Tehching Hsieh: Lifeworks 1978–1999 is a striking long term exhibition of performance works at Dia Beacon. The gallery is a former box-printing factory on the Hudson River east bank, north of New York City. Tehching Hsieh is a Taiwanese American artist who makes work about time “the absurdity between life and time” (Heathfield and Hsieh, 2015, p. 334). Six works appear in the exhibition, five from the series One Year Performances which were made and executed in New York between 1978 and 1986. Following a tradition of ‘Happenings’ and conceptual art at the end of the twentieth century, each piece includes a statement of the artist’s intention and documentation of the execution. One Year Performance 1981–1982 involved Hsieh living outdoors for one year in New York City. Maps document the artist’s day to day activities, sleeping and eating locations and costs of food.
Over twenty years after creating the works Hsieh spoke about his vivid memories of the pieces. “For me, when dealing with memories the biggest matter is not about their accuracy. Rather, it is about how to manage and rearrange these fragments of memories, transfer them into language and a process of discourse” (p. 330). Using art to record time and document memory relates to my work with testimonies from archives. Hsieh documents time as an abstract concept, he uses his experience to comment on time passing. In this way, the audience becomes a witness to human experience.
Dia. 2026. “Tehching Hsieh: Lifeworks 1978–1999.” Accessed June 6, 2026.
https://www.diaart.org/exhibition/exhibitions-projects/tehching-hsieh-lifeworks-19781999-exhibition
Heathfield, Adrian and Tehching Hsieh. 2015. Out of Now: The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh. MIT Press.