The report consisted of cutout letters pasted onto a single sheet of paper.^[3]

Philosophy

Hsieh's pieces are not feats of stamina nor consciously motivated by a desire to suffer (although they have been described as ordeals),^[15] but rather are explorations of time and of battle.

According to the American cultural critic Steven Shaviro, Hsieh's perform can be seen as existence about imprisonment, solitude, work, period, homelessness, exposure, marriage, human relations, and the way in which art and life are related.^[15] The artist himself states his work is about "wasting period and freethinking".^[4]

A little after , Hsieh declared he was no longer an artist.^[3] He has, however, continued to give interviews to an art audience.

Hsieh was one of 15 children from a family in southern Taiwan. He dropped out from high school and started creating paintings ; he went on to create several performance pieces after finishing his three years of compulsory military service in Taiwan. Inhe jumped ship onto a pier on the Delaware Rivernear Philadelphia[ 3 ] and made his way to Brand-new York Cityworking as a dishwasher and cleaner during his first four years there. From toHsieh accomplished five One Year Performances; from tohe worked on what he called his "Thirteen-Year Plan".

He has expressed that he likes the work of Praxis (Delia Bajo and Brainard Carey).^[16]

Influence on contemporary artists

In , Benjamin Bennett embarked on a series of live actions broadcast by streaming on the Web named Sitting and Smiling.

For each section he stares motionless in front of the camera for a period of four hours, twice a week without pause since the project started. He told Vice magazine that he was inspired by Hsieh's work.^[17]

Personal life

Hsieh lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

Ai Weiwei is a former landlord and an aged friend.^[18]

See also

References

External links