To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Faith Wilding’s vanguard art installation and performance space, Womanhouse, Anat Ebgi in partnership with LAND (Los Angleles Nomadic Division), is presenting an eponymous solo exhibition with the artist. Seen here is a performance of “Waiting” from the documentary film Womanhouse produced by Johanna Demetrakas (1974). Below is an excerpt from Hans Ulrich Obrist’s interview with Wilding in our forthcoming BODY issue.
“HANS ULRICH OBRIST: You did two very legendary works at Womanhouse. You did the “Waiting” performance—an almost Beckettian performance about waiting, but very different from Beckett. And then, you also did an installation called “Womb Room.” Can you tell me about these two works? What kind of reaction did they get?
FAITH WILDING: Yeah, well we had a performance group that Judy Chicago led. Because that was our plan from the beginning—that we would do some performances as part of the house. I was at dinner with Arlene [Raven] and Judy one night, and suddenly I was like, I wanna do something about waiting—about what we've waited for, what I've waited for all my life. And so, we started making a list. I still have that list. Out of that, I crafted the “Waiting” monologue, which we worked on as a group; other people tried out how they would perform the piece. But you know, I have given permission to anybody who wants to perform it, and lots of people have performed it all over the world in all different kinds of ways, which I think is really cool…”
Womanhouse is on view through April 16 @ Anat Ebgi 4859 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles