When Bruce McLean was offered a solo exhibition at the Tate, London in 1972, McLean's response was – in his typical fashion – a parodical, self-aggrandizing artist's retrospective that lasted just one day: 11 March. He was 27. King for a Day took the form of a catalogue detailing the titles of 1,000 proposed works. For the Tate, McLean presented the work in black booklets sealed with a label saying: "Another Major Breakthrough Piece Note Casual Tat". Laid across the gallery’s floor, each catalogue contained the titles of works ranging from proposals for sculptures and performances – Little classical head piece and Travel piece, lasting ten minutes, stretching 2 miles piece – to confounding examples of concrete poetry parading as plans for physical artworks – ‘. . . ___ . . . piece’.

Bruce McLean
’King for a Day‘, 1972
English
Published by Situation Publications, London
Publication photographed by Nick Ash
Softcover
25×18 cm
9⅞×7⅛ in
54 pp.