Performance Artists.

Performance art is when the artist and his work are publicly performed. The art form began with surrealists and Dadaists, but became popular in the 19060's and 1970's. Performance art can be created using sound, the human body, or the creation of art.

Dadaists begin a form of performance art in the 20's using mostly in sound. It was called sound poetry. They were called sound poets. Some even used objects to create sound, like Kurt Schwitters. Another part of Dadaists performance art consisted of what is know as Negro chants, which included theater and dance.

In the 1950's a group emerged know as Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (Gutai Art Association). It was formed in 1954 by Yoshihara Jiro, Kanayma Akira, Murakami Saburo, Shiraga Kazuo, and Shimamoto Shozo in Osaka, Japan and had dissolved by 1972 when Yoshihara died. The group would do many public performances, which consisted of such things as rolling in mud, painting on layers of newspaper, or running through screens. "The art historian Yve-Alain Bois has said that 'the activities of the Gutai group in the mid-1950s constitute one of the most important moments of post-war Japanese culture' (http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=130).

(http://nezumi.dumousseau.free.fr/japon/j2/japarmurakami2.jpg)

Around the same time the Nouveau realists also accepted the performance art, also known as Happenings. Happenings were theatrical events and would take place in an installed environment with light, sound, and slide projections. The Nouveau Realists most associated with this form was Yves Klein.

George Mucunas founded another group, known for their performance art and influenced by the Dadaists, during the 1960's. The group was called fluxus (meaning to flow out or a flow of living art). They would have music and give performances at concerts and eventually would take their art to the streets.

One of my favorite contemporary artists is heavily involved with performance art. While these pieces are usually filmed, Mathew Barney will either jump, attach himself to a wall, trampoline, or use some other action that restrains him and makes it difficult for him to complete his drawing. While performance art is fairly new, it is not as commonly used. It is, however, still around.

(http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/original/12.Barney.DR6_web.jpg)

Performing Kaprow's Activities

When performing Kaprow's activities, I was actually pleasantly surprised. Linnie and I chose to do tail wagging dog which consisted of one partner following the other while stepping on the partner's shadow. When the follower stepped off the shadow they had to clap two rocks together and switch rolls. Originally I expected it to be uneventful. Once Linnie and I got started though. we made it some more fun. It was kind of difficult to step on the shadow. The sun was high in the sky when we performed our activity at 2 pm making the shadows smaller. We also thought it would be more fun to do the performance in a more publicly place so we followed each other to Starbucks where the dim lighting still allowed us to follow our shadows. The cashier was ignoring us or he was busy, but either way he did not react to us strangely, unfortunately. In the end, this activity overall was not as easy or boring as I had originally expected.

Museums: Past vs. Present vs. Future

Technology has the fascinating ability to create a new path for us in the blink of an eye. Up until the 1960’s the world had to listen to their music on vinyl of the radio. Then we evolved from vinyl to 8-tracks to cassette tapes to CD’s and now most of us download are music off the Internet in the form of mp3 files. Technology has also advanced changes in nuclear weapons, cars, the food industry, and so many others. It is scary to think of how fast our society has progressed and changed our world in such a short period of time. With access to the Internet, our knowledge and communication of information has been increased faster than ever and technology is constantly able to moved us into new worlds.
Another benefited/victim of the ever-changing technology is the museum business. These effects are discussed in the two articles “Is There a Future for Old-Fashioned Museums?” by Joel Garreau and “Art Museum Expansion: A Constructive Trend?” by Blake Gopnik. The biggest similarity between the two articles is in relation to the internet. With the first article, Garreau explains how the museum might move to being internet based so to increase people's interest in the material. Gopnik however discusses how the internet is increasing people's interest in large museum's and makes the museum's overcrowded, therefore they have to increase the building to accommodate more people and larger collections.
It will be interesting to see what will happen to museums with the approach of the 21st cetury. Most likely they will start having internet museums, but I believe large weekends will only continue to grow as more people learn and here about them with the spread of knowledge through the internet. I believe with the increase of internet knowledge, museums will become more interesting to society again because people will want to become more cultured.
Because of this, technology will largely influence museum expansion because the buildings will need more area to fit the larger masses. I personally feel that museum expansion has good and bad effects. Larger museums means larger collections of works, and I believe our society would benefit greatly from being more cultured, which larger museums will allow. I feel that larger museums do not dilute the quality of work, but does however does help spread the crowds out to help not dilute the museum experience. One can not fully appreciate the subject matter when they are surrounded by groups of people or feel like they are in they way. Larger museums mean though that people might not be able to experience all of the work. Therefore they have increased their chances of missing things they would really like. Larger museums and internet museums have both positive and negative side effects, but either way I think they are unavoidable and both will increase in numbers during the 21st century.

