by Onajídé Shabaka - 5 Feb., 2007

   John Bock at The Moore Loft

    by Onajídé Shabaka

This winter, the inaugural exhibition is John Bock’s installation/performance Zero Hero (2004-05), originally shown at the 51st Venice Biennale was shown at The Moore Space. This installation and performance was the inaugural exhibition at The Moore Space Loft, a new 7,500 square foot warehouse space located at 3627 NE 1 Court, Miami, Florida 33137, run by The Moore Space and dedicated to long-term projects.

Zero Hero , 2003/2005
Lecture, Installation
Photo Credit: Thomas Dashuber
Courtesy: Klosterfelde Berlin; Anton Kern, New York; and Giň Marconi, Milano

Zero Hero , 2003/2005
Live Performance & Installation

Zero Hero , 2003/2005
Live Performance & Installation

ZERO HERO, probably Bock's most refined performance work to date, depicts Kaspar Hauser, teenage boy who appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany, in 1828. The boy lived from birth to the age of about sixteen in a small, dark cell with a straw bed for company and consuming only bread and water for sustenance. Hauser was the ultimate outsider: unable to speak, nor properly walk; devoid of human contact, reason or memory; and unskilled in the use of his hands, the boy confronts the city and its inhabitants. Initially he is treated like a curiosity and a freak, and as he is guided through the ways of the Western civilized world, he is eventually driven to despair.

In ZERO HERO, John Bock creates his own interpretation of this peculiar life in the form of a man who appears in the world and with the help of others, passes through different stations, in the form of sculptural objects of one grand installation. The orquestration of this performance seemed to have some linear direction yet, its chronology was a mystery. It was also difficult to  make a return visitation without having an appointment in advance and, during Art Basel Miami Beach there were far too many events happening to do just that. At any rate, the sculptural objects had a hands-on quality that gave its audience an opportunity to have some fun. The end of the evening however, left several people I spoke to during that evening a sense of confusion and dismay bordering of boredom when attempting to discuss the performance. Perhaps it was because only a person or two in attendance had any idea as to what the installation and performance was about.

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