Skip to main content

Do You Believe in Water?

Lawrence Weiner

1976 00:39:00 United StatesEnglishColor

Description

The performers are seated around a pink octagonal table on pink, violet, and silver cinder blocks. One performer (Robert Stearns) stands up, recites the credits for the piece, and then says, “Do you believe in water? Robert Stearns.” He claps and turns to the next performer who asks the same question and gives his name. Next the players split up into pairs and attempt to relate to each other—playing tug-of-war, making love, arguing over who has the most integrity, and fighting for possession of the props. As the different relationships evolve, the triple-layered soundtrack interfaces with the players. We hear puzzling rhetorical questions such as: “Is tongue kissing like ass kissing?" "Heads or tails?" "Can you make that kind of quality judgement about colors?" "Do you think there is an emotional response to color?”

About Lawrence Weiner

Working in a wide variety of media, including video, film, books, audio tapes, sculpture, performance, installation, and graphic art, Lawrence Weiner consistently invokes social situations that elicit responses to issues of language, philosophy, theater, and art. Identified with conceptual art, Weiner is notable for his fervent desire to invent new forms and transformations. Unlike some conceptualists, Weiner does not shy away from materializing the art object—instead he tries to work across artistic conventions. A commitment to a democratic art, an art that adapts and changes form in response to cultural and social changes, is fundamental to all of his work. His videos stem from his preoccupation with the process or act of making art, with discourse surrounding art objects and the changing context of materials as they are used.