La Mariee mise a nu par ses celibataires, meme (or The Bride Sripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even)

In La Mariee mise a nu par ses celibataires, meme (or The Bride Sripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even), also known as The Large Glass, Duchamp takes abstraction to the next level. The two large glass plates are a collection of media which includes paint, wire, mirror plating, and even dust. He uses these to create the image of a single figure in the top image, and 9 figures in the bottom. While Duchamp claims that the title is not meant to be taken as lierally what he desired the images to be depicted as, one cannot help bt associate the single fiure as a women and the 9 bottom figures to be 9 males waiting to win over the lady. The figures appear to be in two separate rooms.
If I had to guess at first would think all the images were placed in different areas of an attic. After having read the excerpt on Duchamp's piece by Calvin Tompkin, I begin to look further into the piece. I was able to see the tension between the male figures and female figure. She obviously has some power over them, based upon her placement in the upper part of the piece. I also could see why feminists could be offended because of the portrayal of the woman beingg chased by 9 men like she was an animal.
While typically I am a fan of DuChamp's work, The Large Glass is not one of my favorites. I find it to be just too abstract for my taste. I find the mix of mediums to be interesting, but the presentation to not be at the same level in quality.

A World of Patterns

When talking about designs, patterns are of major concern. Walking into my room, one can find on my wall sheet coverings of a repetitive pattern, the carpet is a pattern, my bed sheet is a pattern, the floor tiles are a pattern, everything is a pattern. According to my room, it appears as though the general consumer enjoys repetition and symmetry. But why is their such an abundance of patterns in our society? We are a society that enjoys traditional beauty. I guess patterns are almost predictable. Maybe we don't like things to be too inconsistent.


(http://www.sunna.info/souwar/data/media/6/islam11.jpg)



(http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070224/f8196_6249.jpg)


While looking up floor tiles, wall coverings, fabric prints, and genral ornamentation, I found most items to have a symmetrical and to be in a pattern. By my 10th page of google images I found much of it to be quite boring. However, when I looked up Islamic Architecture, I once again found interst in patterns. Perhaps it is because I am not as used to the colorful Islamic patterns, but I did find it to be quite beautiful. The patterns produced a magnificent, endless effect that would make building look grander and larger than they truely are. Perhaps the best way to summarize Islamic architecture said by Grube:

"Its effect is extraordinary and its function quite unmistakable. It goes hand in hand with the non-directional plan, the tendency to an infinite repetition of individual units (bays, arches, columns, passages, courtyards, doorways, cupolas) and the continuous merging of spaces without any specific direction or any specific center or focus. And if a definite spatial limit is reached, such as a terminal wall, the surface that should stop the progress of anyone moving through the building will be decorated with patterns that repeat themselves, leading on visually beyond the given limit of the wall, surface, vault or dome (http://www.islamicart.com/main/architecture/intro.html)."

These patterns were often found in important buildings, but it really helped add to its grandeur. While patterns can sometimes be too repetative and familair in our society, I was able to find Islamic patterns to be able to capture my interest.

(http://www.travel-earth.com/iran/isfahan-imam-night.jpg)