Thalia Cruz-Art History-2018

Masochism and Vulnerability in Performance Art

What is performance art? What does it aim to do? A gorgeous definition of this style of art is “an interdisciplinary art form that brings together elements of time, space, bodies, and audiences” (“What Is Performance Art?”). To further break that down, performance art aims to make a collaboration of the artist, the audience, and all the elements surrounding them. This collaboration explores the line between the artist and the audience. That exploration and that relationship, both which require vulnerability from both ends, encapsulates the essence of performance art. This raises two questions: “What does an artist gain from putting themselves in dangerous positions?” and “Why do the artists allow themselves to be vulnerable in the eyes of strangers?”

To gain a better perspective, artists like Marina Abramović are a great place to start. She is, arguably, one of the better-known performance artists of this time period. Abramović’s performance Rhythm 0 is one of her most iconic performances.  

Within this performance, the audience was called to do anything they wanted to Abromavic, she even provided a table of tools for them to use. This freedom induced acts of violence. There were passersby, looking on without doing anything, but there were also people there cutting her clothes off her body, sticking thorns in her stomach, and aiming a gun to her head (Wood). This performance allowed for Abramović to push her limits while also exploring the relationship between artist and audience. Going back to the questions asked in the introduction, one can begin to answer those questions by asking more. For example, asking “What is masochism?” can help clear up why an artist would want to put themselves in a dangerous situation.

Masochism, in its original meaning, is about deriving sexual pleasure from pain (“Masochism”). This could very well relate to more extreme performance art pieces, however, digging deeper into another meaning can provide an umbrella for most performances artists to gather under. In day to day life, someone may call another person a masochist for enjoying something that most people would absolutely hate doing. Maybe enjoying math can earn someone the title of “masochist”. It could be the simplest, yet mostly despised act, that can get that term rolling out of someone’s mouth.

Going back to the original meaning of the word, performance artist Bob Flanagan takes masochism to the extreme within his performances. His career was heavily influenced by BDSM. His performance in the Nine Inch Nails music video for “Happiness in Slavery” might be one of the most explicit performances he has done. In his performance, he is worshipping a machine, then things get sexual with said machine. The title of the song explains it all. Flanagan is seen with expressions of pleasure and pain on his face throughout his time on screen (Reiss). This perfectly encapsulates what masochism is within the realm of performance art.

To further explain why masochism can be used to describe pure agony in performance art, without the gain of sexual pleasure, we can look to Ron Athey’s Self Obliteration.

In this performance, Athey is alone, surrounded by glass walls. He places a wig, with needles inside, on his head and begins to brush the wig, causing blood to splatter on the walls around him. When asked about this performance, Athey said there is no true meaning behind the performance, other than the needles underneath the wig representing him turning fifty. Athey is gaining pleasure and satisfaction within his work by expressing who he is and who he is, is a man “working through his own experience-the experience of outliving your friends in an epidemic, and not quite understanding why you’re alive” (Abraham).

            Art gives the artist a chance to fully express themselves within their work and the performance art world is no exception to that freedom. In fact, it enhances that experience for the artist. Once they present themselves to a group of people, there is nothing they can do but lay everything out in the public eye. This is where extreme vulnerability comes into play. Participating in performance art is one of the most vulnerable things an artist can do. There is no room for messing up within that moment. A loose tie between masochism and vulnerability can be made. Vulnerability, both emotional and physical displays of it, is undesirable to most people. As humans, we do need to unleash our vulnerable side, however, most are not inclined to do so. There are restraints placed upon us by society. For women, there is the fear of being seen as crazy and irrational when displaying emotional vulnerability. When it comes to physical vulnerability, it all seems sexual when placing women in that position. Which, in turn, will have society deem a woman as promiscuous. For men, emotional vulnerability takes away anyand all forms of stereotypical masculinity. On the other hand, physical vulnerabilitycan portray a man as more masculine. Women do not win on either side and menonly win on one side.

            One man who can win the vulnerability war is Chris Burden. Burden’s performances allowed him to teeter between the lines of emotional vulnerability and physical vulnerability, yet still achieve his groundbreaking success as an artist. Burden is an essential artist to the conceptual art movement within performance art of the 1970s. Like Abramović, Burden was an artist who let his audience decide whether or not they would step in and put an end to his self-induced suffering. Other times, they had no choice but to let him carry on with his performance.

