Category: Art Theory

Performance art is one style of art that I just have a hard time understanding. In my opinion, it often takes things too far or it has no meaning whatsoever (like licking jelly off of a car). I’m all about expressing yourself and doing what you want, but when you ask people to touch your breasts through a cardboard box, or wear crotch-less pants and walk past people at eye level so that they have no other choice than to see your crotch, you’ve taken things a bit too far.

Vito Acconci’s Following Piece is no exception to this. In this piece he followed people around New York for 3 weeks. He would pick a random person and follow them until they went into a private area such as their home. I have a really big problem with this piece for a few reasons. The first is because the people had no idea what was happening, therefore they didn’t consent. If I was being stalked by someone who was following my every move I would be terrified and end up calling the police. This goes into my next problem of this piece- the danger. Even though he didn’t physically put anyone in danger by doing this piece, they could’ve felt like they were in danger. There’s a big difference in making someone feel uncomfortable when viewing your art and them feeling like their life is at risk. There’s nothing “artsy” about stalking people and making them terrified.

I have always had a hard time understanding most performance art, and most of it is in how it is portrayed, let me explain this.  Some piece leaves me wondering why do these pieces have to turn the art into so something vulgar and sexual rather than go about the idea without doing this.  I have to issue with the human body and the beauty that is found within the human form, yet it seems so many love beating the viewers over the head with such imagery.  Carolee Scheneemann’s Interior Scroll is one such piece that leaves me wondering this, Marian Abramovic/ Ulay’s piece Relation in Space, Annie Sprinkle’s The Public Cervix Announcement, and Valie Export’s piece where she has a cardboard box shirt.  Valie Export’s idea of making everything sexual because she is viewed as a sex object to me seems to send the wrong idea; I guess this is why I do not understand most performance pieces.

              Acconci’s work does seem to ride the line of violating an individual’s personal feelings of space and peace.  I would find it disconcerting if someone was following me and more than likely would find a public place to confront them or call the police, letting them know he was stalking me.  I believe some art is made to make others feel uncomfortable yet there is a line that one should not cross, that line is when you being to inflict harm on others by doing so.  For some, this would be the case with his stalking, and this act might get him killed. 

              I believe that it does not change the performance piece if it is documented for others to enjoy/see if they are not there.  I am not sure how licking jam off of a car can change if viewed in person versus on a screen; one can always create the environment at the time for the viewers.  As for pieces such as Valie Export’s one can create a box with a chest mold for them to fondle.

Performance art is one of my favorite forms of art. I love when a person, or groups of people, go out of their way to show that everyday humans, our bodies, our thoughts, and our actions are all art. To me, it allows us to gain our bodies back in a world that believes we are subject to possession by all. To watch a performance art piece also gives me that feeling of freedom and like I am taking my own body back from the world. I believe it can be healing.

This is why I have a slight issue with Acconci’s Following Piece. Performance art should be consensual with all people involved. It should not make outsiders feel uncomfortable to participate, which is what following random strangers around does. It is a great fear of almost everyone’s to be stalked or harassed. Performance art should be a freeing experience, not an experience of anxiety, unless that feeling is wanted.

Other than that, I believe performance art should be documented. It allows for others to somewhat experience the initial performance, had they not been there before.

While in NYC with the art league any time we did something weird or unusual we’d just laugh and say “It’s a performance piece.” The funny thing about that is that it basically was a performance piece. We as artists were interacting with the world around us in new and different ways as we learned about ourselves and our environment. Performance art can be that simple. Often it’s much more complex and thought out than the antics of nine creative types set loose on the big city, but sometimes it can be that pure.

When I think about performance art I often think it’s less about the artist, and more about the audience and involving them in the piece. How can the artist engage the audience? Is the engagement simply including them as onlookers to something truly unexpected like Chris Burden being shot? Is the engagement a personal emotional connection between the artist and the audience like Marina Abramovic staring deeply into the eyes of an individual onlooker seated across from her? Or is it physical contact like Valie Export as she allows the audience to touch her bare chest inside her cardboard box shirt? They’re all very different involvements, and they’re all performance art. Unlike the physical limitations of art media like paint, film, and pencils performance art seeks to break out of the expected art forms and find something new and different.

