Body Pressure

Three Dead End Adjacent Tunnels, Not Connected 1981
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2006
view in Tate Collection

Floor plan:

In Walk with Contrapposto 1968, Nauman filmed himself in a narrow corridor that restricted his movement. Exhibited in its own right the following year, this corridor became the first of many constructions the artist has used to influence the physical and emotional responses of the audience.

Corridor Installation (Nick Wilder Installation) 1971 consists of an inaccessible room and six corridors, three of which may be entered. Navigating these spaces we encounter a series of television monitors that relay our image taken by CCTV cameras. The positioning of the cameras is such that the information displayed on the monitors contradicts that of actual experience: we are left with a feeling of confusion and even isolation.

Corridor with Mirror and White Lights 1971
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2006
view in Tate Collection

Some of Nauman's constructions demand a mental rather than a physical engagement. In Corridor with Mirror and White Lights 1971, the passage is too narrow to pass. Instead, we look into the bright, infinite space and imagine what it would be like to be trapped inside. A similar problem is posed for the audience in Three Dead End Adjacent Tunnels, Not Connected 1981. Three tunnels are positioned to make a triangle, a shape with no beginning or end: 'I find triangular spaces really uncomfortable, disorientating kinds of spaces...'

To enter these works is to become a performer, yet at no time are we in control. Such are the spatial limitations that we can only make a limited number of responses, predetermined by the artist: 'Whatever ways you could use it were so limited that people were bound to have more or less the same experiences I had.' Viewed by some invisible authority, we become like rats in a cage, revealing generic patterns of human behaviour.

[title not known] from Frankfurt Portfolio 1980 Tate Collection	[title not known] from Frankfurt Portfolio 1980 Tate Collection	[title not known] from Frankfurt Portfolio 1980 Tate Collection	[title not known] from Frankfurt Portfolio 1980 Tate Collection