di CLAy

This was the first performance of Territories and was at ‘The World’s First Congress on Fork-lift Trucks’ organised by Gustav Metzger. Using Photoshop, I prepared a map of 6 selected outdoor spaces in London that had some special significance for me. I also made a rubber stamp of the body print stencil that I used on my original Territories map in 1999. I collected a small bag of earth from each of the selected locations: Hampstead Heath, Notting Hill, Holland Park, Hyde Park, St James Park, Regents Park.

For the performance I combined all the earth samples on the floor to the gallery documenting each location on the map using the rubber stamp. I then urinated on the pile of earth and mixed it with my hands before putting a small amount into six transparent balloons which I then inflated with helium. I gave the balloons to the viewers to hold, keeping one for myself, which we then released outside the gallery and watched them disappear from view. My concluding action was to collect the earth into one bag and return it to each of the original locations the following day.