Post 7 - Performance Art Activism - Nicole Corvi

PERFORMANCE ART ACTIVISM

JAR PIECE

Scream everything you feel

    (screaming could be literal, thought, prayed, etc.)

Put your screams in a jar

    (metaphorically)

Close the jar

    (literally)

Give yourself the jar 5 years from now

    (close the jar and do not open it for 5 years)

I have been very inspired by Yoko Ono's Grapefruit and the instruction pieces I have read. I enjoy that they can be simple, and often not to be taken literal. They are tasks that you would never think to perform, yet she them into the world, making them feel real and possible. I wrote Jar Piece inspired by her works. I want it to promote self-reflection and identity discovery over time.

1. The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert | Chapter 4

• "As artistic activists we create Culture: creative forms we think best represent and communicate the ideas and ideals we would like others to share. For example, we might make a community mural that projects an ideal of how the local neighborhood could be."

• Art can be used as activism, not just self-expression. This is powerful because it explains how artists can shape ideas about what a better community or world might look like. Making something like a mural can bring people together and help them imagine change in a visually shared way.

• "We’re taught to believe that artists create things that are new, unique, and absolutely their own. This is not true. Even sitting by themself, isolated in their garret, the individual artist is never alone: they are surrounded by culture."

• This quote challenges that artists create everything completely on their own. Artists are always influenced by the world around them; other art, culture, lived experiences. Even when working alone, an artist is still connected to what they’ve seen and gone through, so nothing is fully ever "original" at the core of any work.

2. Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy

• "Artists need to take in, to process, to decipher, to separate from the noise and create things that are beautiful and impactful to the spirit. Artists have to offer a different type of slowness to work against the speed of today."

• Leonardo emphasizes the importance of slowing down in a fast-paced world so artists can really think, process, and create meaningful work. Art is not just about producing quickly, but about taking time to filter out distractions in order to make something impactful.

• "I never quite know what inspired me, other than the moments where I did see and take in art. I don’t know what drove me to identify as an artist because it wasn’t within my familial background—not that I know of anyway—and my only exposure to art, growing up in Queens, were the moments here and there where we visited the Queens Museum and the Metropolitan Museum."

• This quote shows how Leonardo reflects on becoming an artist without a clear background or influence in art. Inspiration doesn’t always come from a direct path, it can come from occasional encounters with art, or small interactions with others. It also highlights how powerful museums and exposure to art can be in shaping future artists, even in everyday or unexpected ways. When not usually exposed to art, these places can be sanctuaries for future creation.