Goal of this performance was to create an atmosphere through consciousness rather than action, to explore the territory, the fine space between boundaries of body and world, exploring the semi-permeable membrane of privacy within social existence.

photos: Ivo Ringe

a performative installation
a non performative performance
a happening where nothing happens
passive action
a sit-in, sleep-in
passing time

'Nameless sound in the black emptiness of space.
Eternity, as a background in which the cosmos is perpetually reborn. A tiny, almost silent object shines out of the darkness and begins to grow, spinning a slow spiral path towards us. The ever expanding body reveals itself to be an undefined life form,
an elemental, organic being. Our focus is increasingly drawn towards the center of the body until we submerge completely through the outer skin, escorted by heightened musical tension. There, inside, an other, new being takes form, floating briefly in rosy, naked triumph before drifting out of our sight. Left behind, an amorphous structure, turning away, eclipsing from view. Nameless sound in the black emptiness of space. An end, a beginning. For each and every.'
Johannes Heinen, Cologne 2003

"...Sheehan confronts us with artificial and injured, manipulated and changeable parts, their origin or future purpose being at once strange and familiar. With tubes, needles and clamps attached, they are pampered, taken care of and left to develop into something we can not fathom. In cool laboratory atmosphere, they awaken motherly instincts: will they survive, or will they remain dependent upon the apparatus and constant care, kept in services of research? These are the questions not only scientists are concerned with but which fill us all with a mixture of enthusiasm and fear.
... Sheehan herself appears as Prof. Dr. Nurse. In her grotesque performance, she acquaints us with her research into the attempts to revive an absurd, extinct creature, the Maboutae, whose practical characteristic it is to necessitate only a single opening for all vital functions. Sheehan sarcastically caricatures odd fields of research and our amateurish ideas of the possibilities genetic technology holds, as well as the economic advantages."
2001,
Cornelia Bruninghaus Knubel, co-curator: Under the Skin
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - International Center for Sculpture

In a live performance at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Sheehan, wearing an apron, dips into a bucket of petroleum jelly, comes up holding a gob and she warms it in her bare hands. She faces the white felt bust wall relief hung on the wall and lovingly rubs the jelly on the chest. Next Sheehan produces a long razor with which she shaves-off the petroleum jelly. After a second reapplication, Sheehan steps on the start button of a vacuum cleaner and uses it to loudly suck the jelly off the chest before applying a final soothing layer to the now ravaged felt surface.

In a live performance at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Sheehan, wearing an apron, dips into a bucket of petroleum jelly, comes up holding a gob and she warms it in her bare hands. She faces the white felt bust wall relief hung on the wall and lovingly rubs the jelly on the chest. Next Sheehan produces a long razor with which she shaves-off the petroleum jelly. After a second reapplication, Sheehan steps on the start button of a vacuum cleaner and uses it to loudly suck the jelly off the chest before applying a final soothing layer to the now ravaged felt surface.

In a live performance at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Sheehan, wearing an apron, dips into a bucket of petroleum jelly, comes up holding a gob and she warms it in her bare hands. She faces the white felt bust wall relief hung on the wall and lovingly rubs the jelly on the chest. Next Sheehan produces a long razor with which she shaves-off the petroleum jelly. After a second reapplication, Sheehan steps on the start button of a vacuum cleaner and uses it to loudly suck the jelly off the chest before applying a final soothing layer to the now ravaged felt surface.

In a live performance at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Sheehan, wearing an apron, dips into a bucket of petroleum jelly, comes up holding a gob and she warms it in her bare hands. She faces the white felt bust wall relief hung on the wall and lovingly rubs the jelly on the chest. Next Sheehan produces a long razor with which she shaves-off the petroleum jelly. After a second reapplication, Sheehan steps on the start button of a vacuum cleaner and uses it to loudly suck the jelly off the chest before applying a final soothing layer to the now ravaged felt surface.

Video documentation of live performance on December 9, 1995 at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Sheehan reads excerpts from her artist book, a compilation of prose poetry on the color pink while alternately applying make-up to produce face prints on paper.

End of live performance on December 9, 1995 at Herring Raum Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Sheehan reads excerpts from her artist book, a compilation of prose poetry on the color pink while alternately applying make-up to produce face prints on paper.