Drama 360 FALL & WINTER 2009/10/Tuesday November 17: Ritual and Performance Art ***

'''1.	Wilson, Martha. "History of Performance Art: According to Me." Baltic Library & Archive, 2005. [PART 1 - 3] (20:00) http://www.youtube.com/user/MarthaSWilson'''

'''2.	Singh, Victoria. "From Entrails to E-Mail: Introduction." Ritual in Contemporary Performance. Ed. Victoria Singh. Vancouver: Western Front Performance Art, 2005. [PAGES 5-12]'''

3.	ALTERED STATES: Art of Zhang Huan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szyZXfq8Z7A

As stated by Martha Wilson in her interview, performance art was introduced as a way to bring change. The sought to bring a difference. She states that performance always has conflict. The performer’s task was to take the audience and say this isn’t a show, this is going on now. We must do something about it. What I love about this article is that it comes back to the conversation that we had in class of what is performance creation is. Perhaps performance it to execute change and present the imperfections of society.

I am not sure performance art is in place to present the imperfections of our society, I think it in place to pull something out of us and create an awareness about ourselves. We can see this as an analogy in Singh's article when she talks about how we use religion in the same way, to look at our identity and find our significance through reflection. Rituals in performance art function the same way, they are not meant to impose something on us, but they want us to relate to or realize something that we may be taking for granted or something we have forgotten. And this becomes very personal because as said, "the language contained in the action/symbols will be interpreted by the viewer according to their own knowledge and/or experience." (p.7)--Cody.thompson 19:18, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

This reminded me of what I am studying in another class, Drama 340. The contemporary plays we are reading are incredibly political and powerful. They all have an overwhelming statement of desire for change. They are forcing the audience, and the reader to change and at risk of sounding cliche, they want the reader to change the world. Wilson says that performance has conflict and it should I agree, it should open the audience's eyes to the problems in society, and around the world and push that audience member to change. Taking what Cody said, and I hope that I understood this correctly, but each audience member will take a performance completely differently because of different life experiences. Therefore maybe each performance creation piece can inspire and change someone to do something, whatever that may be. Courtney Keen

Martha Wilson’s video “The History of Performance Art” as the title implies, gives us an overview about the origins of performance art. She starts off the video by stating that there is no clear date when performance art officially began, but she has her own theories on about when it started happening. She talks about a time where performance art may have been created. She states “I realized that the beginning of performance art might be fixed in that moment on July 8th 1910, when the Italian futurists – painters and poets threw 800,000 copies of Pasa'est Venice (spelling?) from the clock tower above Piazza Saint Marco onto the heads of citizens emerging from church. The futurists claimed Venice was a great sewer of traditionalism. A physical confrontation ensued and in my view performance art was born.

I found Martha's theory in her video of performance art being born around the time of futurist performances, interesting. This theory seems to send the message that all other forms of traditional performance before that, dating back to the Ancient Greeks, is not necessarily performance art or that Martha doesn't define it as performance art. Martha backs this theory up even further saying that performance art is separate from theatre and that performance art is true to what is going on in the world right now, unlike the stories portrayed in theatre. I also found Martha’s statement about artists wishing to change the world, though they have little impact on political, economic, philosophical, and social life, quite interesting as well. I feel that artists have a great impact and influence on these aspects. Performances and other forms of art have the ability to bring light to certain political, economic, social etc problems around the world in a way that any other form can't. Performances and other art forms also cause people to reflect upon these problems, talk about them and in turn, change these situations. It can be argued though, that artists don't impact enough change or perhaps that traditional forms of performance don't evoke enough motivation in people to try and change the situation that they live in.

As the statement above mentioned, i also found the idea that artists want to change the world regardless of how small they're impact may be, interesting as well. also like above, i feel that the role of performance art and performance artists is not necessarily provide specific instructions and guidelines to changing the world. but to rather show the audience that a problem exists. they are to portray a problem and stick it right in the audiences faces so that they have no choice but to confront the issue and change it. in response to an argument that says artists do not evoke or motivate change, i would say that i feel motivation is a matter of perspective. not every one is moved by the same thing or necessarily even believes the same issue is important.

