Sturtevant was a visual artist, who was based for the longest part of her career in New York. In the 1960s Elaine Sturtevant began operating an art practice in which she meticulously copied selected works of her male colleagues. Her practice was a critique of the culture of the art world in which she was working, one that was dominated by the concept of the lone genius, autonomous, white male creator. From the beginning she dropped her first name to subvert the concept of the identity of a female artist. In Hainley’s study he recalls the early performances by Sturtevant including The Store of Claes Oldenburg, Picabias’ Ballet Relache and the ambiguous reception of her work at the time.

On a rug a number of balls formed out of clean white snow are placed very orderly in relation to their size. One of them David Hammons holds in his hand. The others are in front of him displayed for sale on the ground. This performance was staged in 1983 in New York on a corner of Cooper Square amongst other street sellers. Elena Filipovic gathers material documenting this iconic piece, part of an oeuvre that has only recently become well known. She places Hammon’s work, purposefully elusive and hard to grasp, in the context of his critique of questions of race in the United States and in the mechanisms of the Art World.