Time Itself.

Tehching Hsieh spent a year in a self made cage, from September 1978 through September 1979, located in his personal studio, left alone to deal with his thoughts, and his thoughts alone.  Hsieh created a series of one year performance pieces following "Cage Piece," eliminating different aspects of life in each piece.  Stripping down life to its most basic conditions creates life to be a single, obdurate form.  Over each year, the deterioration of the basic conditions of life seemed to conclude that Hsieh was eliminating art itself and that time for himself, and in turn the public, was being drastically altered.  Black and white photographic documentation of the year Hsieh spent in his cell is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art, as well as the cell he built and lived in.  Often people find these performance art pieces a response or continuation to "The Fountain," which Marcel Duchamp created as a statement that his life is his art.  However, the difference with Hsieh seems to be that it is not his life that his art.  Rather, Hsieh expanded his art until it fully engulfed his life.  Viewing the series of photograph flanked by cage allows us to comprehend the work instantaneously, but when the viewer thinks the entire process and conception of the piece, it expands the mind; "Cage Piece" leaves an unforgettable impression.  To read more about the work, follow this link.