Chris Burden, Velvet Water, 7 May 1974
“Burden relentlessly dunked his head in a filled-up sink, trying to inhale the oxygen-rich water. We sat stupefied, paralyzed, until he seemed to pass out, and the monitor went dark, and that was it.” – Jerry Saltz, 2013.
Chris Burden, Velvet Water, 1974
In this performance the artist repeatedly inhaled water and broadcast his self-torture to a remote audience.
In your loneliness, you hear the word from far away and then, in gratitude, look at it so closely that you cannot but drown in it.
Little Bristling Soul 