The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling: A Panacea for Pre-Millennium Tension, 1980


“The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling (A Panacea for Pre-Millenium Tension)” was a site-specific audio installation designed for the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, England. It was part of an exhibition entitled “Issue: Social Strategies by Women Artists" curated by Lucy R. Lippard. It should say, “Other artists included in the exhibition were Nancy Spero, May Stevens, Adrian Piper, Bonnie Sherk, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Suzanne Lacy, Martha Rosler, Jenny Holzer, Loraine Leeson, Mary Kelly and many more.”

Created just before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the audio tape in this piece contained dialog and advertising excerpts reflecting a mood of panic about the approaching possibility of nuclear apocalypse and neo-fascism in the U.S. Audience members heard this tape while filling out petitions that said "The undersigned do hereby request to be among the first to go" or "The undersigned do hereby request to be among those who survive." Subway posters with graffiti reflecting cold war panic were displayed above the petition table,