"facts about the room"

this is an imagined performance by mike parr, from 1970. it consists of lettering on a wall and is currently at the george fraser gallery in auckland.

there is a numbered list of facts about the room. the best part is that they are numbered in red in roman numerals. what is also interesting is that the list was written about a completely different room in 1970 but it fits the george fraser gallery perfectly.

some of my favourite facts are...

xi. the room frames a box (the windows are a partition)
xvi. the room exists at my back
xxi. the light is absorbed by the room
xxii. the windows are part of the room
xxvi. I can stand in front of the windows all day
lxxix. From time to time I bump into the walls
lxxxi. Finally I sit down and rest
lxxxii By lying on the floor I can think about the ceiling (I lie on the floor)
lxxxiii. If I stand on the window sill I can reach the ceiling
lxxxiv. As I jump down from the sill I am moving in the space of the room
lxxxviii. I lean on the windows
lxxxix. After all nothing can be seen

it's an imagined performance, because as reading the statements, I felt myself imagining enacting each of the movements mentioned... perhaps.

I also imaging mike parr as a young man enacting the facts with athletic vigor. jumping around the george fraser, one sleeve where part of his arm is missing flapping around...

it is a combination of calm, light and imagined bounding around.

[there is also a film called Pushing a video camera over a hill 1971. 16 mm film trasferred to DVD (7:26min). Courtesy of the artist. // it's just that, the point of view of a bone-rattled camera being pushed over and down a very dry Australian hill. it sounds as though it is on a pair of very rickety wheels. the sound is quite great]