Exhibit#1 Time Clock Piece

Time Clock Piece is one of Tehching Hsieh’s most extensively documented year-long art projects. The piece occurred between April 11, 1980 and April 11, 1981. The gallery setting itself conveys a uniquely distinct meaning from the previous lecture. The symmetrical nature of the room itself displaying the vast amount of documentary photographs, the film, and remnants of the piece are very factual. Minimalist even. The concrete representation of time into distinct units is a prevalent theme in Hsieh’s work and tackles a difficult topic concerning the physical breakdown of such intangible abstractions. This deconstruction and representation is evident in the aesthetics of the gallery space itself. The space attempts to represent a year of Hsieh’s life and a year-long art piece through the unitization of an idea; the transformation of the abstract to a presentable reality. Immediately upon entering the space the viewer is overwhelmed with the countless rows of images. It is noted that one typically starts with the end of the documentation and progresses through the series in a reverse-chronological order due to the curation of the project. This has a different feel to the piece altogether and begs closer scrutiny on the part of the viewer in examining the photographs. It also tends to make the viewer look for “differences” in the sequential images. Perhaps this trend arises to satisfy the need for physical proof that each image is, in fact, a distinct photograph and not a copy. It is easy to dismiss each image due to the seeming monotony of the individual pieces of documentation however, one is just as easily taken back by this thought when the realization dawns upon the viewer that each photograph marks a whole hour. The punch-cards displayed above these photographs also reiterate this feeling and help personalize the data shown, contextualizing it within the events of one man.

Hsieh emphasizes the nature of his work is simply to “waste time” and show, through his actions, the passing of time. In this piece particularly this message is apparent due to the extensive chronological documentation. This is emphasized by the legal certification of the project by a lawyer. However, while Time Clock Piece seems to engage in conversation with theoretical investigations into presence and surveillance, production and control, discipline and submission Hsieh denies these connections to any of his pieces. The connotations of Time Clock Piece on production and submission seem to function as a larger social critique of the monotonous and demanding existence in a capitalist culture.