DOCSLIB.ORG

“Up to and Including Her Limits”: Body

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Up to and Including Her Limits”: Body “UP TO AND INCLUDING HER LIMITS”: BODY LANGUAGE AND BODY POLITICS IN PERFORMANCE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AUGUST 2012 By MarCia Roberts-Deutsch DissertAtion Committee Kathy Ferguson, Chairperson JonAthan Goldberg-Hiller Kathie Kane MiChael Shapiro Cynthia Franklin KeyWords: AbrAmović, feminist theories, MendietA, performanCe Art, SChneemann 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS AcknoWledgements . .3 AbstrACt . 4 Chapter I: MApping the Terrain . .5 Chapter II: WAlking through History . .10 Chapter III: Setting Theories in Motion . 38 Chapter IV: The Erotic Body: CArolee SChneemann (1939 - ) . 67 Chapter V: The Ecological Body: AnA MendietA (1948-1985) . .94 ChApter VI: The ExistentiAl Body: MArinA AbrAmović (1946 - ) . .119 Chapter VII: Moving Together . .148 Bibliography . 179 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MoirA Roth, Trefethen Professor of Art History, Mills College, OAklAnd, CAliforniA, and author of The Amazing Decade: Women and Performance Art in America 1970- 1980, for her enCourAgement And vAlidAtion of the frAming of this reseArCh. The Getty ReseArCh Institute of The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CAliforniA for providing ACCess to the CArolee SChneemann pApers (1959-1994) As A stAck reader in the Special Collections ReAding Room. The DepArtment of PerformanCe Studies, Institute of Performing Arts, in the TisCh SChool of the Arts, NeW York University, for providing visiting sCholAr privileges And ACCess to the Elmer Holmes Bobst LibrAry And its Avery Fisher Center for Music And Media. 4 ABSTRACT The triAngulAtion of politiCAl And feminist theories, the ArC of modern Art history, And A post-CArtesiAn perspeCtive on the relAtionship of mind And body creates a conceptual space Within Which to consider a particular genre of Artmaking—performanCe Art. This dissertAtion seeks to explore And elAborAte thAt spAce through selected CAse studies of Works by three Artists engaged in performanCe: CArolee SChneemann, AnA MendietA, And MArinA AbrAmović. AcknoWledging and exploring the relationship between art and politics is essential to this enterprise. Just As the engAgement of politiCAl themes (e.g., CritiCAl AnAlysis of struCtures of poWer, or making visible the Assumptions underlying soCiAl stAtus) may Add An ACtivist dimension to the Content of Art-making, so politiCAl disCourse may be endoWed With An AesthetiC dimension, if thAt is understood As the just And purposeful shaping of assertions of visible presence and effective action in the world. Thus the larger intent of this projeCt is not simply to engAge in A hermeneutiC ApproACh to the Works in question, but to Consider hoW understAnding performanCe in the context of Art-making might open WAys to An understAnding of being And acting in a larger political arena. 5 CHAPTER I: MAPPING THE TERRAIN Imagine tWo images, brought side by side ACross the Centuries. On one side, an engraving of the torso of a sovereign, whose own body is not covered with chain mail, but Comprised, upon Closer inspeCtion, With the entWined forms of many bodies. On the other side, a photograph of bodies, unclothed and also entwined, CAught in A moment of sensuAl intensity. EACh image represents thAt entity “the body politiC.” This is more thAn An evoCAtive metAphor; it is A WAy of thinking about hoW the embodied Citizen, the embodied self, pArtiCipAtes in the ConversAtions thAt feed ContemporAry politiCAl disCourse. The first image is, one might reCognize, the frontispieCe for Hobbes’ Leviathan, published in 1651. It is, for its time, A remarkAble, even surreAl, image, CApturing in visuAl form the interdependenCe of the CorporeAl ColleCtive of the ruled And the ConsCious mind of the ruler. The seCond image, more ArCAne, is A still photogrAph from A film of the 1964 performanCe Meat Joy, A Work by performanCe Artist CArolee SChneemann. These images of bodies point to Another metAphor, Another operAtive prinCiple, thAt of “body lAnguAge.” If lAnguAge, As most reAdily understood, is An ArtifACt of mind or intelleCt, then WhAt is to be made of the expressive And CommuniCAtive CApACity of the body? If the body speAks, WhAt does it sAy, And hoW does it sAy it? If one body speAks, hoW might Another body reCeive And Attend to thAt messAge? This dissertAtion engAges these metAphors And Adds to them the infleCtions of gender As it informs A more generAl And post-CArtesiAn sense of embodiment, And 6 of performativity As it informs A more generAl sense of expressive CApACity thAt is not only aligned with but constitutive of personhood. These concerns coalesce in An exAminAtion of performanCe Art, WhiCh Arises most fully in mid-20th century but has some importAnt preCursors thAt either set the stAge or AntiCipAte defining conditions of the genre. The connection betWeen Art And politics has long been fraught With CompliCAtions, And this inquiry engAges in thAt ConversAtion With full reCognition of those diffiCulties, primary Among them the feAr thAt in the enCounter Art Will