Instytut Historii Sztuki <Posen> [Editor]: Artium Quaestiones (31.2020)

Tony Morgan's Performative Cinema in the Age of the "Cinematic Turn'

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with the apotheosis of this type of performance art possibly represented by
the restaurant opened by Spoerri in Düsseldorf, in 1969.
Tony Morgan, represented by Galerie Denise René-Hans Meyer, in Düssel-
dorf, an institutional artistic and economic network (he also showed films at
this gallery* * 26), regularly participated in intermedia events. This was particular-
ly the case at Aktionsraum 1, an alternative space for performance art. In 1969,
Eva Madelung, Alfred Gulden and Peter Nemetschek rented a former factory
in Munich, which hosted artists and bands. This collective venue favoured per-
formative practices and collaborative projects and fostered social criticism of
the function of art. In 1969, it was the venue for actions by Klaus Rinke and
Ben Vautier, a performance of music by Paul and Limpe Fuchs, performances
by Hermann Nitsch, Günter Brus and Dieter Meier - outrageousness and prov-
ocation are clear for all to see, particularly in the interventions by the Viennese
Actionists. On 18 and 19 October 1969, this space was inaugurated with inter-
ventions by Klaus Rinke, Lindow-Borlat [Christian Lindów and Clement Bor-
lat] and Tony Morgan. On 18 October, Morgan exhibited Seven Hung Yellow
(first shown at the Indica Gallery)27 28 29 and Grass Mass-, at 8 pm, he projected The
Rock (1969), The Can (1969), Resurrection (1968), Poured Red (1969), Black
Corner ( 1969), Floor Drip ( 1969), Paper Drop ( 1969) and Grass ( 1969); he also
offered interventions at the space, with Covered Window Piece16 and Poured
Red Corner Piece19. Finally, on 18 and 19 October, he exhibited film environ-
ments (Brick Wall Projection and Grass Projection, consisting of the continu-
ous projection of a patch of grass on a stone wall and30 onto the bare walls of
the alternative space), shot a film (Munich People) and put on a performance

demonstrates a desire to hybridise practices: "environment, objekte, film, aktionen, hap-
pening, exp. musik, information".
26 In February 1970, a solo exhibition was organised of Tony Morgan, who presented
Munich People and The Corner, alongside some screen prints which were for sale (Munich
Grass and Munich Wall).
27 Tony Morgan said about this work of hardened paint: "I wanted to split up the single
object as in an explosion, each piece being something to do with the first one but not a repli-
ca." Aktionsraum 1, Munich 1969, p. 30.
28 "brown paper nailed over a window so that no-one could see out. you need light to
look out of a window you need light to look in."
29 "this piece could not be there without walls, i like that it needs the walls in order to
come down, the Him black corner describes a corner through light: the poured red piece
describes a corner through paint."
30 Tony Morgan thought deeply about the status of the projector, which he compared
with that of the camera: "a projector is a sort of reverse camera, it can see things with its
own light but has no way of recording what it has seen, it can only see when its light is on. it
cannot record something, a projector can only be actual, what it sees is reality itself".