I have often wrestled with the idea of "changing the world" myself. It is something I want to do, because, being the conceited artist that I am, I believe the world could use some improvement. I am still in conflict however as to how art is able to do that and which art form is most effective. But then of course I realize that no matter what I do, whether I call it art or not is changing the world. My every action brings into existence something new into the world whether or not it affects someone else's ideas or opinions. It will change my own existence no matter what, forever altering the course of my life no matter how minute. Who is to say what manner of "changing the world" holds more importance? Can you tell me that watching me clipping my toe nails yesterday is any more or less meaningful than watching a talking head talk about the history of performance art?

In Martha’s Wilson’s video she mentions that ‘performance creation is the exact opposite of theatre.’ She talks about the suspension of disbelief that happens in theatre versus the ‘reality’ and ‘nowness’ of performance creation. And I found that for the most part that did really ring true. While they are both mediums that lie in the same realms, performance creation and theatre have vast differences. And I really didn’t notice these differences until Eric started pointing them out to us. It’s that idea of challenging conventions while theatre embraces them. Well, I was thinking. If theatre relies on ‘suspension of disbelief,’ on acting and pretending, and performance creation relies on the actual doing and experiencing, is there any way that we can have a performance creation that uses the element of ‘suspension of disbelief?’ Or would that make it into theatre. Is the acceptance and engaging of the more odd performance creations requiring a ‘suspension’ on our part. Is that acceptance part of it? And what really defines that element? Is it the acting and expecting someone to believe you? Is it the doing and being undeniable? How can we blend the two?

I found Zhang Huan's statement, at the end of his video, saying that to be a good artist you have to be illogical and mess with things, quite true to what we have been creating in this class and true to performance creation overall. Through this class I have slowly been learning how to create a performance without thinking through it logically and traditionally and have learned to play, mess and experiment with things. I also found Huan's statement about his performances emphasizing on the experience and process quite true to our work in class as well. I have found that the finished product is not always the whole performance or piece of art and that the final product is sometimes not even the most important thing, it is the steps that were taken to get there.

Something that really struck me about Zhang Huan, was what he said about performance art, in that in order to be a good artist you need to first be illogical, then you have to mess around. So many times when thinking about trying to create something, that is my biggest weakness. I have found that it is oftentimes hard to just get out of the box and not think, and not do normal, everyday things, because that is what has been engrained in our very being. It is not normal to not be normal, so it’s hard to think otherwise. I think that from birth to a certain age it is acceptable to be who we want to be or think the way we want to think, whether logical or not; after a definite period in our lives, however, logic takes over, causing the imagination of our younger selves to wither away, due to the way society has brought us up.

OR

'''1.	Wilson, Martha. "History of Performance Art: According to Me." Baltic Library & Archive, 2005. [PART 1 - 3] (20:00) http://www.youtube.com/user/MarthaSWilson'''

'''2.	Yang, Sue. "Performance Art and Live Art in China: Why Do 'Live Art' in China?" China Live. Ed. Daniel & Yang Brine, Sue. London: Chinese Arts Centre, Live Art UK, Live Art

