Performance Art Intervention - Rocco Francisco (Mental Health Piece)

Instruction Piece: Wall Piece

    Identify a wall

    Get up from your seat

    Touch the wall

    Sit down in your seat   

    Ask yourself, why did I choose that wall? 

Art Intervention: Mental Health Piece 

Video

    My choice for the art intervention was to do a short combination of instruction and interview with people in a way that could be repeated by myself or others. In this case, I filmed with friends asking them to think of someone important to them, tell them they appreciate them, and ask them if they are okay. Afterwards, I asked when was the last time someone checked on them, and followed up by asking how that made them feel.

 Artwork from the Textbook: Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya's The Third of May 1808

    Part of my inspiration for my art piece is that of Francisco Goya's The Third of May 1808. This was one of the first activist pieces I had ever seen, yet remains in my mind very clearly due to the way that it made me think many years ago. The topics of war and suffering are often explored in activist art; however, few capture it in a way that is as captivating and disturbing as Francisco Goya's work.     

    Captivation, to me, is an important part of visual and performance art when it comes to delivering a message. I sought to find this sense of captivation by involving others in my performance art directly  through participation. That way, a difficult topic like mental health could be absorbed and remembered, just as Goya's exploration of war is remembered today.

Yoko Ono's Cut Piece and Instructions

    Another person I took inspiration from was Yoko Ono. Often misunderstood and glossed over by her relation to John Lennon, Yoko Ono knows how to take advantage of vulnerability to deliver a message. Cut Piece, which was discussed in class, had active participation from an audience to create implied messages related to vulnerability and the objectification of women. 

    Along with this sense of vulnerability was that of instruction in my piece. I took inspiration from Yoko Ono's published instruction book, Grapefruit, which was shown in class. By instructing people to do specific actions, they are put in a position of active participation, understanding the themes of the performance not just through viewing but through action. In this way, by taking inspiration from Yoko Ono, my performance piece was not just a performance through my questions and instructions, but a performance shared by the other person's participation.

Chapter 3: History

"A great deal of activism and political art is directed toward criticizing what we don't like. Occasionally it suggests the steps we might need to take to change things. But sometimes the best way to bring the world we want into being is to act "as if" it is already here."

    I think this quote is important as it covers an idea that can easily be overlooked. To want change is to want something to be different, and sometimes the solution is as simple as enacting it immediately. If an audience can see something that works in play instead of being stuck as a hypothetical, the impact can be more immediate instead of only existing as a mere idea. This makes activist art and performance art particularly powerful.

"...we are working within the very culture we are trying to change. But within even the most oppressive of societies there are pockets of counter-culture and of resistance that provide a cultural foundation -- stories, songs, and institutions -- upon which we can build." 

    Sometimes it is easy to gloss over the fact that the culture we are trying to change is typically our own. If we are trying to change the world, we are trying to change a world that we all live in. It is with this context that people must work with and work around, otherwise efforts may be misguided. The upside to working within our own culture is that we are already familiar with it, and use it as a starting point to promote change.

Chapter 4: Culture

"But art is also used to challenge authority and privilege, often precisely by challenging how those in power see the world. That privileged perspective is confronted when artists represent reality in different lights, showing the world from different perspectives."

       Every person is equal when they are viewing art, as regardless of background each person is viewing the same piece. In this way, art can be created in order to "challenge authority and privilege" by bringing truths related to power to light in ways that can be viewed by everyone. That way, those who abuse power can be questioned by those in less fortunate positions, and those who are in less fortunate positions can be provided with a voice.

"One of the biggest mistakes an artist can make is to fool themselves into thinking they can create outside of culture. They can expand it, turn it inside out, and refute it, but the one thing an artist cannot do is create outside of it. If they could, the products of their labors would not only be meaningless to their audience, but also to themselves."

    Creation inherently relies on culture. It is with this fact that people need to adjust what they are doing. Any viewer relies on their background to create a context for what they are viewing, and those who create any piece also draws from their own background as well. What they choose to do with that culture is their choice, but it has to be acknowledged for any work to have meaning and effect.