There is an argument that when you begin to document these performance pieces it degrades some of their meaning. Taking them out of their live content and context and placing them inside the traditional mediums like photography, film, or even documentation about the performance piece and how it’s done seems to reduce the impact of performance art for some onlookers. While I agree that these pieces are obviously different when documented versus being viewed live as they happen, I disagree that it ruins the art itself. As artists we should strive to learn from each other, see what other artists are doing, explore ideas and avenues that we may not have known about without witnessing or reading about the art others are producing. The art is changed by recording, but its value and message can still be preserved for future artists. As long as the audience is still able to engage in the piece it’s still valid.

What about those pieces of performance art that cross the line between public and private like Vito Acconci’s Following Piece? That’s where I get a bit iffy. On one hand the idea of the artist having no control over where they go next and giving up control to mirror the actions of a stranger is really interesting to me. I can understand the psychology behind the freedom of willingly surrendering control. However, the person being followed was not a willing participant, and may have been disturbed by or felt unsafe due to being followed by Acconci.

Following strangers is absolutely a violation of social norms. In fact someone I knew in high school would regularly make a point to follow and match pace with anyone that cut them off on the interstate. More than once they bragged about how the person they followed would hastily get off at the next exit once they figured out that all their lane changes and speed changes were being mirrored by another car. I always thought this was incredibly dangerous and that my friend was lucky to have never gotten shot by a hot head with road rage. Following and copying people without their consent makes people incredibly uncomfortable. It assumes a level of familiarity that most individuals find very uncomfortable. Where I would have no issues with a friend or family member following behind me as I drive or walk somewhere, I would be incredibly uncomfortable and feel quite unsafe if a stranger did the same thing.

In all honesty I did not know about performance art before I went to college. When I was first introduced to the idea of it, I was very confused. I can’t say I enjoyed it. Even now I find the ideas more interesting than the performances most times. As time went on my idea on what is art changed as well as how I felt about performance art. I think performance is important despite how unusual it usually is. Perhaps it more important for that strangeness that distracts, attracts, confuses, repulses, or even allures us. Performance art often violates the “norms,” and I think, in most cases, that it should violate those “norms” if nothing else, then to draw attention to the absurd idea of “norms.” In the video The Case for Performance Art | The Art Assignment by PBS Digital Studios, they concluded by saying,

“Performance art can give you room to think about who you are where you are and how you relate to those who are not you it can allow us to contemplate the rules written and unwritten of any given space or place performance can make you uncomfortable because that’s what it’s supposed to do it’s designed to do don’t leave the room stay be uncomfortable revel in the mystery of what may or may not occur think about why you’re feeling the way you’re feeling invite the discomfort invite the unknown you an artist and art will be better for it” – https://youtu.be/EmMTKdUAokM

I think that brings in the importance to how these performance artists make one uncomfortable in order to get their message across. It really depends on the subject for what should be private and the message behind it. Of course I still think the boundaries I mentioned in an earlier blog continue to apply. There’s some things that should not be done; however, In Vito Acconci’s Following Piece, I think the boundaries of public and private are what is being drawn to, and I don’t he was crossing lines as he never followed them into their homes. Not following in itself was key that idea of the idea of privacy.
As for documenting performance art as in the case of Vito Acconci’s Following Piece, all the documentations becames works themselves and ironically fall to the same system that performance had once sought to go against. Despite that I do think it is important to document the performances anyway. In many cases, the art still portrays the message in documentation. Not documenting a performance may lead it to never spread beyond those who did witness it. In that mind set, how could one ever prove it happened without documentation. I could see some instances where that idea that there was a whole piece that only a select few ever witnessed. It makes the performances special. There is also the fact that their retelling would all differ. Without documentation we could say it never happened or make up elaborate stories, Or even in the case of Rudolf Schwarzkogler where a performance was fabricated entirely with supposed documentation. With those situations in mind, they show that documentation is a part of the work, and the message can determine whether one should document it.

By definition, feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis on the equality of the sexes” but feminism carries different meanings to different people and it’s a constantly expanding term. Feminist art started in the 60’s during 2nd wave feminism and the art being created focused on the female body, personal experience, and gender equality. In the 70’s, the Art Workers Coalition and Women Artists in Revolution formed to address female artist rights in high art. They protested the MoMA and The Whitney and female artists at The Whitney rose 13% in one year because of this. In the 80’s, feminist art focused more on the destruction of male dominant social perception. Now, feminist art embraces females having beauty and brains and the fact that they can have both.

