The first example I have of performance art taken from one of the performance artists is by Raphael Montanez Ortiz’s Piano Destruction Concert where he deliberately takes an ax and destroys a properly tuned and upright middle-upper class piano. Then takes the destroyed “artwork”, blends it with a destroyed harp, and hangs it up for display. The first question I have here is why, then listening to some of the backstory brings a light over the situation where “through destruction", Ortiz hopes to liberate himself and the objects from Western conventions. Also how they were symbols of middle and upper-class status within Euro-American homes and Ortiz drew from non-European music and sound to distort the practice of home recital, where guests gathered around the family piano for informal concerts. I assume these things are what inspired the artist to use the destruction of works as performance art themselves. Just the act of him swinging his ax until completely destroying home set instruments or furniture maybe just fuels him to continually create art this way, or at least that would spark up my interest in it (joking).
The second example of performance art taken from one of the artist's works is from Bill Viola, The Crossing where his signature use of the manipulation of filmic time is very religiously inspired as influenced by the reading. One would look at his work beginning in the 1970’s to the 1980’s and ask how he could create such advanced work (created in film). Such as this work titled The Crossing which is “a room-sized video installation that comprises a large two-sided screen onto which a pair of video sequences is simultaneously projected.” This work seemed to be ahead of its time. Shot using high-speed film capable of registering 300 fps. “In post production, Viola reduces the speed of playback to an extreme slow motion- further enhancing the level of definition to a dramatic and scrutinizing effect.” I find this type of work inspiring because to create something done in film seems like very hard and rewarding work. I used to be an actor and I know how much work gets put into creating CGI and post production effects.
From the reading of chapter 3 of from The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert, the first quote I have taken is from page 114 “We need to be aware of how the words we use, the image we employ, and the performances we stage will be made sense of in various contexts. Our opponents can consciously manipulate our symbols for their own ends, and we need to operate with the assumptions that they will.” Creating activist art is something that we have to do with consideration of the audience that it will be given to. People are always going to react and whether they do with agreement or violence is not our choice to make. This chapter highlights more than just the history of the civil rights movement in America, or how the black panthers sought to revolt within politics, but also within the rest of the world’s history and how activist art can be seen in their past major events too. When Rosa Parks rejected giving up her seat to a white male, even this was seen as staged artistic activism due to the impact it has had on history as well. The second quote I have taken from this chapter is within page 128 “It’s easy to get dispirited as an activist. Because of this it is important to bring creativity, joy, pleasure, and play into activism.” As you can see in the readings, it is mentioned a lot where the activists noticed that they did not want their messages only to appear headstrong, but creatively as well. That’s why in protests such as the ACT UP where their posters contained homosexual images alongside heterosexual ones, you can see the mixture of creativity alongside activism. Also the women get creative during the “second wave” where feminists hold a demonstration outside the Miss America Pageant, tossing bras and girdles into a “Freedom Trash Can”. Getting creative is one step that should be recognized when starting or joining an activist movement, making it more artistic, so it can appeal more to the public eye and impact better.
From the reading of chapter 4 of from The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert, the first quote I have taken is from page 156, “Sometimes even what we take to be the negative aspects of pop culture contain positive lessons; for instance, that pop culture provides many with a comforting escape.” I think many can agree that culture powerfully affects how our artistic activism will result in. Being a conscious or subconscious influence in how we live and create in our daily lives. Speaking about pop culture, we have to know what is attracting all the attention so our artwork can be influenced by it as well. Knowing what is hip in pop culture is important for artists so that we all can be up to date on the latest trends. Even if that means analyzing a movie in theaters after we have watched it and using that to influence our next artwork. The next quote I have taken from this reading is on page 166, “There is no way to escape culture. What we can do is create forms of culture that express the values we want to see reproduced, instead of passively accepting those of the dominant culture.” Like using alt culture to push forward what we believe in or using pop culture to influence what we believe in, we must use culture in a positive way to influence these beliefs. If something is not reaching the general audience then alt culture can be used by taking what is not that recognized and pushing it into a broader scale for people to notice. Once we do this we can turn that into pop culture which is recognized by a broader audience. Culture is something that has always been and will always be so to use it to our advantage is the best chance we can take to make artistic activism great.
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