Marcus Coates

Marcus Coates on Tate Shots

Rasa Todosijevic - Drinking Water

Rasa Todosijevic - Drinking Water (1974)

Paul McCarthy, Hot Dog

Paul McCarthy Hot Dog 1974

Janine Antoni - Gnaw

Janine Atoni - Gnaw (1992)

In Atoni's performance piece Gnaw, two 300kg cubes of chocolate and lard are placed on marble plinths in the gallery space. Using her mouth the artist gradually chews and carves away at the two blocks spitting out the chewed pieces to mould chocolate boxes and lipstick tubes.

Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist, 1922

During these last decades the interest in professional fasting has markedly diminished. It used to pay very well to stage such great performances under one's own management, but today that is quite impossible. We live in a different world now. At one time the whole town took a lively interest in the hunger artist; from day to day of his fast the excitement mounted; everybody wanted to see him at least once a day; there were people who bought season tickets for the last few days and sat from morning till night in front of his small barred cage; even in the nighttime there were visiting hours, when the whole effect was heightened by torch flares; on fine days the cage was set out in the open air, and then it was the children's special treat to see the hunger artist; for their elders he was often just a joke that happened to be in fashion, but the children stood openmouthed, holding each other's hands for greater security, marveling at him as he sat there pallid in black tights, with his ribs sticking out so prominently, not even on a seat but down among straw on the ground, sometimes giving a courteous nod, answering questions with a constrained smile, or perhaps stretching an arm through the bars so that one might feel how thin it was, and then again withdrawing deep into himself, paying no attention to anyone or anything, not even to the all-important striking of the clock that was the only piece of furniture in his cage, but merely staring into vacancy with half-shut eyes, now and then taking a sip from a tiny glass of water to moisten his lips. 

Martin Kippenberger - The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika'

Martin Kippenberger - The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika' (1994)

Jason Rhoades, The Creation Myth

Jason Rhoades

The Creation Myth 1998

Tomoko Takahashi - My Playstation

Tomoko Takahashi's installation 'My Playstation' at the Serpentine Gallery in 2005 saw the collection 7,600 objects.  All donated and collected by the artist they were densly arranged in the gallery and formed a complex mass of contemporary culture.  

Vito Acconci, Room Situation, 1970

Vito Acconci Room Situation 1970

Detail and documentation.

Rirkrit Tiravanija - Free

In 1992 Rirkrit Tiravanija staged his seminal work Untitled 1992 (Free), a performative and interactive installation in the office of the 303 Gallery Soho New York.  Challenging the function of the gallery and the boundaries between viewer and audience Tiravanija emptied the space and installed a makeshift kitchen and apartment.

Open 24 hours a day, people lived, ate, slept, partied and had sex in the gallery, this simple anti-commercial gesture embodied an idealistic lifestyle of contemporary bohemian life. The interaction and action of the audience was the art. What has now been labeled as Relational Aesthetics, Tiravanija was at the forefront of dissolving the boundaries between art and life and challenged the establishment in which it was housed.