be reduCed to propAgAndA, the ideologiCAl hAndmaiden of politiCs. It is hoped that through this engAgement, An understAnding of Art Will emerge With A greAter sense of its trAnsformative poWer, And An understAnding of politiCs Will emerge With A greAter sense of the importAnCe of the AesthetiCs or the shAping prACtiCes of its discourse. ChApter II inCludes A brief history of A very Complex And multi-faceted genre. While the foCus is on performanCe As it hAs Come to be defined And manifested sinCe the mid-20th Century, it is instruCtive to begin Almost tWo Centuries eArlier, With sightings of social behavior—the Dandy and the flâneur--thAt might be Considered proto-performative— preCursors to ContemporAry manifestAtions. This ChApter Will Also provide A Context for the individuAl CAse studies or performative profiles of three Women Artists with a long-term engAgement in the genre of performanCe Art. ChApter III engAges severAl theoretiCAl perspeCtives thAt inform, And Are informed by, the speCifiC manifestAtions And multi-faceted or hybrid nature of performanCe Art. Questions rAised by the linguistiC resonAnCe of the metAphoriC 7 constructions “body politic” and “body language” find credible ground in J. L. Austin’s theories of linguistiC effiCACy. Given thAt bodies Are most evidently gendered (though not constrained by a gender binary), the work of Judith Butler And in pArtiCulAr her ConCept of performativity, WhiCh oWes muCh to Austin, provides A CritiCAl Context in WhiCh to Consider the doing (As distinCt from the being) of personhood. Michel Foucault’s discussion of parrhesia, in consonance With Butler’s frAming of “exCitAble speeCh,” vAlidAtes the soCiAl And politiCAl signifiCAnCe of speaking out, of speech that Works Against the grain of convention And constraint. Together they Also provide insight into the role of personal Agency in shaping social performanCe As A malleAble prACtiCe. Given thAt performanCe Art most often tAkes place in a space that is redefined or realigned for that purpose, the socio-spAtial impliCAtions of performanCe Are Also informed by the Work of JACques RAnCière And others. Chapters IV through VI Are devoted to individuAl studies of the Works of three performanCe Artists in the Context of the historiCAl And theoretiCAl frAmeWorks previously established. Given the extraordinarily diverse range of artists associated With this genre, Any seleCtion of exAmples is, of neCessity, ArbitrAry even if instructive—the seleCtion of some Artists, some themes, hAs led if not to the exClusion then to the deferrAl of others; so for exAmple, markers of rACe, ClAss, And sexuAl orientAtion have not been the focus here, Although they have figured in other performanCe Works by other Artists. While ContemporAry performanCe prACtiCes emerged in the seCond hAlf of the 20th century in Europe (e.g., the Situationists) and in AsiA (e.g., the Gutai group in post-war Japan) this researCh has foCused on artists 8 Working in the United StAtes And more speCifiCAlly in NeW York City, ACknoWledged As A major (if not primary) Center of the Art-world during this period. These artists have developed extensive And sustAined bodies of Work, WhiCh exAmines And illuminAtes different AspeCts of gender politiCs. For the most pArt, this Work is independent of text or speech, so that the Actions of the body per se Are pArAmount. ThAt they Are Women is, As Will be made CleAr, CritiCAl to An exAminAtion of gender politics within, and beyond the art world, which has long over-enCoded the female body As objeCt, While marginAlizing the Woman As subjeCt And prACtitioner. CArolee SChneemann, one of the eArliest to develop performanCe Works in the shifting mid- 20th Century terrAin, to Whom homage is pAid in the title of this dissertAtion, WAs instrumentAl in shifting the disCourse from female sexuAlity to A more nuAnCed AWAreness of sensuAlity As A profoundly human Attribute. CubAn-born AnA MendietA, like SChneemann, provided A disCourse to engAge And CompliCAte An essentiAlist perspeCtive, And explored one of the most venerAble Alignments—that of Woman And eArth—in WAys that Anticipated What Would lAter be expressed in eCofeminism. MArinA AbrAmović, from the former YugoslAviA, instrumentAl in moving performanCe Art from margin to mainstreAm, hAs CreAted Works thAt explore AspeCts of human behAvior—quotidian, ritualized, banal, profound—that invite ContemplAtion of WhAt it meAns to be embodied And—as a consequence— mortAl. WhAt makes performanCe Art politiCAl? WhAt might it tell us, through embodied expression, About the body politiC in WhiCh We Are All entWined? SinCe the research for this dissertAtion begAn, the genre of performanCe hAs gAined 9 substAntiAl visibility. At the sAme time We Continue to live in A soCiopolitiCAl environment in WhiCh bodies And lives Are AlWAys on the line: vulnerAble to fresh assaults of physical violence on the one hand, altered by the transformations of teChnology on the other.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Modernism 1 Modernism
