The full month of November in New York has been the location for Performa 07, which is a visual art, performance biennial. I wished I had more time to see more of the performances but I did get a chance to see Xu Zhen's piece "In Just a Blink of an Eye".

" ...at first sight, this work by leading conceptual artist Xu Zhen seems to defy possibility. In an empty room at the gallery are people completely tilted, as if ready to topple, but frozen as if in time or in space. Although the optical illusion can be surmised to be accomplished through a metal frame upon which the model lays upon, the work nonetheless serves to create an anxiety within the viewer that is at once exhilarating, as if the viewer has been liberated from the constraints of time and physics, as well as debilitating, in the failure to see the action resolved.

The work is performed by migrants recruited from Chinatown, and other communities within New York, pointing at their liminal status within an undefined space. Their migration has been frozen and trapped, at the same time, the relationship of the viewer is also called into question; their subjectivity both exercising the power to freeze and create a snap shot, as if in the blink of an eye, at the same time, filled with an anxiety with the need for resolution. Will the person stand up, or will they fall over - or will they remain stuck forever?"

When I arrived at James Cohan Gallery the performers were actually on break. We were informed that every hour the two performers break and then have to be re harnessed. Once I ventured into the small room I can see why they break so often. The male and female performers suspended in space create this awkward environment. They are hard to watch. The female would spasm about every minute or so.