In this video which accompanies Elke Allowing the Floor to Rise Up over Her, Face Up, Bruce Nauman asked an actor to imagine his body sinking into the floor. The images are of a man, with his legs stretched and slightly apart, lying sometimes on his back and sometimes face down. Approximately every five minutes, Bruce Nauman fades gradually from one image of the body to the other, from different angles. From time to time, the actor bends his legs and then relaxes them. Several times, he coughs, bending his knees and raising his torso. Three times, attacks of coughing make him interrupt the performance, stand up and leave our field of vision before returning a few moments later. Bruce Nauman found this event an experience that was both tense and intense: "I didn't know if I should "wake him up" or what. [...] I didn't know if he was physically ill, or if he was really gasping and choking. He finally sat up and kind of controlled himself, and we talked about it [...] as his chest began to sink through the floor, it was filled up and he just couldn't breathe any more, so he started to choke. He said "I was afraid to move my hand, because I thought if I moved it some of the molecules would stay there and I would lose it."[1]
These emotional components are not visible in the video tape, however.

Cristina Ricupero

See also: Elke Allowing the Floor  to rise up over Her, face Up.

[1] Jan Butterfield, "Bruce Nauman : The Center of Yourself", Arts Magazine, New York, 49, number 6, February 1975, p. 53).