Storefront at 2793 16th Street at Folsom, now King's Refrigeration

Richard Alpert, Spent Time/Spent Energy (11th-17th October 1975)

Description

This piece took place in a store-front place over a period of seven days, at varying times and duration, once each day. One of the two windows was covered, while one was left clear. The piece could be viewed only from the outside. In the clear window, taped to the inside of the glass, was a small lightbulb, and visible through this window were seven 4’x4’ white sheets of Masonite on the floor, extending from the front to the back of the space. Each day while in the store-front, I took one sheet of Masonite, placed it behind the covered window, and turned a hand-crank generator on it. This caused the bulb to light, generated an amplified sound to the street, and marked its path on the white surface. The drawing produced was replaced in front of the clear window. At the conclusion of the seven days, the seven drawings were displayed, with the varying duration of each day’s work indicated in the extent of the markings. (Alpert 1976)

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