A week inside a six hour performance

Waiting Room for One asks a performer to sit and wait for six hours. There is a chair, a mint green room and nothing else. Last spring, Sofia Bergman did it four times in one week.

The first hour

She says the first hour is the hardest. Every sound in the gallery feels like it is meant for her, and every visitor who stops at the door feels like the person she is waiting for. After that, the room becomes the only thing that exists.

Being looked at

Visitors stay for a minute or an hour. Some sit on the floor. A few come back every day, and by Thursday she knew their shoes. Nobody speaks to her, and she never speaks back, but she says the room was never empty.

Afterwards

Chiara Montanari, who made the work, meets every performer at the end of the week. Sofia told her she had not been waiting for anyone in particular. Chiara said that was the point, and that most people only find out on the fourth day.