Museum of Conceptual Art (MOCA), 3rd floor, 86 3rd Street

Tom Marioni as Allan Fish, Piss Piece (10th April 1970)

Description

My alter ego Allan Fish was one of the nine artists in the show [Sound Art]. Again, as in Richmond, the artist sent instructions for the curator to perform the work. I was announcing all the artists performances as they occurred, and I announced I would be performing Allan Fish’s piece for him. I climbed to the top of a stepladder and, with my back to the audience, peed into a big galvanized tub. As the water level went up, the sound level went down. It demonstrated a principle of physics. Since my back was to the audience, it was clear that this was not about exposing myself. It was funny and shocking, but mostly funny. The audience was laughing and applauding. I was famous in San Francisco for my Piss Piece for about twenty years, but it’s faded from memory now. Someone told me that Francis Coppola said he could never fill a bucket with water without thinking of my Piss Piece. (Marioni 2003: 95-6)