Performance Art
Performance Art- artworks that are created using the artists body or physical actions to communicate a message, tell a story, express emotions or thoughts, spread awareness, or protest. Performance Art can be spontaneous, scripted, recorded, live, or even digital.
Performance art, an introduction by The Art Assignment and Dr. Virginia B. Spivey
"...at its worst, performance art can seem gratuitous, boring, or just plain weird. But, at its best, it taps into our most basic shared instincts: our physical and psychological needs..."
I agree, for a very long time, I wasn't a fan of performance art. I didn't see the value of validity in it. I saw it as a cheap way of making art. Today, I think differently, performance art can help give a visual or a scene to communicate a message or social commentary. It can be a way of making critiques or expressing abstract thoughts and emotions. I believe performance art is at it best when people can interact and join in. It makes people feel like they're part of the art and the narrative or message.
"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 is very powerful as women and feminine bodies are often controlled and forced to adhere to strict social rules about how their bodies can be presented, it's worth, and what rights are attached to it. Performance art allows people who are constantly having their autonomy restricted and controlled to have a moment of freedom and express or represent their bodies in the manner of their choosing.
Yoko Ono’s Art of Defiance | The New Yorker
"She would ask him what kind of dinner he wanted, and then tell him to imagine it in his mind. This seemed to make him happier. She later called it 'maybe my first piece of art.'"
This whole story is very tragic and unfortunately still seen to this day. I believe this can be considered "Conceptual Art" by using the imagination and consciousness to focus on the inner experience rather than external reality.
"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 understand what she means, sometimes educational institutions are about giving you information and then testing you on how well you can regurgitate it back out on standardized tests. Ono's perspective, that there's no one way of doing anything, is a very fluid and open way of viewing the world, and I definitely agree. To say it imply there's only one correct way of doing something is very restrictive and rigid. It doesn't allow for change, differences, or adaptions.
Chapter 3 HISTORY textbook
"...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."
I see the first part of this quote to mean that inclusivity and diversity are important for movements to be far reaching and powerful. It also describes how we progress as a society; we can't move forward unless we're all moving together. I also see the second part of this quote as a representation of not just leadership, but also the relationship between the older and younger generations. The older generation provides the tools and skills of the younger, and once it's time for the younger generation to rule, the older generation must be willing to relinquish power and allow the world to move forward.
"We frequently present others with "the facts," expecting these to speak for themselves. They rarely do. People like to visualize ideas. Pictures help give a form to abstract theories, causes, and grievances. Spectacles are a public way to draw a picture.
It's true that we're wired to understand things when they're visual concrete things, as opposed to invisible abstract ideas. In addition, we also know that pathos, which is about feelings and storytelling, is often stronger in convincing people than logos, which is facts, logic and statistics. That's why I believe performance art, and art as a whole, is so affective when spreading awareness, or used in activism, it's giving people something to see and likely evoking emotions and thoughts, something that is harder to do with just words or numbers.
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