Fin

To conclude, all of the artists and their work illustrate the boundaries of performance art and comedy as well as the blurring lines in between. Abramovic's Rhythm 0-1974 is highly emotive, experimental and interactive. These elements are also key within The Artist is Present (2010) as without the audience the piece is nothing. This lends itself to Sparticus Chedwin's practice as the interaction is essential to creating the piece as the scripted lines are not enough to make the piece. However Bruce Nauman's practice is quite the opposite in reference to the need for an audience as he shot his early videos alone in his studio. But, his work like the others is again highly experimental. This element within performance is also true in Monty Python's sketches as well as Elanor Antin's miniature stage setups.

The main blurring of the boundaries of performance art and comedy was between the movement created within Bruce Nauman's Walking Around in an Exaggerated Manner (1967-8) and Monty Python's Mynistry of Silly Walks (1970). Without context and the conceptual thinking behind a performance art piece the work that they are working could be considered as acting different roles.

However, performance art is as real as it gets,

“The knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.”  http://www.askyfilledwithshootingstars.com/wordpress/?p=1197 

   

The 'New age' Performer

Sparticus Chedwin

As much as I am not a fan of the 2012 Turner prize nominee , Chedwin represents our 'New Age' performance artists. She, and others bring performance art into the forefront of the art world. Her work is interactive as well as immersive, which I credit as it gains memorability. However, the childish performances seem to lack originality as the reference to comedy and fantasy are so clear and poorly executed revealing cliche performance art.

The Explosion of Art

The sixties art scene inspired existentialism through the devolution of faith.
Due to seminal historic occurrence , such as the Vietnam war (1959-75) and The African- American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68), as well as Second Wave Feminism (1960's-80's). The manifesto of the decade was 'no one voice' which (in cultural terms) was the beginning of Post-Modernism.

Power point presentation on Performance art feedback

Peer opinions on what they thought performance art was.

The  feedback

The Godfather of Performance Art

Bruce Nauman's Waling in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square (1967-8) is a seminal piece of performance work which has inspired many artists in the twenty-first century. He is an artist that pushed the boundaries of art- especially in his early practice- to a level that had not yet been reached. a quote of his which I believe justifies as well as describes his practice is as follows,

If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art. At this point art became more of an activity and less of a product. http://www.art21.org/artists/bruce-nauman

  

Marina Abramovic- 'Artist is Present,2010'

In my opinion, Abramovic's dedication to her art is truly phenomenal. Sitting in a chair from nine to five absorbing the feelings and emotions of as many people that could get through the doors is what affords her the worldwide respect of artists and viewers alike.

One of my favorite quotes of hers is, 'the hardest thing to do is nothing.' I believe that this is a powerful statement from a performance artist and hints at the zen like qualities that often underlie this great artist's work. 

The emotion displayed by people who visited the exhibition was astonishing; people who would never see her again sat in front of her and cried or smiled or held a hand up to their heart in awe. It was truly  refreshing  to see this piece of work, as the viewer could decide what it meant to them instead of the artist, forcing an idea onto the audience.

The colour of Abramovic's dress changed in representation of each month of the exhibit. In total she changed her garment three times from white to blue to red. The styling of the dress also never changed giving the work no aesthetic change and affording the piece a consistent focus with no sign of change to in any way affect the viewers perception of the piece, only a progression of time.

The performance occupied a large white space with up lighting from each corner giving the space a stage lit quality, as opposed to a gallery feel.

The proximity of Abramovic to the participants was close - each sat at either side of a small table, yet it gave the artist and each participant enough room for personal space. The vastness of the space in which the two sat gave the piece connotations of religion, as well as a sense of sins becoming replenished as both artist and participant sat in the light - exposed and perhaps similar to a view of how Judgement day can be interpreted.

What an artist has to do to make their work immersive has always been of interest to me and Abramovic has always been a highly controversial artist yet her fans have remained ever loving. I must admit that I do find some of her pieces quite strange but I can appreciate her dedication to her subject and her unique way of displaying her love for art.

All of her pieces can be seen as extremely powerful due to the effort that she puts into and evidences in to her pieces, for me, especially the work that she did with her former lover Ulay. They explored many issues that others would never dream of, including their own personal relationship. For one piece they were attached by the mouth and had to rely on one and other for survival for a full twenty minutes, and Abramovic always displays a running theme of human relationships, especially between a man and a woman.

The question of how much a performance can be stripped down became apparent when Abramovic made the piece 'The Artist is Present'. This title is very literal- the piece involved Abramovic ('the artist') being 'present' for the full three months showing of the exhibition at MOMA in New York. Abramovic sat on a chair for eight hours a day and looked into the eyes of each viewer that participated in the piece one at a time. Some participants cried, some smiled and others just sat silently. However, an effect on each and every person was  clear throughout the video documentation of the 'Artist is present', and the power of the piece became apparent through the affects on the participants which appeared to vary from excitement and contemplation to deep emotional release. 
           

Marina Abramovic- Rythm 0-1974

I do admire Abramovic for her experiments as she explores desires and human behaviour like no other performance artist.

 

As a person who is highly motivated by performance I find what she does fascinating. In particular this piece, as she almost hands over the performance to the viewers of the work.

 

The fact that it was the audience that halted the performance after some of the spectators didn't agree with how other spectators were using her body, to me, is highly emotive as it arguably mirrors the traditional religious teaching that 'Love overcomes all'.

 

Abramovic offered herself to the spectators with a sign on the wall reading: 'There are seventy two objects on this table that can be used on me as desired. I am the object.' The artist then stayed amazingly silent as spectators cut off her clothes with a razor, hailed her with a crown of thorns and pressed a loaded gun to her head. Spectators stopped the performance after six hours as they became worried for her safety.

 

This piece was Abramovic's experiment  on 'exploring the dynamics of passive aggression'; passive aggressive behavior takes many forms but generally can be described as non-verbal aggression that manifests in negative behaviour.

Abramovic is a well known artist who dedicates her life to performance, setting up her own institute dedicated to helping other performance artists. In the 1970's she was a pioneer of her practice as she 'created some of the most well regarded early performance art pieces, also she is the only artist of her generation still making important works of long duration performances.'