Santiago Sierra
SANTIAGO SIERRA, The Corridor of People’s House, People’s House, Bucarest, Romania.
October 2005. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London and the artist
A black corridor, 240 meters of longitude, 120 centimeters wide and 2 meters height was built inside the house currently occupied by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the area was previously devoted to the personal rooms of dictator N. Ceausescu (1918/1989). The corridor crosses through the 3 stories assigned to expositions in the building, but it crosses on the shortest possible way: going from the entrance to the stairs and then to the exit. 396 adult women were convoked to fill that space during two hours in the midnight of the 14th day of the month. Placed on both sides of the corridor, the women were ordered to repeat the phrase “Give me money”, literally and in Rumanian language. For that work each woman received 20 leis, about 6 Euros, also allowing them to keep the earnings obtained through the beggary. The access to the public was one by one, passing through a weapon detector placed on the buildings entrance. The detector, the schedule and the unforeseen fact of abundant rain, were very uncomfortable for visitors and workers.