In Yang's article she discusses the introduction and evolution, perhaps, of performance art (or 'live art') in China in the late 20th century and today. "Around 2003 due to the appearance of several works that used extreme and sometimes violent methods of expression, official art organizations and media began to step up their criticisms of performance art, with the undisguised intention of destroying this art form and dancing on its grave."(p.17) Yang then goes on to tell how she merely decided to challenge the governmental oppression on performance art, by merely naming it 'live art' rather than 'performance art'. "...I discovered that certain forms of independent, experimental theatre and body performance could be grouped together with performance art under a broader artistic definition. From their modes of expression to artistic conception, these art forms all possess a strong quality of openness and generality; they all rely on live performance by independent artists and do not stick to one pattern."(p.19) "'live art' also redefines performance art and thus makes it harder for China's government institutions to demonize performance art. If their aim is to rid China of this type of art, they now have a new opponent, 'live art', to deal with" (p.20) Yang has now been promoting and directing many festivals, "We also hoped through this festival, to establish a platform for international performance art exchange in China, to enter into direct and reciprocal exchange with international performance artists, to broaden the horizons and extend the international influence of Chinese performance art." Despite the government's attempts of oppressing China's performing arts, they seem to be pulling through to the public at last, and even if not through 'live' performance, other sources such as the internet have made these art forms available to the public as they never were before assuring its survival. Development Agency, Shu Yang, 2005. [PAGES 17-39].'''

When most people look at performance art or live art I'm sure they think, "I could do that. What makes this art?" During my own first encounters with performance creation I was thinking along the same lines as well. How does banging a spoon against a garbage can change or accomplish anything? What is commonly missed, and why there are so many misconceptions about performance art, is the reason or commitment behind the movement. Observers don't know where the performer is coming from when they do a movement, which I think, makes it hard to relate to or understand some performances. I did notice in the article however, that as soon as something becomes popular, it does not matter what it looks or feels like. Everyone is on board, just because it is popular.

3.	ALTERED STATES: Art of Zhang Huan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szyZXfq8Z7A Zhang Huan is a brilliant artist who has done much performance art in the U.S., but has now come back to China. I really appreciated his quote, "a good artist has to be illogical, only then can they create good art." I think this is very true. When we try to figure out art I believe it loses its meaning, its supposed to come from our most aloof inspirations, that always seems to produce our best art. Just as Huan creates what he thinks is his favorite art form so far; human faces and heads made from ashes (his inspiration came from the ashes he observed when visiting the temples in China). Inspirational, illogical, and producing the best art.

Zhang Huan said that he gave up performance art because it made him lose his good ideas. I don’t really think that the art itself can be held responsible for ones loss of ideas, In my opinion I think it the prerogative of the artist to have deem ideas good, not the result oh his/her art form. I do agree with the awesomeness of the above quote that “A good artist has to be illogical, and then you also have to mess around, only then can one produce good art.” But they missed the part about the importance of messing around. I like the idea that art can be the product of your mess.

I found a connection between the Zhang video and the Singh article. They both talked about the feeling. At 1:44 in the video he talks about how is emphasis is on the experience. On page nine of Singh's article she speaks of Carl Jung and he says, "One thing I love in performance is the possibility to live very intense things, physically, mentally emotionally." I think I find this interesting because it is like we are always told in class, don't act just do it. And that is exactly what performance and ritual artists are doing. It may actually feel better to experience then to just imagine it.

I thought it was very interesting to hear Martha Wilson talk about her thoughts on the history of performance art. Martha believes that performance art was “born” in Venice when the Italian futurist’s claimed that Venice was “...a great sewer of traditionalism and a physical confrontation ensued”. Venice is well known location for celebrating and worshiping the Catholic religion, so I can see why traditionalism was an influence for the Italian futurists. Martha also believes that performance artists are not the type of people who are watched and paid to do so, instead they are those “people who wish not be discovered, but rather hope to change the world with their art”. After reading the documentation of Ritual in Contemporary Performance I find it interesting that Victoria Singh had pointed out that: “the use of symbolic imagery is critical in the formation of identity”. (pg.6, ln: 19-20) I agree that symbolic imagery assists a performance in creating its identity and/or deliver a playwright’s message. Art consists of objects to create symbolic imagery. Objects used in performances are symbolic to what the artist is trying to portray to his or her audience. The choice of objects is relative to a wide variety of different aspects including, but not limited to; culture, spirituality, or societal values. Therefore, an artist’s choice in setting has an influence on the viewers’ perception of the art.