А. Монастырский, Н. Панитков, И. Макаревич, Е. Елагина, С ...

39. DISCUSSION
The action consisted of two parts and was conducted at A.Monastyrski‘s apartment. During the first 55
minutes the audience listened to the phonogram of Monastyrski‘s text "TZI-TZI", which was overlapped
every three minutes with a phrase "A text by Monastyrski titled "TZI-TZI. Tautology of an Empty Action"
is being read" (another variant – "A text by Monastyrski titled "TZI-TZI. Preface to action "Discussion" is
being read"). It is important to note that this acoustical pattern of overlapping was later used to resound
the audience‘s remarks during the "Discussion" itself.
Besides that, objects of "Categories of the C.A." were placed in the room‘s center. Eight of them were
placed on a rectangle-shaped white cloth, and two on a circular table.
The remote (from the table) end of the cloth covered a long black box with four electric torches,
previously used in the "Translation" performance. The electric torches were lit and shone through the
white cloth.
On the box covered with white cloth there was a board named "Demonstrative Field" (one of objects of
"Categories of the C.A."). A time relay attached to the board was connected to a lamp covered with
"Upturned Vase"(another object of "Categories of the C.A.") and a filmstrip projector.
Next to the box, on the white cloth lying on the floor there was the biggest of "Categories of the C.A."
objects called "Divagation" – a black overcoat boxed in two boards which were nailed and roped together.
(All objects of "Categories of the C.A." are notably heavy and roped with numerous protruding knots,
thus resembling mail packages). The upper board, inscribed in different places (both typewritten and
hand-written with black soft-tip pen: "C.A. Categories. Male overcoat, demi-season, black (1 piece).
DIVAGATION. Moscow region, Savyolovskaya railway line, near the village of Kyevy Gorky‖. 1976-
1985), served as a passage between two parts of the room (Monastyrski‘s example prompted such
possibility).
Closer to the table, under "Divagation" there was another object called "Imperceptibility" (the "Soft
handle", vertically attached to a small board).
On its right there was an object titled "69" – a mattress envelope, wrapped in golden foil and boxed in two
roped and nailed scale boards. On the upper board a page of musical score of John Cage‘s "Water Music"
was glued, with traffic route of trolley bus number 69 printed over it - from the ‗VDNKH South Gates‘ to
the ‗Petrovski Gates‘.
Under "Imperceptibility" there was "Object-frame" – a stack of black rectangular cards with numbers,
wrapped in black cellophane, which were previously used as interior object-frame in the "Translation"
performance.
On its right there was an object called "Transport. Esthetical Overlay", which consisted of "Guten Tag"
magazine front pages with metallic accessories (wings and stars), specially connected and imposed over
each other, and metallic sheets. A photograph from "Translation" performance was glued onto the lower
card‘s reverse side.
A walkman with a cassette box balanced on top of it was placed on a plastic stand and situated between
two objects (between an ‗object-frame‘ and an ‗aesthetic covering‘). All the objects were inscribed with
the following title: ‗Category of CA. The tautology of the empty action. Description (Recording) 1985‘.
Placed within this row of objects the intention of this particular object was to indicate a part of the process
of ‗The Discussion‘ performance (i.e. to represent a recording of the discussion itself).
Finally, next to the table on the white cloth there was an object called "Dumbbells scheme", consisting of
a long heavy cardboard box, roped in four places. Inside it there were two fur hats, a dumbbell weighing 3
kilos and two enemas. On the box‘s upper side there were white labels, accordingly marked. Besides
them, each object had a label with a certain location. For example, the "Dumbbells scheme" was labeled
"Moscow, Losiny Ostrov, basketball playground" (where several slides for the "Barrel" performance were
made).
In the center of the circular table there was the "Upturned Vase" with a lamp inside it. The box holding
the lamp‘s socket and the vase was roped with two knotty wires forming two braided straps. To their
ends, on the box‘s left and right two microphones of a Walkman lying on the white cloth were attached.
"Upturned Vase" was the only unlabelled object of all "Categories of the C.A.‖ pieces
On the table‘s corner there was the "Photo album" – a big album, nailed and roped to a sophisticated
podium. The album contained photographs from different performances of the C.A. group, and also two
cardboard cards from Monastyrski‘s "Reeler". On the album‘s right, a paper was glued to the podium,