“In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people”, which takes its name from a quote by famed mime artist Marcel Marceau, Schwenk re-stages one of the most famous of all visual gags. Wearing bright yellow overalls with hardhats and suction pads, performers move large panes of non-existent glass back and forth among the milling crowds outside Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Like “walking against the wind” or “trapped in an invisible box” this mime is so well known that it’s almost negated by its clichéd nature. Schwenk engages more than the recognition of a public audience of the conceit of the illusion, one that can only succeed through the assent of the audience, who became part of the performance. The audience started polishing the “glass”, some ran through sheets of “glass” smashing them into “shards”, while others simply joined in, and carried their own “glass”.
This work was performed as part of Art Month Sydney [2010], and adapted for a performance at Brenda May Gallery, Sydney [2011].