PERFORMANCE ART - VALENTINA PENA

PERFORMANCE ART

    Performance art is an art form which sees the artist use their body and actions as the primary medium. Rather then to create a permanent piece like a painting or sculpture what is put out is in the present time and at times includes the audience. It is very much about experience and emotion and interaction, which in turn makes the viewer a part of the work as opposed to just a bystander.

“It often forces us to think about issues in a way that can be disturbing and uncomfortable, but it can also make us laugh by calling attention to the absurdities in life and the idiosyncrasies of human behavior.” 

In this quote, it presents performance art as a medium which is intended to make you feel anything from great discomfort to great joy. It doesn’t have to be pretty or easy going in fact it often puts you in your place and gets you to think about social issues, identity or human doings. Also I love that it brings up the element of humor which performance art uses to put forward its message via the use of the absurd and the unexpected which in turn we as audience members can relate to. That mix of the tough and the funny is what makes it so powerful, it mirrors real life which is at once very serious and very strange but also very much worth paying attention to.

“many artists employed performance to address emerging social concerns. For feminist artists in particular, using their body in live performance proved effective in challenging historical representations of women, made mostly by male artists for male patrons.”

This quote brings out how performance art has become a key platform for bringing to light social issues we face today, in particular those which feminist artists put in the fore. Through use of their own bodies they were able to take back representation of women from male dominated narratives. What the body does here is to step out of passivity into the active and the expressive which in turn objectification is broken down. I think this is important as it also shows how performance art is a tool for history to be challenged and for new voices to be heard. It is not just art it is a way to take back identity and to question the systems which created those representations in the first place.

      YOKO ONO’s ART OF DEFIANCE 

THE NEW YORKER

“She only felt happy when treated like a queen.”

This quote is different because it doesn’t come from Yoko Ono’s own words but from how others perceived her which is very telling. She is presented as one that expected to be recognized and treated a certain way, almost as if she did not put up with less than what she felt she deserved. In the performance art world, this plays into how Ono broke out of traditional roles in particular the female ones. Instead of playing the passive or background role which was the norm at the time she presented an image of authority and presence. Also I think this is a reflection of how little was understood of her at the time, what some saw as arrogant was really just confidence and self worth which was a rare thing in a woman artist's favor at that time. It also shows how much of a performance her identity and attitude was which was just as much a part of her art as the work itself.

It was “like an establishment I had to argue with and I couldn’t cope with it,” she complained. She now decided that she needed to get away from her family. “The pressure of becoming a Yasuda / Ono was so tremendous,” she said later. “Unless I rebelled against it, I wouldn’t have survived.”

This quote present the fact that Yoko Ono had it rough growing up, in a family which had very high expectations and great status. It is as if she saw her family as a system which she had to rebel against instead of a source of support. Her decision to leave home and well, to go against what was expected of her wasn’t just a personal choice it was a requirement for her growth and identity. Also this plays out in her art which is very much about breaking rules, challenging authority, and in her redefinition of self. It also makes her work very real and emotional as it is out of struggle. Instead of going the path which was laid out for her, she made her own which in turn is what performance art is all about freedom, resistance, and self expression.

THE ART OF ACTIVISM BOOK  CHAPTER 3

“We learn from past successes and past failures, from people of the past whose struggles we identify with, and from those whose actions we oppose. And one lesson the past can teach us is that artistic activism is not anything new.”

This quote hit home for me as it tells us that art and activism have gone hand in hand through history, we just may not always see it that way. People have been using talent, performance, and the visual for a long time to go after what they want to and bring to light issues that concern them. What I found also is that the quote ties in learning with success and failure which in turn shows us that activism isn’t perfect but it does grow over time. By looking to the past we today’s artists and activists may find inspiration, avoid repeat of mistakes, and put forth better messages. Also it makes me aware that performance art and activism are not separate entities which in large part they aren’t, especially when artists use their work to bring about change or discussion.

“We often act as if people are encyclopedias in the making, waiting to be filled up with facts and figures. They aren’t. People need to make meaning out of ideas, and one of the ways they do this is through stories. Narratives are a way to string together facts and figures, characters and motivations. They give ideas emotional resonance by placing them within a human drama. In short: stories help us to “make sense” of our politics.”

This quote resonated with me as it puts forth the idea that what we present people with info is not enough for bring about change. What we see is that people do not simply absorb facts they seek out a deeper emotional connection with the issue at hand. Stories make info feel more human and relatable which in turn makes it easier to grasp and recall. Also I see this play out in performance art which uses action, emotion and experience beyond just words to tell a story. It takes abstract ideas and makes them something which people can feel and relate to. In the field of activism also we see this play out, when people connect emotionally to a story they are more likely to care and take action as opposed to just hearing stats which then fade from memory.