Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Sign up for final crits?

We will present our performance work on Nov 25 and Dec 2
For the first date (Nov 25) so far we have:
Yuyu
Andrea
Mau
Lauren
Nik
Brianne
Miranda
Bethany

Everyone else presents Dec 2

Performance Art Defined

Some ideas about performance art.

1. A performance art piece is unprecedented. Performance Art is live.

2. It is difficult to censor since it has a good possibility of never being done before. Performance Art has no rules or guidelines. It is art because the artist says it is art. It is experimental. Performance Art is not for sale. It may, however, sell admission tickets and film rights.

3. It is usually very current. This means that it is usually relevant of today because of the short time between conception and performance.

4. Performance art can involve the audience with taste, smell and sounds not available with electronic media and not practical with conventional theater. This is due to the usually small audience.

5. Occupies an environment with specific objects and actions for a specific amount of time.

6. The space time restraints of performance art does not allow for elaborate sets/props and cost very little to produce.

7. Performance art can be produced in a small informal setting (studio/store front/public space).

8. Since the audience is usually small (around 30) the performers can actually give things to the audience, such as food, objects or money.

9. Performance Art is brief, about 15 minutes long. This is a problem in that you cannot get people to come out to watch a 15 minute performance. Therefore, Performance Art Festivals are appropriate in contrast to an individual performance.

10. Performance Art may be comprised of painting or sculpture (or both), dialogue, poetry, music, dance, opera, film footage, turned on television sets, laser lights, live animals and fire. Or all of the above. There are as many variables as there are artists.

11. Performance Art is a legitimate artistic movement. It has longevity (some performance artists, in fact, have rather large bodies of work) and is a degreed course of study in many post-secondary institutions.

12. Dada, Futurism, the Bauhaus and the Black Mountain College all inspired and helped pave the way for Performance Art.
Performance Art is closely related to Conceptual Art. Both Fluxus and Body Art are types of Performance Art.

14. Performance Art may be entertaining, amusing, shocking or horrifying. No matter which adjective applies, it is meant to be memorable.

Ideas to try if you are stuck:

1. Create a situation where people are forced to interact with you in some way.

2. Build an object that alters the way we perform an everyday task. Demonstrate it to the class.

3. Build an object you can use some how outside in the urban environment. Maybe it is a solution to an environmental problem. Demonstrate and explain its use.

4. Pick words out of hat and create a performance using the words.
-cut up a newspaper article into individual words
-shake them in a bag
-scatter them on a sheet of paper
-then devise a poem using the words
-based on the results create a short performance
- This brings up all the issues of chance and control that any artist has to deal with. Try to find unexpectedly beautiful and strange combinations of words that help you move away from linear thinking.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Welcome to Interdisciplinary Workshop


hi folks,
welcome to the interdisc workshop!
this is our home blog and is open to all comments. Hopefully you got the syllabus in class.
After our first class (Sept. 16) please read the article on installation art that I have emailed to you all and come to our next class (Sept 23) ready to discuss it. You can get all the other readings here by following this link. Let's discuss impersonations on Oct 7, site specific interventions on Oct 14 and rapprochements on Oct 21. And yes, this is picture is me as a Simpson.
best, Donna