DALEY PLAZA EVENT FOR EARTH DAY
Wilson’s pieces, both as a solo artist and with collaborator Mark Alice Durant under the name Men of the World, stand as examples of how powerful public performance art can be. While his work is carefully scripted and highly self-conscious–in one of my favorite pieces, he and Durant cleaned public statues of war heroes with scrub brushes and soapy water–they seem to unfold effortlessly and artlessly. But Wilson is a lot smarter than your average accident; his clever manipulations of private rituals and public spaces, together with his deadpan sense of humor, continually challenge the viewer’s assumptions about intimacy, masculinity, and the very nature of performance.
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Disturbing too was the familiarity of the image. While we certainly don’t expect such a sight in Daley Plaza, we frequently see masses of lifeless bodies a la Jonestown or Rwanda through the mass media. Usually we have the option of turning the page or changing the channel. But these bodies lay at my feet, in my own city.
When Wilson told me about this piece, he was adamant about my not giving it any prepublicity. He didn’t want to solicit an audience but rather create one by accident. At the conclusion of the event the performers simply walked away, eliminating the possibility of thank-yous from appreciative viewers. I watched Wilson pack up his briefcase and head up Dearborn, unacknowledged and unrecognized.
