Bruce Nauman watches a video of Untitled (1998–99) in his studio, New Mexico, 2000. NAUMAN  It’s similar with the neon pieces that have transformers, buzzing and clicking and what not; in some places I’ve installed them, people are disturbed by these sounds. But of course it was more than that because musical chairs is also a cruel game. Do you know who he was? They cover a wide range of topics related to the interests Nauman pursued in his sculptures, performances, and videos: casts and impressions, morality and ethics, puns and jokes, and more. Bruce Nauman is notoriously reticent. At the time, he was working in a studio he wasn’t allowed to leave a trace on: “No tape on the wall, no thumb tacks, no scratches, no nothing.” So he persuaded Leo Castelli, the New York gallerist, to acquire a video recorder (“Then Richard Serra used it – it got passed around”). From the beginning I was trying to see if I could make art that did that. Also, when you think about vaudeville clowns or circus clowns, there is a lot of cruelty and meanness. Nauman calls it “a work that was being done while I wasn’t there”. But it was simple in that in the ’60s you didn’t have to pick just one medium. It all seems empty, eventless – but if you pay attention, you might see a cat whisk through a shot, or a flicker that might be a rat. I was fascinated by mathematical problems, particularly the one called “squaring the circle.” You know, for hundreds of years mathematicians tried to find a geometrical way of finding a square equal in area to a circle—a formula where you could construct one from the other. I had no idea that this was a profession. So the main thing you heard throughout the museum was “Asshole!”. Merce was late. Is this the human condition? The triangle became a barrier to approaching the chair from the outside. So there were a lot of people who thought art had a function beyond being beautiful—that it had a social reason to exist. There aren’t loose parts lying around.” Which is somehow perfect for the minimalist LeWitt. I was reading V.S. SIMON  Recently, you’ve returned to video for the first time since the late ’60s. Because it was in a separate room, the sound was baffled; you only got the higher tones. I think he may have hung it on the wall. Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) creatorOf: Nauman, Bruce, 1941-. I’ve also used the children’s game “musical chairs” a number of times. Ahead of a major show, the US artist looks back on studio stunts and liquid lunches with legends, Last modified on Tue 29 Sep 2020 16.47 BST, Bruce Nauman is telling me a story from his childhood. Smithsonian Archives of American Art: creatorOf: Nauman, Bruce, 1941-. Either way it was a very powerful piece. This year warrants were issued to arrest hockey players; two minutes in the penalty box wasn’t enough. I’m curious about the thought process that went into conceiving those works. He’s still producing plenty of new work, including Nature Morte, a new 3D scan of his studio on show in his New York gallery, Sperone Westwater. The percussive rhythm of Bouncing in a Corner, No 1, a 1968 video of the artist repeatedly falling backwards into a corner of his studio, feels uncomfortably close to a metaphor for the monotonous futility of pandemic life. That’s part of the content of the work—and also the genesis of the piece. You are given all the material and at some point it all locks together. Production still from the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 episode, Identity. I try to make work that leaves options, or is open-ended in some way. JOAN SIMON What do you think about when you’re working on a piece? It’s not that I think I can change that, but it’s just such a frustrating part of human history. 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