            Perhaps the most iconic Burden performance is Shoot, where he convinced his friend to shoot him in the upper arm with a .22 rifle in 1971. When asked about the performance, Burden said, “I had an intuitive sense that being shot is as American as apple pie. We see people being shot on TV, we read about it in the newspaper. Everybody has wondered what it’s like. So, I did it.” It is important to mention that, during this performance, the Vietnam War was being publicly broadcasted on televisions across the United States. Burden was bringing the reality of pain to an audience that was already desensitized and detached from the horrors their troops were facing every day. He also used this performance to solidify his seriousness as an artist (DiTolla). Being shot proved to the audience around him that Burden was keen to take risks within his art, risks that induced physical damage upon himself. Though the performance did not carry out as planned, the bullet ended up going through his arm instead of slightly grazing it, Burden still
carried out what he aimed to do, make his audience fear pain again.

            Through the Night Softly (1973), is a performance that is simultaneously emasculating and masculinizing for Burden. In this performance, Burden is slithering across a floor covered in broken glass. Like Shoot, Burden is willingly putting himself through pain within his art. Once again, he wants to make his audience realize that pain is real and not just something to be viewed on television or read about in the paper. This performance was also broadcasted on local television stations in Los Angeles, due to Burden buying commercial time just to display his work. The two pieces are challenging the audience. Will they react? If not within the time that they witness the performance, will they react to pain and violence outside of it? By submerging himself into the art, Burden is taking away the separation of art and artist, as well as artist, art, and audience. There is no reason for the audience to not react now, for he is inviting them to become just as apart of it as he is.

            The most controversial piece Burden carried out in his artistic career was Trans-fixed. By placing himself on a Volkswagen, imitating Christ on the cross, Burden put himself, and his audience, in an uncomfortable position. The audience was expected to be transfixed by the performance, as the title suggests, but also expected to step in and take action, like with his two previous performances (Burden). This performance was so iconic and frequently talked about, that David Bowie alluded to it in his song “Joe the Lion”. In the song, Bowie talks about a man, Joe, who claimed to be a fortune teller. Bowie sings, “He was a fortune teller. He said, ‘Nail me to my car and I’ll tell you who you are.’” You know you have truly done something groundbreaking when Bowie mentions your performance in a song.

            Within these three performances, Burden is begging the audience around him to wake up and become re-sensitized to the pain that exists in the Vietnam world around them. He is aiming to remind them that pain is closer than we think. It is not just in Vietnam with the troops, it is at home, it is beside us, and it is within us. All while conveying that message, he is placing himself in dangerous and vulnerable environments. Not all men in art were doing this at the same level that Burden was. He pushed boundaries and allowed for more men to step up, become vulnerable, and take way the space between an artist and his audience. When you submerge yourself and your audience in the same situation, it creates a space for discussions that need to be made. The performances are uncomfortable, but that is the point. Once you push people over the edge of comfortability, you get the discussion out of them and you get the action out of them.

            Performance art is not just an excuse for people to get hurt for entertainment, it is an art medium that opens up the floor for a discussion that begs the question, “What is art?” Art is anything that makes the audience feel something. Whether that lets them get out their sadistic side, like Rhythm 0 or gets them to remember that pain is within us all, like Shoot, art is no longer just about the piece of art itself. It is about the artist that creates it and the audience that consumes it. Performance art launched art into that realm.

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Works Cited

Dewey, Richard and Timothy Marrinan, directors. Burden. Magnolia Films, 2016.

DiTolla, Tracy. “Chris Burden.” The Art Story, The Art Story Contributors, www.theartstory.org/artist-burden-chris.htm.

“Masochism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/masochism.

“What Is Performance Art?” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/tate/participation-performance/performance/a/what-is-performance-art.

Reiss, John. “Happiness in Slavery”. DailyMotion. 1992. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkkw

Wood, Catherine. “’Rhythm 0′, Marina Abramovic, 1974.” Tate, Mar. 2010, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/abramovic-rhythm-0-t14875.