Performance art, an introduction
"For this generation, who had witnessed destruction caused by the Holocaust and atomic bomb, the body offered a powerful medium to communicate shared physical and emotional experience."
People will always make art in reaction to their lived environment and experiences, of course people will react to something as horrific as the Holocaust and all the death that it brought with it. The idea of using one's own body to inspire empathy and highlight the humanity inherent to all of us is a very powerful resource for making art. I've always been more traditional when it comes to what art is, paintings, sculptures and things like that, but the idea of using our own body and the experiences we all perform and live in a day to day and re contextualize it as a form of art is beautiful. I think it's sad that we need to constantly remind ourselves that we're the same, right now in this day and age, I think is a message that people should try and remember. We all share the same experiences as humans.
"Environments and happenings physically placed viewers in commonplace surroundings, often forcing them to participate in a series of loosely structured actions."
The idea of taking art of the museum and putting it on the street is a really fun concept. It would force people to participate out of nowhere and their reactions and how they interpreted the art would be genuine, since they're not going out of their way to look at art at a museum. I also think having art and performances out of the museum changes the viewing of the art itself, it looks goofier?, maybe?, I think it's curious how a change of environment changes the "feel" of a piece or performance.
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Yoko Ono's Art of Defiance | The New Yorker
"She left after two semesters. She said the university made her feel “like a domesticated animal being fed information.” This proved to be a lifelong allergy to anything organized or institutional. “I don’t believe in collectivism in art nor in having one direction in anything,” she later wrote."
I can definitively relate to Ono in this regard, as a young person living in our modern times, and as an artist trying to interpret the world in my own way, I've learned to have a distaste for institutions of power and the agenda of what a "good" is in this society. A stable job, credit cards, material wealth, partying and fame are things that run in antithesis to what i want and feel that I need in my life. I've always considered all human beings to simply be animals, animals in the same level as dogs or monkeys, because our developed to function as animals in the natural world, so when we're raised being expected to be a "normal" member of society, to work, to make money, to study, go to college and retire at 60 something inside me feels like it's all fake, just a social construct that we just agree with.
I think Ono was a person true to herself, who grew up with wealth and that could have easily follow the path that her family had for her, but despite that she simply chose to say "fuck it" and do what felt right with her. As a man in my 20's I find that to be admirable, noble and TRUE, i hope to learn from people like her, to be able to follow my heart and be able to separate myself from the expectations that others have made for me. As an artist i have a unique sensibility when it comes to interpreting the world that doesn't match what's ideal in a western society, so I hope to eventually find that thing that I'm missing at feels right with me.
"It’s easy to feel that there is an amateurish, “anyone can do this” quality to her art and her music. The critic Lester Bangs once complained that Ono “couldn’t carry a tune in a briefcase.” But the look is deliberate. It’s not that she wasn’t well trained. She learned composition and harmony when she was little, and she could write and read music, which none of the Beatles could do"
As an artist focusing on improving my technical skill i think it can be frustrating when you see a "sloppy" piece of art in a museum, one that doesn't have any technique or isn't based on skill, It's is frustrating because it's easy to think "how is that in a museum?, anyone could do it. I've spent time learning to be better for what?".
It's easy to think that, but instead of being frustrated and upset one should find that to be liberating and uplifting. Something I admire about that type of art is that it doesn't concern itself with being correct, it simply is, and what matter from it is the message. I think that's important, because sometimes i get stuck in technique, i get stuck in improving, in making things look "right" and make sense with the world, and I forget that as an artist i can do whatever I want, whatever i feel, and it doesn't have to look like a picture. I need to refocus myself and my "artist's vision" to be more loose and freeing, to focus less on correctness and more on what i want to share. It's hard, but I must try.
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The Art of Activism: Chapter 3: HISTORY
"We are interested not in the divine figure but in the on-the-ground militant. Jesus was, among other things, an activist and an organizer, and, judging by the two thousand-year lifespan and global spread of his message and movement, a pretty good one. Like other great religious leaders Jesus was successful, in part, because he approached activism and organizing"
I am not a religious person whatsoever, matter of fact I am an atheist (though i hope I wasn't), Regardless of my believes, I've always seen the figure and concept of Jesus (and equivalents in other religions) as a powerful too to enact change in ones life for the better. I am not familiar with the bible and i have no familiarity or adoration for the religious concepts, but despite of that, i still find religious art pieces to be incredibly powerful and moving. There's nothing like walking into a beautiful or church, build with the upmost respect and adorations for their ideals. and there's no denying the presence that paintings depicting religious events transmit to their viewers. I think the message of unconditional love that Jesus brought was beautiful (even though in recent years it has been somewhat mischaracterized), and the love and adoration that his followers have for him keep sharing his message trough their passion and art.
If you think about it in a certain way, Jesus wasn't more than any modern street performer, where he shared his message and ideals with spectacle and visual metaphors.
"We are taught that history is made, and changed, by leaders. This is partly true: leaders often provide the skills, perspectives, examples, and charisma that are necessary for social movements. But it is people who make up those movements, and if change is to be far-reaching and sustainable, then all of us must be the movement. The mark of a good leader is to train others to lead, give them the tools to succeed on their own, and then get out of the way"
This is a dark example, but Hitler could have never done what he did if the German people weren't behind him backing him up. A single person isn't capable of making large spread change on their own, but someone who can make a movement and tell a story people are willing to listen can move the mases. History is always written by the winner, and we human beings are very simple, we like things good or bad, black and white, and when a whole movement pushes towards something we tend to choose a head figure to blame or worship depending on their and our views. Conflict, and specially large scale conflict is always complicated, always multitactical and hard to follow, so we create this timelines and narratives that organize history in an easy to follow structure.
Someone who can create a message powerful enough that resonates with people can change the world for good or evil (sadly it's often done for evil). Think about the Vietnam war and the "I want you" poster, or Benito Mussolini's face made to give Italian fascism a strong head figure.
A political message or movement is only as strong as the people pushing it
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