The site of the old Kamp Nagel (forklift production) factory, Hamburg

Hamburg KampeNagel Fabrik performance for KunstWoche May 1983

In May 1983 the artist was invited to perform at the Hamburg KunstWoche. This was an important event involving a group of international artists including Robert Wilson who had choreographed several of Philip Glass' operas.

Images showing the sequence of actions leading to the complete video of the performace leading to the performance space itself.

Hamburg Kunstverein 24-hour rooftop occupation performance on 23 June 1983

The artist was given permission by the director of the Hamburg Kunstverein to occupy the rooftop of the gallery for a 24 hour period across the summer solstice. This was to be the first such rooftop occupation following the abandoned Art Gallery of New South Wales proposal in June 1981. The artist carried the tent from Berlin, pitched it on the roof and comfortably/uncomfortably documented and witnessed the passing of the Solstice period. Hamburg media were interested in the event and a reporter from the Hamburg Abentblatt reported on it.
To access this media article click HERE.

The Hamburg Kunstverein was very happy foro me to camp on their rooftop for the 24 hour period across the solstice .
It was especially important for me as I was needing footage shot by a super8 of the setting sun.

Construction of the tent on the roof of the Kunstverein.
Shot by one of the staff.

B/W images taken by staff of the Kunstverein

Construction of the tent; images taken by staff of the Kunstverein and also the reporter from the Hamburg Abentblatt.

Solstice mission completed.
Rooftop occupation ended.

Exiting the site.

Interior installation of tents constructed from fibreglass.

Kunstlerhaus Bethanien Solstice installation June 1983

Following the Hamburg rooftop occupation on the Hamburg Kunstverein on 23 June for 24 hours to witness the summer solstice, the artist returned to Berlin and installed a special installation in one of the rooms of the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien where he was living. The interior installation consisted of three fibreglass tents. One was situated between the two pillars of the room and into this in image was projected onto a small stone situated inside the tent. The second tent was anchored to the wall with a ladder protruding from it down to the floor. The third tent was anchored upside down to the ceiling something like a bat hanging upside down.
A fourth tent – the one used as living quarters on the roof of the Hamburg Kunstverein was located on the roof of the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. The artist was located in this tent and the image from the rooftop tent was transmitted into the space below where the three tents had been installed via a CCTV real-time system.

The rooftop occupation in Berlin took place immediatel after the Hamburg rooftop performance ended.
The performance work in Hamburg was extremely demanding; resulting in lack of sleep and exhaustion when I returned to Berlin. But with some assistance I managed to get the work started and rolling.
The tents had been fabricated in the Kunsterhaud months earlier. Assisants installed them into the room space while I was in Hambuerg.

The fiberglass tents were installed into the interior space and the tent that I had used across the 24 hour occupation in Hamburg was installed into the Kunsterhaud rooftop. The video camera installed on the roof with with tent transmitted images from that exterior space into teh room below.
It developed into an interior/exterior experience.

Exterior installation of the tent; on the rooftop of the Kunsterhaus Bethanien.

Video link between the exterior and the interior

Background information to the Solo exhibition at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin March 1984
there were four main elements:

1 Eclipse. The series of images taken from Guerilla Bay as slides where the image was progressively built up to a full global image consisting of 20 individual fragments something like a mosaic. This was arranged in a large circular fashion with a diameter of some 5 m. The tent used in the Solstice work from June 1983 was placed at the centre of the space. The images occupied space of 6" x 600" and was titled "eclipse"; colour Xerox ironed on to Arche vellun cuve paper. The Xerox images were obtained from New York on an earlier visit their possibly in 1982 or earlier.

2 a mound of earth where the fibreglass figure of the artist was submerged. In fact the fibreglass figure consisted only of the back section and not the front giving the appearance that the figure was buried in the earth. Seed was sown in the soil and periodically watered till it germinated and sprouted. This continued for the duration of the exhibition – a period of 3 to 4 weeks. The work was titled "Icarus Descended" or something similar and a small drawing of Icarus descending was placed independently on a nearby wall.

3 global images of Hamburg and Berlin constructed from darkroom prints and glued together as a global mosaic.

4 several large black-and-white images images generated from the performance work in Almada Portugal in August 1983; coloured by a set of tinting chemicals at the artist purchased in Berlin.