Photograph on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Tate American Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/tim-lee-8894" aria-label="More by Tim Lee" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Tim Lee</a>
Upsidedown Water Torture Chamber Harry Houdini 1913
Lent by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of the American Acquisitions Committee 2006
actions: postures and motions
adults
ambiguity
Asian
book, ‘Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings’
bound
crime and punishment
emotions, concepts and ideas
ethnicity
formal qualities
high art
Houdini, Harry
humour
individuals: male
Lee, Tim
leisure and pastimes
lifestyle and culture
man
named individuals
objects
people
photographic
popular culture
portraits
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
self-portraits
sitting
society
torture
universal concepts
<p>This photograph shows the artist tied to a chair reading a copy of the collected writings of artist Robert Smithson. At first glance, the book appears to be the wrong way up. In fact, Lee is hanging upside down, and the resulting photograph was inverted so that he appears to be sitting up straight. The Upside-down Water Torture Cell was one of Harry Houdini’s signature acts, in which the famous escapologist was suspended upside-down in a locked cabinet filled with water.</p><p><em>Gallery label, December 2006</em></p>
paper print photograph
27 November 2006 – 8 April 2007
2007-04-08
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2006-11-27
New Acquisitions Dec 06
Collection based display
18 July 2009 – 10 January 2010
2010-01-10
18 July 2009 – 4 October 2009
2009-10-04
2009-07-18
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
30 October 2009 – 10 January 2010
2010-01-10
2009-10-30
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk
2009-07-18
No Visible Means of Escape
Loan-out
31 October 2010 – 13 June 2012
2012-06-13
31 October 2010 – 27 March 2011
2011-03-27
2010-10-31
Jewish Museum (New York, USA)
27 April 2011 – 21 August 2011
2011-08-21
2011-04-27
Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles, USA)
16 September 2011 – 15 January 2012
2012-01-15
2011-09-16
Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco, USA)
http://www.thecjm.org
12 February 2012 – 13 June 2012
2012-06-13
2012-02-12
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (Madison, USA)
2010-10-31
Conjuring Houdini
Loan-out
Upside-down Water Torture Chamber, Harry Houdini, 1913
1150 × 1250 mm
Lent by the <a href="/search?gid=999999976" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">American Fund for the Tate Gallery</a>, courtesy of the American Acquisitions Committee 2006
<p>This photograph shows the artist tied to a chair reading a copy of the collected writings of artist Robert Smithson. At first glance, the book appears to be the wrong way up. In fact, Lee is hanging upside down, and the resulting photograph was inverted so that he appears to be sitting up straight. The Upside-down Water Torture Cell was one of Harry Houdini’s signature acts, in which the famous escapologist was suspended upside-down in a locked cabinet filled with water. </p>

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2006-12-15T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults ambiguity Asian book, ‘Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings’ bound crime and punishment emotions, concepts and ideas ethnicity formal qualities high art Houdini, Harry humour individuals: male Lee, Tim leisure and pastimes lifestyle and culture man named individuals objects people photographic popular culture portraits reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities self-portraits sitting society torture universal concepts