Body and Authority in Contemporary Art: Tehching Hsieh’s One-Year Performances

The essay examines how contemporary artists directly or indirectly violate laws not only in order to create art, but also to break into—and become recognised by—the artworld. It first discusses two much-debated Swedish artworks—Lars Norén’s play Seven Three (1998) and Anna Odell’s Unknown, woman 2009-349701 (2009)—that have brought about confrontations between individuals and social institutions. The second part focuses on Tehching Hsieh’s series of one-year art performances (1978–1986), in which the artist instated rules for himself that brought him in conflict with societal law, but at the same time reproduced some of its modi operandi