54 hour drawing

Text

54 Hour drawing (1999)

Ink on paper, 159 X 159 cm. Exhibited in the Annual autumn exhibition 1999, Kunstnernes hus (Artists house), Oslo.

Short version of the text written in the 4 corners of the drawing:

I draw circles around each other, as close to each other as possible, as fast as possible, using a 2 mm round-tipped split-pen and ink.

The line/ circle I am drawing should not touch the line within. The consequence of a mistake (a touch), is that I have to draw a “punishment-circle”, - a small circle “growing out” from the main circle at the spot where the mistake was made.

I draw in hour-long sessions. When time is up I complete the circle I have started drawing

During each session the ink is mixed with water in correspondence to the number of mistakes being made. The darkest circles mark the beginning of a new hour-session.

The drawing will be finished when I cannot complete a single circle within an hour. (This happened in the 54th hour-sessions).