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Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam ´60´80

Survival of the prettiest

Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee, 1968

The performance took place at the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf in December 1968. For close to an hour its three participants intoned the phrase ‘Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja, Nee, Nee, Nee, Nee, Nee‘ [Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, No, No, No, No, No], speaking at varying speeds and with varying inflections, but for the most part proceeding in a calm and rhythmic fashion. The piece originated as a satire of a typical conversation of old women. 1 The recording itself, however, produces a less comical effect, especially in its calmer phases. Much in the manner of a meditative mantra, the ceaseless, near hypnotic repetition of a single simple phrase serves to empty the mind of the listener, clearing it of its usual cluttered run of thoughts and judgments, and its own ceaseless stream of affirmations and denials. Masterband uit 1968, Staatliche Kunstakedemie Düsseldorf