A female artist left out of art history is Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. She was an English artist who worked in Scotland and was one of the major defining artists of the “Glasgow Style” in the 1890s.

One of the most frustrating things to me personally is the wage gap between men and women. A lot of people think the wage gap no longer exists, but women with a PhD in psychology earn on average $39,648 LESS than men in the same field. This is the career field I want to go in, so it infuriates me that I could make almost $40,000 less than a man with the exact same qualifications as me.

Another big problem is toxic masculinity and the male gaze. The male gaze is the theory that visual media is created from a straight man’s POV and that it sexualizes and objectifies women. I think this is all over media in movies, commercials, tv, art, advertisements, etc. Toxic masculinity is also everywhere. I don’t understand why it’s so terrible to some people if a little boy wants to play with “girl” toys or wear “girl” clothes or vice versa. People, especially kids, should be able to play with and wear what they want regardless of the gender society put on it.

I think a big issue with feminism is that a lot of people who aren’t educated about it just see it as the trendy, over the top, Tumblr feminists online who are extremely anti men and just problematic and annoying. Feminism is not about hating men and I don’t get how someone can call themselves a feminist while saying how much they hate men and that men are the scum of the earth. Feminism is about EQUALITY. They’re just being hypocritical saying that women are better than men and that men are terrible. I also wish more feminists would include women of color and trans women when the fight for equality.

Now for the more controversial part. Can a woman make non feminist art and should they? For me, the answer is yes. I’m a woman and a feminist and I’ve never made a feminist art piece. Does that make me a bad feminist or even a bad woman? No. It’s just not the type of art that I make and there’s nothing wrong with that. I also don’t think we should use labels like “female artist”. Personally, I don’t want to be viewed as a “female artist/musician/psychologist”. I just want to be an artist/musician/psychologist. I play drums and there has been so many instances where people will be like “wow you’re so good for a girl” and I think that just adds to the problem. Why can’t they just say “wow you’re so good!” ? Why is it shocking that a girl can play an instrument?

I think feminist art needs to go in a more intersectional feminism direction. I also think we need to move away from labels like “female artist”.

• What issues are artists addressing today with regards to the advancements of women.

They are addressing basically the same things they have always had to. I feel that equality has not changed much and we just look past these problems because we feel were advanced. I feel that we need to pay closer attention to womens art if we ever want to advance as a society.

• Can you make art outside of your experiences? Can a woman make non feminist art?

I feel that women make a lot of non feminist art and it is still categorized as feminist. This stereotype is something that will not go away until stereotypes are subsided. I believe a woman should be able to make art just as freely as any artist. I feel like all artist should be able to make art about they want IF THEY CHOOSE TO.

• Do we excuse the sexism / racism of the past because it was ingrained in the prevailing culture?

Acknowledging the issues is the first step, however there are no excuses for it. We have to acknowledge our problems in order to fix them.

• Do we still need labels – women artists, black artists, LGBT artists

I feel that labels get in the way of the work. I don’t think labels are very important to the context of the work itself. This is just a way to explain the art without actually trying to understand the concept. Labels are simply a cop out for simpletons

• Why are there more issues with equality in the south / cultural differences?

I feel that there are issues with equality everywhere and the south is under the spotlight. Yes I agree there is a lot of racism in the south but racism isn’t simply just in the south. This stereotype is almost exclusively from the civil war.

• Where does feminism go now?

I think feminist should rise up, and put the problems they face in the eyes of the scum who inforce the sexism we live surrounded by today. I feel that once everyone sees eye to eye and there is equality that women deserve and all deserve we will be better off as a society.

As I was doing the reading for this particular discussion I kept coming back to the idea of “The Female Gaze” and how the majority of art and media is not generated from a woman’s perspective. The central idea is that throughout the history of art and media everything has been presented in order to appease the male gaze. Women should be secondary, appear vulnerable, be a sex object, but not too sexy lest she look whorish.

The teen movies of the 80s and 90s exploited a lot of the tropes popular within the male gaze. If a girl was smart or weird she wasn’t pretty, and all you had to do to make her pretty and popular was remove her glasses and put her in trendy clothing so she could pretend to be dumb and nothing more than eye candy for the men. As we all know a woman is only worth something if men want her.

