Art is a concept by which we measure our pain

Butlers Wharf, London, 1977-79

Anne Bean regularly put on performances in her studio at Butlers Wharf inviting a variety of artists to perform. Anne and Paul built walls of drums, set pianos on fire, burnt cassette players so that the sounds spluttered into silence and made paper horns that had reeds for the mouthpiece which, when blown, then set on fire, changed pitch. They wrote words on large sheets of paper that were set alight so they had to keep ahead of the fire to read the lyrics such as 'Art is a concept by which we measure our pain'.

  • I’ll say it again
  • Art is a concept by which we measure our pain
  • I don’t believe in Duchamp
  • I don’t believe in Beuys
  • I don’t believe in Warhol
  • I don’t believe in Cage
  • Etc.