Wall-Floor Positions
Bruce Nauman

SALT Beyoğlu, Floor 2

Bruce Nauman
Wall-Floor Positions (1968)
Duration: 60’

Bruce Nauman is seen assuming a set of positions in relation to a wall and floor, similar to those he had executed for an untitled 1965 performance, which he described as “standing with my back to the wall for about forty-five seconds or a minute, leaning out from the wall, then bending at the waist, squatting, sitting, and finally lying down. There were seven different positions in relation to the wall and floor. Then I did the whole sequence again standing away from the wall, facing the wall, then facing left and right. There were twenty-eight positions and the whole presentation lasted an hour.” (Source: EAI)

Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)


Since the mid-1960s Bruce Nauman (b.1941) has experimented with sculpture, performance and video. Building on Marcel Duchamp’s ideas, he works from the conviction that everything happening in the studio can be art. This led to a series of short films and videos based on repetitive gestures. In later works the scope broadens, but Nauman continues to explore and exploit the myths surrounding artistic creation. One example is an early neon work with spiralling text that states: “The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.”