The List, Installment 7: Performance

Happy New Year!

OK, today we're gonna look at some of my favorite artists that can loosely be gathered under the rubric of "performance". As promised, I'm kicking it off with...

Carolee Schneeman:

Meat Joy, 1964

Interior Scroll, 1975

Carolee Scnheeman is a feminist rock star. The woman rolled around in a raw meat orgy and pulled a scroll of text out of her vagina, which she read aloud to an audience. I repeat, rock star.

Marina Abromović:

Rhythm 10, 1973

Imponderabilia, 1977

Rhythm 0, 1974

Anyone lucky enough to have attended "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA last spring knows the incredible scope of Abromovic's thought-provoking work. I unfortunately didn't get to go, but I would so have loved to walk through the reproduction of Imponderabilia (not sure I would've battled the crowds to sit across from her, though having a staring contest with Marina Abromović is certainly among the more awesome potential museum experiences that I can think of). Rhythm 0 is one of her more disturbing pieces. It's strikingly similar to Yoko Ono's Cut Piece (1964), which I talked about in an earlier post, but without the direct command of "cut" (and with the addition of a loaded gun...)

Adrian Piper:

Catalysis Series, 1970/1

My Calling (Cards) #1 & #2, 1986-90

Adrian Piper's work is great because it manages to be witty about the discomfort it causes. For her Catalysis series, she basically just did weird things in public (plugging her mouth with a sock, covering her clothes with wet paint, etc.) to gauge people's reactions to perceived abnormal behavior, or to "the other". Her Calling Cards are particularly great, and pretty self-explanatory. Did I mention she has a Ph.D. in Philosophy?

Joseph Beuys:

I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974

How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 1965

7000 Oaks, 1982-87

Joseph Beuys is a special idol of mine. I wrote a paper about his work a while back and am just in awe not only of his physical artworks, but of the scope of his ideas. First of all, he has a pretty epic mythological origin story that definitely trumps the vast majority of other "genius" artist cultivations (I'm lookin at you, Matisse...)--his involves being nursed back to health by Tatar tribesmen when his plane was shot down during World War II--according to his account, they wrapped him in animal fat and felt. Subsequently, he created works incorporating alchemical materials, believing that the materials he was healed with could invest his art with the power to heal the world. So clearly I adore him. I Like America and America Likes Me deserves to be explained: In May of 1974, Beuys flew to New York, and was rushed via ambulance to the gallery (wrapped in felt of course) in which he spent 3 days living with a wild coyote. Yeah. When it was over, he was rushed back to the airport via ambulance, thus leaving America without experiencing anything other than his communion with the coyote. Later in his career, he developed the concept of "social sculpture", regarding the whole of society as one great work of art. 7000 Oaks was a project for which Beuys (as the title suggests) planted 7000 Oak trees, accompanied by pillars of basalt, both in Kassel, Germany and in New York (you can still see them on West 22nd St. between 10th and 11th Avenues--they're really beautiful, and the basalt pillars are nice to touch)

These works all incite deep thought, visceral reactions, sometimes even physical interaction/ participation. They reveal significant things about the nature of people and of art. They're not just about the act--they're about the reactions and thoughts the actions provoke. Chills, people, chills.