Photo by Linda Burnham 
Photo by Linda Burnham 
Photo by Linda Burnham 
Photo by Linda Burnham | Two Ps and a Bean (1983) |
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East End derelict house, London with Paul McCarthy and Paul Burwell “This happening in an abandoned house in London’s East End started as a sweet lyrical poem and moved through pyrotechnics to an all-out swashbuckler with glass flying and audience fleeing for cover. Hilarious and exhilarating.” Paul McCarthy, Paul Burwell and I decided to treat a derelict house as a sculptural edifice to reform. We started in separate rooms ‘within’ our own performances and then digging, sawing, pounding and hammering our way through into each other’s spaces, we became a part of both the building and each other’s works. I used tubes to send my voice into other rooms as well as physically breaking through the floor ending up in the space below. “ . . .Bean, an island of elegance in the grime of the upstairs room, had created a mural of paint and neon beneath which she had crouched amongst clusters of white glass balls. Her hair was wired to the ceiling on long fuses. She spoke softly of her search for ideas with which to spark the night, while fire crept along the fuses to ignite scraps of flash paper. In the room below her Burwell had installed a nightmare jumble of drums and mannequins. As he was preparing to assault them with various instruments, loud blows rained from above and he erected an umbrella to protect him from the falling plaster as a hole appeared in the ceiling. Then, politely, a paper tube was pushed through the hole and down to his ear and a small voice emanated from it in intimate song. McCarthy, meanwhile menaced on the dark stairwell, spreading ketchup beneath the watchers’ feet. . . . . .It was the most wonderful performance I saw on the whole trip” High Performance Magazine |
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