How did these two artists foresee that there would be hell to pay on this site? Who knows? They’re artists. They probably don’t know themselves.
“Event Fissions” took place at sunset at Battery Park Landfill in Manhattan, which was created from sand dredged from New York Harbor and earth excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center. With the then new twin towers in the background, Eiko suggestively attacked the lower Manhattan landscape with a white flag. She and Koma jousted with the flag atop a sand dune, their bodies wrapped in rags and coated with a paste made of rice flour and water.
Photo credit: (c)Johan Elbers (1980)
Beautiful imagery, though, especially at the end. They look like weathered, antique dolls.
The only think I can think of is how much it must have hurt to peel off those rice-flour and water paste rags.