Drama 360 FALL & WINTER 2009/10/Tuesday November 10: The Neo-Avant-Garde 1952-1969

BONUS WIKI RESPONSE....

Topics include: 1.	Goldberg, Roselee. “American and European Performance from c. 1933: The Live Art.” Performance: Live Art 1909 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 1979. [PAGES: 79-96]

In Roselee’s article I loved hearing about John Cage and his views on music. He took everyday “noise” and harnessed it into “music”, and let common appliances become instruments. Through composition and declaration Cage made it possible for any sound to become art. In events like this you can definitely see the Dada influence. Sound poems (composed of calculated noises with little apparent reason) seem very familiar to the music that Cage was creating in the States. Although, far more successful. Perhaps more significant to the article is the creation of event scores. Every performer has a “score”, a task or series of tasks which should be carried out throughout the duration of the performance. The first performance f such art was well received and “purposeless”.

2.	Klein, Yves. "Anthropometries of the Blue Period and Fire Paintings: Two Performances." 1960. (8 Minutes) http://www.ubu.com/film/klein.html

In Yoko Ono’s piece she was (among other things) attempting to destroy the male gaze. In this video the male gaze is alive and thriving. The women’s nude bodies were being painted, and put onto canvas in different manners. Although the end result was something very striking one has to wonder if art like this would have the same impact and audience if the performers/living canvases were men.

I quite enjoyed Yvesv Klein’s piece. It’s so interesting to watch these artists that completely put themselves out there with different morals and ethics. Their nude paintings were art. To me it symbolized how the women figure is everywhere and can leave an imprint on the world. It was so interesting to watch Klein make that photo with the torch, it made me wonder what was going through his mind at the time, how these ideas just occur. The photo with the torch also gave me the idea of layers, there is always layers to everything, to art, to homework, to  life.

3.	Vautier, Ben. "Some Ideas for Fluxus." ubu.com, 1989. http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/fluxus_anthology/Fluxus-Anthology_04_Ben-Vautier.mp3

The recording is vautier’s suggestion on how to create Fulxis music. I loved it. I think it’s really representative of an art form which, like Dada, encouraged anti-art. Also like Dada, Fluxis sought to democratize art and make creativity accessable to whomever should deem anything to be art. If throwing a record out the window can be music, anything can! (these suggestions can also be viewed as event scores)