Though marginally better when Marvel came onto the scene with well written female superheroes something was still missing. We had no feature films starring a female superhero. There were still plenty of movies about how the superhero wins over the woman who only kinda tolerates his existence at first but is worn down by his oafish charms. Yeah, I’m looking at you “Star Lord”.

So when they announced the Captain Marvel movie I was understandably worried. Historically in her comics both as Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel the character has been a strong female protagonist. Some of the earlier costume choices left much to be desired, but eventually they sorted things out. Captain Marvel is smart, strong, brave, and confident. She is a hero, but she is not arrogant or vain. I grew up with her as more than just a favorite comic book character, but as a role model.

I didn’t get to go see the movie Captain Marvel when it first came out. Life happens. I was understandably disappointed to hear that it had gotten some pretty terrible reviews. The big ending fight scene was called “anti-climatic” and they called the character “flat”. I refused to read any of the reviews personally as I didn’t want any spoilers. So when I did go see it I was pleasantly surprised to see that all those negative reviews were full of crap. It was AMAZING! (Spoilers Ahead, you’ve been warned.)

Captain Marvel was everything she was supposed to be and more. She overcame oppression, learned to embrace her true self, didn’t need a romantic interest, and developed meaningful friendships with men without it being even remotely sexual. Most importantly, when the moment came to fight to “prove” herself… she realized her value didn’t have to be proven to anyone but herself and she had already done that. She was simply amazing.

So why did the movie get so much hate? It took me a while to figure it out. Captain Marvel isn’t filmed from the male gaze. -insert sounds of shock and awe- I know. How dare they film a superhero movie in the female gaze!! The main character overcame the kind of adversity that women face to accept that she was already good enough and didn’t need anyone’s approval. She didn’t have to wear skimpy outfits to be worthy of screen time and much of the movie rocked a bad-ass Nine Inch Nails t-shirt. (Sorry Wonder Woman, but that “armor” wouldn’t have saved you from a cut to the femoral.) She didn’t have to smile or flirt to get help from men.

She was gas-lighted and literally restrained by people who were afraid of what would happen if she learned just how strong she really is inside. She was told time and time again that she wasn’t strong enough. Told she would only be worthy when she could beat her male oppressor in a fair fight without using her powers. As a woman, her story of personal growth was not only complex and compelling, but also eerily familiar.

Captain Marvel was absolutely and undeniably a character that women relate to because we’ve all been there. The male audience that couldn’t comprehend the female experience had such a conniption fit over the movie that before the premiere that Rotten Tomatoes had to remove the ability for people to rate a movie before it’s released. That’s right, before it was even released they tried to tank it with negative reviews. They digitally altered photos of the character with a smile on her face because of course “wouldn’t she be so much prettier if she just smiled?” don’t you know.

That anti-climatic final battle that got such negative reviews? She was faced with her male oppressor and challenged to a final showdown without her (now fully realized) powers to prove her worth to him as an equal. She used her powers to blast him right in the arrogant face, packed him in his little ship, and sent him packing. She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone. She wasn’t his equal. She was better than him in every way and she knew it. That scene hit me especially hard. It was incredibly powerful. As someone who has fought that battle and said “ENOUGH” and walked away from an abusive relationship, that scene meant more to me than I could ever begin to express. I was represented in a way I had never been before. Respectfully and from the female gaze. My gaze.

Did the filmmakers exploit the female gaze in Captain Marvel? No, I don’t think so. What they did do was not water it down. It wasn’t presented wrapped up in a cellophane layer of male acceptability and aesthetic. It was simply allowed to be what it was with unapologetic bluntness. It did so without portraying men as inferior, stepping into the realm of misandry, or blaming men for the lack of female gaze in the past. It simply existed as itself and was a step in the right direction.

What issues are artists addressing today with regards to the advancement of women?
I think a lot of women are still fighting for their place in the art world, and in the world in general. I see a lot of art addressing rape culture, a woman’s right to her own body, and what it means to be a woman today.

Can you make art outside of your experiences? Can a woman make non-feminist art? Should she?
If the art is not true to her, she should not create it. Confining women to a specific type of art just because they are women is keeping them in their own box forever. Let women create freely, as men do.

