Installation with metal pipe, wooden box, props, single-channel video “Sechser Tragerl Sushi Aschai Periskop quautscht Schwamerl – Wie kann man das Gobu Ten Udon-mäsig bekleben“ (color, sound)
14 min 36 sec (video)
480 x Ø 60 cm (pipe)
125 x 280 x 280 cm (wooden box)
Overall dimensions variable


MultiplexKomplex Petit-four Transmits the BeWorldMigraineSolution through the Metallic NoseAirHairPeriscope is an unusually reduced minimalist installation by John Bock. Conceived during a residency at the CCA in Kitakyushu, Japan, Bock created a hidden space in the gallery, an installation with a wildly eclectic range of materials, a mélange of brightly colored cut-out figures and objects. This hidden space was occupied by Bock, who performed a play with puppets on the opening day for an audience of one; that is, viewers could see the performance one-at-a-time and only with the help of a periscope. At first glance, the space of the installation looks minimal: the room is empty except for the large metal pipe hanging from the ceiling. But this pipe is actually an optical instrument, a periscope, thus, pointing to two fundamental interests of Bock: the act of viewing and the integration of the spectator into the work. Like in a peep show, a hole in the pipe allows viewers to spy on the hidden room in which Bock regales a group of Japanese people with his grotesque stories and Dadaist chaos.


*1965 in Schenefeld, Germany I Living and working in Berlin, Germany