THE HOT-DOG GUY IS PRESENT, performance, 2013

A participatory performance installed a professional hot-dog cart inside a gallery as a tribute to and parody of Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present.

Professional caterer Clinton Tarver installed his hot-dog cart inside the gallery and sold food to visitors during the exhibition reception. The title and promotional poster parody Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present and the Museum of Modern Art’s advertising campaign for that exhibition. By replacing the silent encounter with the artist with an ordinary act of service, payment, eating, and conversation, the work redirects attention toward labor and social exchange already taking place within the gallery event.