Attached for a Year

Could you imagine always being in the same room with the same person for an entire year?  I definitely don't think I could make it.

I have this book, full of things that artists have written about their work called Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art, that I have to read for one of my classes.  This weekend, we had to read about a particularly interesting performance art piece.  Linda Montano and Tehching Hshieh collaborated together to do One Year Art/Life Performance in which they were tied to each other with a piece of rope for an entire year. 

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They could never be separated.  For an entire year.  

This means they had to eat in the same room for 365 days.

They had to sleep in the same room for 365 days.

They had to shower in the same room as each other for 365 days.

I don't know about you, but I don't have the trust or patience to be with the same person for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Sometimes, I need space, time alone away from the world.  I actually hate being alone, but I don't think I would handle not having that time very well.  

Also, I need things that I do alone, that nobody besides me knows about.  Like this blog.  Very few people know that I write a blog and I like it that way.  There is just something about having a secret place to express my thoughts that I really appreciate.

My boyfriend didn't even know about my blog for the longest time.  I trust him completely, but its sometimes difficult for me to allow other people to enter places in my life that are as vulnerable as this blog is.    That's interesting because I have no problem with people I don't know reading it.  Maybe I don't fear them judging me like I do when someone I know in real life reads it. 

Linda and Tehching were forced to get to know the each other very well.  Luckily, these two artists grew to appreciate the flaws the other had.  But what happens when you can't stand the other person?  Everything they do is like nails on a chalk board?  Then you are kind of screwed. 

Many people may not be able to live with the weaknesses that I have.  For example, I did laundry on Friday after about two weeks of not washing my clothes.  I had dirty clothes all over the place, mixing in with my clean clothes to the point where I didn't know what was clean or dirty anymore.  Living with that takes a special person.

I'm also kind of obnoxious.  Thankfully, not H20 intolerant! Only lactose.  But back to my point.  I will say the most random things you could imagine.  Last night, the boyfriend and I were sitting in my car at Wendy's, eating Frostys and talking about my dislike for most foods (another obnoxious quality).  He asked me how I planned to eat when I traveled around the world.  I told him that the places I wanted to go have food that I actually like.  Italy, for instance has pasta and a lot of it!  Then, I said that I never wanted to go to an Asian country because "1.  I'm not interested in their culture.  and 2.  They don't speak a buttlick of English." 

Buttlick.  Where did that even come from?  I have no idea. 

Overall, I think Linda Montano and Tehching Hshieh's performance piece was very successful.   It is thought provoking and brings up a lot of questions about how different life would be like if you could never be alone.

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What do you think of this performance piece?

Do you think you could live attached to the same person for an entire year?