“HOME RUN—RUN HOME”

Friday, Feb. 4, 1977

7-10pm

The Museum of Modern Art, NYC

The doors open to a large room for the audience to enter. Cheering (sound effects recording) is heard, as at a sports stadium and, when you listen more carefully, the sounds of a rioting crowd is heard and breaking glass (another sound effects recording).

The audience sees a sports event - a game of baseball. They see the pitcher, up high on a platform, his back to the audience, pitching the balls down to the other team. The pitcher is wearing the METS uniform of Tom Seever, number 41; his team is the METS. The other team is Hunter College.

The bases are in the four corners of the room. As the audience grows larger they become situated within the infield. The balls are being hit at them, the players are running around them, at them, and into them, in order to run to the bases and home plate.

Three more audio tracks begin: one is live, and it is coming from the catcher’s corner, and we hear him always mumbling, very quickly, but we never understand what he is saying; the other two tracks set up a parody between life and baseball. The two teams become involved in a fight with the referee, and in a few minutes, they all leave the field.

This performance was for MOMA’s annual student night, and, as I understood, particularly for students of film and video. The students were encouraged to bring their cameras, which they did---they became “sports photographers”, in their participation in the piece. The other members of the audience would catch the ball and throw it back, some began to cheer, some became involved in the fight.