ALISON KNOWLES, Bread and Water, 1992 [glove + tag]

ALISON KNOWLES, Bread and Water, 1992
ca 20 x 14 x 2 cm
woolen glove, paint, ink stamped and PVC plasticised label, rope
machine types text
signed with initials, dated
inv.AKno 000-pr

This apparently used glove has an industrial paint coating. The text on the attached label reads: Scratch plastic surface of glove to the ear. When this is done the hardened paint makes indeed some kind of a rustling noise. Although it is known that Alison Knowles noticed that the cracks in homemade bread had a resemblance to rivers, it is unknown to what the noise of this woolen glove may possibly refer to.

This item is part of found objects in the series “Bread and Water” by Alson Knowles, collected in 1992 on the occasion of the “Da Capo” Fluxus event in Wiesbaden on behalf of the 30th Fluxus anniversary. All objects have a tag and were probably part of a Moon Circle event.

Additional information:
‘Alison Knowles is neither a composer nor a performer in any traditional terms, yet much of her work is obviously some sort of music. When pressed to categorize herself, she told me she conceives most of her works simply as events. Yet even this catch-all term does not include her sculpture and prints, or her books and poems. But while she works in many media or intermedia, everything she does comes out of the same basic impulses: a concern for communication between human beings, an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of ordinary objects, a deep respect for John Cage, and a profound understanding of what “communicating” is really about.’ Tom Johnson in Musical America, 1975.

Interview with Alison Knowles: https://www.fluxusheidelberg.org/interviewwithalisonknowles_v1.3.pdf


None of these 4 items with tags are signed.