It’s not every day you hear about an Oscar award winning thespian participating in a performance art piece, but that’s exactly what Tilda Swinton will be doing on random days of the month at New York’s Modern Museum of Art.
As part of a performance art piece, the Michael Clayton actress will be sleeping inside of a glass box in an unannounced, random slew of performances at MoMA. Swinton’s performance art piece is titled “The Maybe.”
A MoMA source opened up about the performance art piece that Swinton is taking part in: “Museum staff doesn’t know she’s coming until the day of, but she’s here today. She’ll be there the whole day. All that’s in the box is cushions and a water jug.”
This isn’t Tilda Swinton’s first time doing performance art. In 1995 in London at the Sepentine Gallery, Swinton reportedly thought of the idea and approached artist Cornelia Parker to collaborate in the glass box installation. Swinton took a stab at it for a second time and re-performed the piece in the Museo Barracco in Rome.
MoMA made a statement about Tilda Swinton’s “The Maybe” :
“An integral part of The Maybe’s incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist’s statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real—shared—time: now we see it, now we don’t.”
In addition to her performance piece, Tilda Swinton has been incredibly busy. This week Swinton attended the opening of the huge Victoria and Albert Museum “David Bowie Is” exhibit, giving a well received speech about Bowie. The actress managed to make an appearance in a video for Bowie’s new album.
On record, this isn’t the first time MoMA has taken on long performance pieces. In 2010 renowned performance artist Marina Abramovic took residence in the MoMA atrium for her performance piece “The Artist is Present.” In the piece visitors were invited to silently sit in a chair across the artist to face her as she stayed present all day long. The longest running piece at MoMA ran for a solid three months, every day between the working hours of MoMA.
Would you like to see Tilda Swinton in her performance piece?
