Adrian Piper

What It's Like, What It Is #3
1991-1992

This video piece was constructed for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is a seemingly Minimal white room resembling an arena with tiered seating around a large box in the middle. The box has four television screens, one on each side. Playing on the screens is a middle-aged black man who rotates ninety degrees every so often "insistently inform(ing) the spectator what he was not, stripping away one stereotype after another" (Archer 201).

As time has progressed Piper is moving into different medias and begins to work with video art. Despite this new medium, she is still dealing with the same issues of identity. This piece was featured in MOMA's 'Dislocations' exhibition along with other black nationalists like David Hammons. Piper is quoted before doing this work saying, "..do we and our friends really understand each other? Do we really have nothing in common with blacks/whites/gays/workers/the middle class/other women/other men/etc.?" (Walker Art Center). This seems to be what she is trying to get across in this video piece. By having the man talking about all of the incorrect stereotypes, she is enlightening the viewer about how different identities are viewed and accepted differently.

I really like this piece and feel like she did a good job organizing her thoughts into it. The Minimal style room keeps the focus on the television screens, as does the stadium seating and viewing opportunities on all sides of the box. I feel this is important because her point is really what is going on on the screens. I would be very interested in listening to the stereotypes the man breaks down and feel it is a great eye-opener for most of society.