P E R F O R M A N C E Metropolitan Museum Fire Hose |
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM PERFORMANCE PDF, 1976-Present The artist claimed the NW corner firehose, Great Hall Balcony, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by affixing a guerilla label next to it identifying it as her work. Armed with a replacement, she checked her label whenever visiting the museum. Invariably it would be removed. Twelve years later the museum published an official card. In 2007 the Museum acquired the Fire Hose for their permanent collection. (A)claimed Object, 1979, a humidity monitoring hygrometer in the Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, was the second and only other work claimed by the artist. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
Performance, 1976
|
Performance, 1976 |
1978 one thousand self-published postcards were produced by the artist and supplied to the Metroploitan shop, about fifty at a time. Bradshaw purchased two the first day; the clerk charged 28 cents apiece. After awhile the Museum staff realized that it was not theirs, but continued selling them until nearly all thousand were sold. |
In 1979 a Saks Fifth Avenue designer purchased a card from the Metropolitan shop, blew it up to a 4 foot height and produced various color editions for a store-wide display. The artist was given a 100 dollar gift certificate to the store when she appealed to a copywrite lawyer, however all the posters were given to workers, so she created her own versions in 2012. Six are included here. |
|
|
In 1992 the Metropolitan Museum published an official version from her original silver gelatin print adding the above text which the artist was given the chance to review. |
Performance, 1976-Present, self-published on-line, 2008
|
Performance Burned, 2004, postcard version |
Performance Burned, 2012 |
In 2006 Bradshaw printed an updated label for the fire hose. Rosalind Jacobs acquired the label and donated it to the Metropolitan Musem. In 2007 with the acceptance of this label the Museum finally acquired Performance as a sculpture (not a photograph) into its permanent collection, 31 years after the artist's initial claim. In the ten years since the museum has not posted its label, so in 2017 inspired by a remark by gallerist Jose Bienvenue the artist posted copies of it on all the fire hoses in the museum. |
2012: The Esbjerg Museum of Modern Art, Denmark invited Bradshaw to claim fire hose and included it into the exhbiition Humor. |
(A)claimed Object, 1979, hygrometer, 10 x 8 ½ x 7 inches |