Break-up/

A man and a woman (myself) sit opposite each other on wooden kitchen chairs. Between them lies an electric reciprocating saw. With no expression on their faces, they take turns picking up the dangerous tool and sawing parts off each other’s chair. The movements are controlled and almost tender, as if they want to protect each other from injury. As the chairs grow smaller and more unstable, the tension rises. Sitting becomes increasingly difficult and sawing increasingly dangerous, but that does not stop the man and woman from continuing until nothing of the chairs remains. The work shows how tenderness can exist without visible emotion, even amid destruction and danger. I tried to reassemble the leftover chair remains from the performance. It soon became clear that they could no longer return to their original form and function. The resulting sculptures show that a break-up is hard to repair.