Ten participants led by action’s organizers gathered in the middle of a vast snowy field surrounded by woods, totally unaware of either the action’s title or what it was going to be like.

Onto a board (sized 60x90 cm) ten reels of sturdy white thread were attached using vertically battered nails, each reel 200 to 300 meters long. Each participant was prompted to grasp one thread’s end and walk towards the surrounding forest, unreeling the thread. The movement was to begin at organizers’ command.

Participants were instructed to walk in a straight line, reach the forest and then proceed into the woods, until losing sight of the field (50-100 m approximately).

Therefore, each participant’s path length measured up to 300-400 meters approximately. Movement across the field and into the forest demanded much physical effort, as the depth of the snow measured up to 50-100 centimeters. Also by preliminary instructions, after finishing his itinerary a participant was to draw out the other end of the thread with a paper attached to it containing factographic text (organizers’ names, time and place of action).

As there were no further instructions, after drawing out the factography a participant was to act at his own will, .i.e. either return to the field’s center or leave the scene by walking father into the forest. Eight participants returned to initial position within an hour (I.Pivovarova, N.Kozlov, V.Skersis, L.Talochkin, O.Vasilyev, I.Kabakov, I.Chuikov, Yu.Albert), two left the scene (V.Nekrasov, A.Zhigalov).

Those participants who had come back were given photographs (30x40 cm) glued onto cardboard. Each photo depicted an area of the forest that each particular participant entered in the beginning, and a small indistinct human figure emerging from the woods. All photographs were labeled, each label contained authors’ names, name of the action – “The Emergence” – and the event depicted, for example: “Emergence of I.Chuikov on the 1st of February, 1981”, for each participant respectively. These photographs were manufactured one week prior to the action: the organizers filmed themselves in “blind zones”, the same where the participants went and came back one week later.

 

Moscow region, Savyolovskaya railway line, near village Kyevy Gorky.

1st February, 1981

A.Monastyrski, G.Kizevalter, S.Romashko, N.Alexeev, I.Makarevich, E.Elagina.