The Maybe
Tilda Swinton and Cornelia Parker’s The Maybe, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1995
Donated by me
Reference – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7plwgxAzw
The Maybe, was conceived by British Artist Cornelia Parker and performed by British actress Tilda Swinton. For 8 hours a day over 7 days in 1995, Swinton lay in a glass vitrine in the Serpentine Gallery in London, she was surrounded by other glass vitrines containing historical relics and curiosities gathered by Parker. She lay still for viewers of the gallery to visit her, witness her, stare at her, examine her, laugh at her, to wonder, question, dismiss and leave. The piece was again a feat of endurance because it is hard to lay still, being still is challenging and again a condition that contemporary society finds hard, being still not only hurts the body but it asks us to ask questions, when the body is still the self begins to speak to the self, and the self needs to answer..
I loved laying in my veg bed, in the sun, under the netting, it felt strange, I was aware of crushing the delicate shoots and leaves, I was aware of the birds, the sky, the sounds, I tried not to move, I was aware of the neighbours looking at me, judging me, laughing at me, although I don’t care at all about their judgement I found that transferring my consciousness over and onto their possible perspectives usefully required me to ask “what I am doing”?..which is a good question, so I lay there asking “what is this for?, why am I doing this? and the answer was/is – to be with my veg, to be with my veg bed, to see my veg from in there, and down there, to be close, to get to know it, to understand it, to almost be it. These are all the same reasons that I crawl, so even when I think I am making silly spontaneous projects work that have nothing to do with my ‘serious practice’ it seems I am again making work about ‘being’, being closer, being attentive, listening, watching, feeling, empathising..It is totally true to say I now know my veg bed better!
Filmed and photographed by Ashley Calvert
The What If – film – 3 minutes 29 seconds
