5. "Untitled" (Go-Go Dancing Platform), 1991

Both videos demonstrate how Gonzalez-Torres elicits simultaneous witnessing and participation from his audience; as the dancer moves, the visitors can interact with him however they please. They can watch him or ignore him (Kunstmuseum), or they can even hypothetically hand him a dollar bill, as suggested by Hentschel in his interview (L.A. Times). Nonetheless, the performance moves the audience to make a decision––even ignoring the dancer constitutes participating in the piece.

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Moreover, in Video 5a., we see a variety of responses to the dancer. Given the covert politicism of Gonzalez-Torres’s work, perhaps he is recreating how the public responded to those who lived/live with AIDS. For those who ignore the dancer, perhaps this symbolizes the negligence of the Reagan administration to those affected by the AIDS crisis in the US (Vanity Fair). Conversely, for those who watch the dancer (as the three women do in Video 5a (Kunstmuseum)), perhaps this act of gazing alludes to the medical or sympathetic gaze that many people living with AIDS feel/felt subjected to. The presence of a gaze is reinforced by Hentschel when he says that he wears his hat low to avert the gaze of the visitors  (L.A. Times). Regardless of how the public participates in this piece, as pointed out by Dr. Jason Smith, the go-go dancer is still  “ostracized” and “excluded” (Smith).

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Finally, both videos show how Gonzalez-Torres facilitates the infiltration of the homoerotic. Since the go-go dancer comes and goes at random, it’s difficult to predict when he will arrive. Therefore, when he does come, it may be surprising to those unfamiliar with Gonzalez-Torres’s work, especially since the stage alone does not give many clues as to what the piece signifies.

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