How long can you last? Two artists spent a year tied to the waist in a radical experiment

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From the beginning, the work tested the limits of human interaction. Even though the proposal was to avoid physical contact, the duo recorded around 60 accidental touches throughout the year and only one deliberate hug, given by Montano. They slept in separate beds, a few feet apart, and if one needed a shower, the other waited outside, making sure they were never in separate rooms. The complete lack of privacy became a constant source of tension, as “the usual social hypocrisy, such as being different from other friends on the phone, was negated by the constant presence of everyone’s worst critics,” as detailed on the ArtForum website.

One of the most striking effects was the deterioration of verbal communication. Montano and Hsieh “almost stopped talking altogether” and, over time, “began communicating through sounds, moans and grunts,” according to his account. The breakdown in dialogue aggravated the conflicts, with neither being able to act without the consent of the other. If one wanted to do something, the other had to accompany him, which led to long periods of inactivity, lasting for hours, in a sort of mutual sabotage against any individual initiative. Their coexistence resulted in constant fights: Montano estimated that they argued 80% of the time and that both “became more and more like animals”, pulling hard on the rope that united them, without ever colliding.

The profound differences in their conceptions of art also became evident. For Montano, art was a practice of mindfulness and contemplation, similar to a meditative retreat, focused on managing a relationship in exceptionally intense circumstances. Hsieh, in turn, understood the process more abstractly, as an impersonal embodiment of will, in which “the absolutist gesture was pure and the human incident did not matter.” He even compared that year to the three years he spent in the Taiwanese army. The mutual loss of respect for each other’s work was decisive, transforming the collaboration into the coexistence of “two separate works in progress.”

Contained violence and absolute dependence

The constant need for approval from others to satisfy basic needs, such as going to the bathroom or drinking water, created extreme stress. The right of veto of each artist over the actions of his partner, compared to a “Roman constitution” in which a single negative vote prevailed, sometimes resulted in reprisals which left them immobile for hours, immersed in “black hatred”. Montano even said that, without the no-touch rule, he would have killed Hsieh a thousand times. He, in turn, threw furniture near her twice, without ever touching her.