Performance Art

Part 1

        Of the many performance artists I've learned about I found Ulay, Chris Burden, and Pyotr Pavlensky to be the most inspiring and intriguing. They all advocate for using personal expression and action to express the inner "need" of the artist. In an interview Ulay states that when doing performance art one has to be doing the piece partially for oneself in addition to the audience. While the artist is always seeking to make a statement or spread a message, it is critical to be acting on individual terms of self-expression. Additionally Chris Burden's "Shoot" art piece in which he is shot in the arm for the sake of art speaks volumes to this idea. This is an example of using the body as the canvas by which to make a statement. The fact that he had a friend of his willingly aim a gun at him and fire shows the mental boundaries that are pushed through performance art. Pyotr Pavlensky takes utilizing the body as the medium a bit further with some of his performance pieces. He has sewn his mouth shut, wrapped himself in barbed wire, and even nailed his testicles to the Red Square to make bold political statements. He speaks of using his body to represent the "social body" that is often affected by power mechanisms of the government. 

         While these artists all use technology in brief bits, the core of their performances are themselves. They use themselves as conceptual material to intrigue the viewers and make people really think about their motives and messages. Their own bodies become the technological medium by which they act upon and on in order to convey their message, express their thoughts, and reach the audience. I believe they all take this approach so as to intrigue viewers with harsh concepts of the vulnerability of the self but also the innate power within each and every human body. 

Part 2

        In reflecting on these artists' work I decided to do a performance piece that put my own body at various levels of personal risk. I did so by playing a knife roulette game with my hand, with three different knives ranging in size and "purpose". I aligned them before me on the table so as to visualize the risk I would subject myself to. Then starting with the dullest of them, the butter knife, I proceeded to play the game. In the beginning it is clear that I have more confidence through the speed I move at and nonchalant attitude in my approach. Yet as I progress to the pocket knife and then on to the kitchen steak knife, things became a lot more serious both in my mind and in reality. I recite the lines to the game several times in a melodic fashion so as to further portray the lunacy behind playing a "game" with instruments of potential devastation. The idea was that the different size and style blades would be visual levels of risk that I was personally aware of. Throughout the progression of my performance the viewer can see how I subconsciously and automatically react to the threat of the blades in playing a game with my own flesh on the line. 

         The ideas of personal expression and doing the piece for myself were at the forefront of my mind the entire time. While those viewing my piece may have some sense of risk, it was me who was completely immersed in the "game". As a result I experienced a heightened awareness and adrenaline rush that can be described afterwards but never replicated outside of the act. I did knick myself a couple times with the sharper blades and that in turn effected the speed by which I played the game. Nonetheless this was a part of the performance in which I could only attempt what I had planned, leaving the rest up to miscalculation and luck. This project was a great experiment for me to test my mind's duress and express individual elements of thrill, stress, and fear.