Even though contemporary artist Bruce Nauman avoids the minimalist approach to his artwork, he has a tendency to create simple works with simple body movements. In this piece, “Bouncing in a corner No 1” (1968), Nauman repeatedly bounces back and forth against a corner that is made of two walls. This simple act is recorded by yet another obscured view of the camera so the viewer can only see Nauman from one angle. The second section of this piece is the same movements but with a different angle that is peering down by his head as if you were in Nauman’s position and you were watching your body bounce back and forth against the wall. The movement that Nauman is creating is very interesting because every he leaves the wall he is in the room fully occupying space, then when he bounces back he is again part of the corner. In other words, “this action places his body in an intermittent space, occupying a position halfway between standing and leaning, halfway between the wall and the room”. * It seems like such a simple movement yet it has so much meaning. Also, like Serra’s piece “Hand Catching Lead”, Naumans muscles and balance seem to slowly fade as he reaches to hang on to the wall to keep him up. After so many times, this simple movement like many others became a difficult movement. There is only so much the body can endure. This is what makes the human body and in this case, the art object, so interesting because the possibilities of movements seem endless yet the body eventually wears out.
"Video Data Bank: Bouncing in the Corner, No. 1." Video Data Bank: Video Art and Video Artists. Web. Dec. 2009.
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