Events by Alison Knowles
Shuffle
The performer or performers shuffle into the performance area and away
from it, above, behind, around or through the audience. They perform as
a group or solo: but quietly.
1961
Proposition
Make a salad.
1962
Variation #1 on Proposition
Make a soup.
1964
Nivea Cream Piece
First performer comes on stage with a bottle of Nivea Cream or (if none
is available) with a bottle of hand cream labeled "Nivea Cream." He pours
the cream onto his hands and massages them in front of the microphone.
Other performers enter, one by one, and do the same thing. Then they join
together in front of the microphone to make a mass of massaging hands.
They leave in the reverse of the order in which they entered, on a signal
from the first performer.
1962
Variation on Nivea Cream Piece
Large quantities of Nivea Cream must be available, at least one large jar
per person. The performers enter and each lathers up his arms and face,
then his colleagues, in a fragrant pig-pile.
Date unknown
Child Art Piece
The performer is a single child, two or three years old. One or both parents
may be present to help him with a pail of water, a banana, etc. When the
child leaves the stage, the performance is over.
1962
Variation #1 on Child Art Piece
Exit in a new suit.
1964
Street Piece
Make something in the street and give it away.
1962
Shoes of Your Choice
A member of the audience is invited to come forward to a microphone if
one is available and describe a pair of shoes, the ones he is wearing or
another pair. He is encouraged to tell when he got them, the size, the
color, why he likes them, etc.
1963
Piece for Any Number of Vocalists
Each thinks beforehand of a song, and, on a signal from the conductor,
sings it through.
1962
Color Music #1 for Dick Higgins
List your problems from one to five.
For each problem, list the best solution you can think of.
For each problem, also list a color.
Whenever the problem arises in your mind, think first of the best solution,
and if you cannot act on it immediately, switch to concentration on the
color until an absolute necessity intervenes.
1963
Giveaway Construction
Find something you like in the street and give it away. Or find a variety
of things, make something of them, and give it away.
1963
Color Music #2
Print in the streets.
1st movement: orange
2nd movement: black
3rd movement: blue
1963
Color Music #2, Revised
Print a silk screen on the pavements and streets of a city. This piece
is dangerous. Have some ready excuse such as "This ink is water soluble."
1963
Braid
The performers, usually two, find something to braid -- hair, yarn, etc.
-- and do so.
1964
String Piece (Variation on Braid)
Tie up the audience.
1964
Composition for Paik
Select a platform, or any large square or rectangular area that is set
apart, or raised above a room. Measure this area, using Paik as assistant,
finding its center. Then drop a plumb line to this point from the ceiling.
Find the center of this distance and mark the string with chalk. Build
Paik a platform up to this point so that he may sit there for the duration
of the performance.
1964
Chair Piece for George Brecht
Before the performance, place an empty chair in the center of the center
aisle, equipped with a reading light and a book. If nobody has taken this
seat by the intermission, one of the performers should do so.
1965
Wounded Furniture
This piece uses an old piece of furniture in bad shape. Destroy it further,
if you like. Bandage it up with gauze and adhesive. Spray red paint on
the wounded joints. Effective lighting helps. This activity may be performed
with one or more performers, and simultaneously with other events.
1965
Performance Piece # 8
Divide a variety of objects into two groups. Each group is labeled "everything."
These groups may include several people. There is a third division of the
stage, empty of objects, labeled "nothing." Each of the objects is "something."
One performer combines and activates the objects as follows for any desired
duration of time:
1. Something with everything
2. Something with nothing
3. Something with something
4. Everything with everything
5. Everything with nothing
6. Nothing with nothing
1965
Newspaper Event
Performers who speak at least five different languages use newspapers or
books in the different languages as scores. They read the texts in time
and volume according to the instructions of a composer. (Can go from very
soft to extremely loud and stop, soft-loud-soft again, varied tempos, etc.)
1965