Do we excuse the sexism / racism of the past because it was ingrained in the prevailing culture?
Absolutely not. People of the past had brains of their own like we do today. They could have, and should have, known better. Excusing that behavior is allowing that behavior to continue. Teach people. Provide them with resources. If they wanted to be better, they would have honestly sought after the education themselves.

Do we still need labels – women artists, black artists, LGBT artists?
I think those labels are only good if they are making art about their experience as a woman, black person, or LGBT person. If the artist gives themselves that label, let it be. If not, then it should not be required.

Why are there more issues with equality in the south / cultural differences in white, Hispanic, black communities?
Lack of exposure. There are not enough spaces for cultures to thrive in the south, unless that area is predominately black, Hispanic, etc. (ex. Dalton, GA having a huge Hispanic population). Even with the exposure, again with Dalton as a reference, racism is still slightly prevalent. I think it just comes with the area. Racism is deeply rooted in the south, not saying that it does not exist elsewhere, but it is shown a lot more here. I would like to cite lack of education as the source of it, but I do not think that’s true. Resources are out there nowadays. People just do not want to break their habits or shake their “heritage”.

Where does feminism go now?
To the government. We need more feminist women in power, more women of color in power. Without it, I do not see much change occurring. We can raise hell as much as we want, but our rights are being taken away slowly and surely with white men in power. And having a president that disregards women to pieces of meat is not helping us. It will never help us. Forcing our way to the top is the only way. Shatter all the damn glass ceilings.

What does your male art professor need to do differently?
Keep broadening our horizons. Keep showing us the movers and shakers of the art world, and even those outside of it. Seeing people that represent us changing the world inspires us.

• What issues are artists addressing today with regards to the advancement of women?

To quote Ellen Yoshi Tani, “The Depictions of women without our voices: share anything, it’s that many contemporary artists know their feminist history, and they understand that standards of taste, beauty, relevance and value have long been debated without women’s voices.” I think Ellen sums it up or at least sums up some aspects of it. I think we are still fighting for some of the same rights as before too.

• Can you make art outside of your experiences? Can a woman make non-feminist art?

I think people can make art outside of their experiences, usually. I say for those instances where issues occur are when someone makes art to intentionally insult and harm or they truly did not understand and it results in problems. I do not think we should be forced into a subject of art either even if we have experience in it. There should be a desire to make the art you want to make.

• Do we excuse the sexism / racism of the past because it was ingrained in the prevailing culture?

We should not excuse it. We should acknowledge that it is wrong. Excusing such behavior would essentially be like supporting sexism and racism.

• Do we still need labels – women artists, black artists, LGBT artists

I do not like labels defining me as a female artist. By labeling me, I am being seperated in a group and in this sense I can not gain the equality I so desperately yearn for. Yet, as many do, I seek to have an identity and fit in somewhere, anywhere. I happy to be who I am, so part of me wants to say what defines me even if its something as simple as saying, “ I am a Woman and an artist.” So I also think labels can be okay so long as bias, sexism, racism, and hate do not limit our art. Perhaps if the art tackles problem associated with a label then we can choose to show how identify ourselves.

• Why are there more issues with equality in the south / cultural differences?

I think one reason is that we have far less exposure to different cultures than New York has. There is also the fact that majority of people believe these ideals and in turn teach them their children. Without something to constricted those ideals they are unargued. Thankfully technology has helped progress views. At my high school from Freshman year to senior alone, I (as part of the  LGBT community) saw a big change in how we were treated. They are not as far as I’d like still, but it is immensely different from before we started the GSA club there compared to after. As one of the founders of the GSA at the school I watched hostility when we started it go to this mixed batch of views with less directly hostile people by my senior year. I hope the club is still making there to this day.

• Where does feminism go now?

Issues we still need to conquer in today’s world as of 2019 include: Body image, sexism, various remaining inequalities.

I also think feminism is more broad now as we also focus on sexuality, identity and what defines identity, and gender defined stereotypes.

I think the next step is to also fight for identity whether that means fighting toxic masculinity or fighting stereotypes in appearance such as short hair being for boys or pink for girls blue for boys.

• What does your male art professor need to do differently?

You are honestly the most opened minded professor I have had so far.