    Modernism 1 Modernism Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism was a revolt against the conservative values of realism.[2] [3] [4] Arguably the most paradigmatic motive of modernism is the rejection of tradition and its reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody in new forms.[5] [6] [7] Modernism rejected the lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking and also rejected the existence of a compassionate, all-powerful Creator God.[8] [9] In general, the term modernism encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions of an Hans Hofmann, "The Gate", 1959–1960, emerging fully industrialized world. The poet Ezra Pound's 1934 collection: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. injunction to "Make it new!" was paradigmatic of the movement's Hofmann was renowned not only as an artist but approach towards the obsolete. Another paradigmatic exhortation was also as a teacher of art, and a modernist theorist articulated by philosopher and composer Theodor Adorno, who, in the both in his native Germany and later in the U.S. During the 1930s in New York and California he 1940s, challenged conventional surface coherence and appearance of introduced modernism and modernist theories to [10] harmony typical of the rationality of Enlightenment thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • Ana Mendieta and Carolee Schneemann Selected Works 1966 – 1983
    Irrigation Veins: Ana Mendieta and Carolee Schneemann Selected Works 1966 – 1983 On view April 30 – May 30, 2020 Ana Mendieta. Volcán, 1979, color photograph Carolee Schneemann, Study for Up to and Including Her Limits, 1973, color © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC photograph, photo credit: Antony McCall Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York Courtesy of the Estate of Carolee Schneemann, Galerie Lelong & Co., and Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York P·P·O·W, New York “These obsessive acts of re-asserting my ties with the earth are really a manifestation of my thirst for being.” Ana Mendieta Galerie Lelong & Co. and P·P·O·W present Irrigation Veins: Ana Mendieta and Carolee Schneemann, Selected Works 1966 – 1983, an online exhibition exploring the artists’ parallel histories, iconographies, and shared affinities for ancient forms and the natural world. Galerie Lelong and P·P·O·W have a history of collaboration and have co-represented Carolee Schneemann since 2017. This will be the first time the two artists are shown together in direct dialogue, an exhibition Schneemann proposed during the last year of her life. In works such as Mendieta’s Volcán (1979) and Schneemann’s Study for Up To and Including Her Limits (1973), both artists harnessed physical action to root themselves into the earth, establishing their ties to the earth and asserting bodily agency in the face of societal restraints and repression. Both artists identified as painters prior to activating their bodies as material; Mendieta received a MA in painting from the University of Iowa in 1972, and Schneemann received an MFA from the University of Illinois in 1961.
    [Show full text]
  • Fresh Meat Rituals: Confronting the Flesh in Performance Art
    FRESH MEAT RITUALS: CONFRONTING THE FLESH IN PERFORMANCE ART A THESIS IN Art History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS By MILICA ACAMOVIC B.A., Saint Louis University, 2012 Kansas City, Missouri 2016 © 2016 MILICA ACAMOVIC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FRESH MEAT RITUALS: CONFRONTING THE FLESH IN PERFORMANCE ART Milica Acamovic, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2003 ABSTRACT Meat entails a contradictory bundle of associations. In its cooked form, it is inoffensive, a normal everyday staple for most of the population. Yet in its raw, freshly butchered state, meat and its handling provoke feelings of disgust for even the most avid of meat-eaters. Its status as a once-living, now dismembered body is a viscerally disturbing reminder of our own vulnerable bodies. Since Carolee Schneeman's performance Meat Joy (1964), which explored the taboo nature of enjoying flesh as Schneeman and her co- performers enthusiastically danced and wriggled in meat, many other performance artists have followed suit and used raw meat in abject performances that focus on bodily tensions, especially the state of the body in contemporary society. I will examine two contemporary performances in which a ritual involving the use of raw meat, an abject and disgusting material, is undertaken in order to address the violence, dismemberment and guilt that the body undergoes from political and societal forces. In Balkan Baroque (1997), Marina Abramović spent three days cleansing 1,500 beef bones of their blood and gristle amidst an installation that addressed both the Serbo-Croatian civil war and her personal life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unpublished Works of Ana Mendieta Olga Viso
    rl-001-076_Mendieta_Lay.qxd:Layout 1 15.07.2008 16:08 Uhr Seite 1 rl-001-076_Mendieta_Lay.qxd:Layout 1 15.07.2008 16:08 Uhr Seite 2 2 rl-001-076_Mendieta_Lay.qxd:Layout 1 15.07.2008 16:09 Uhr Seite 3 UNSEEN MENDIETA THE UNPUBLISHED WORKS OF ANA MENDIETA OLGA VISO PRESTEL MUNICH BERLIN LONDON NEW YORK rl-001-076_Mendieta_Lay.qxd:Layout 1 15.07.2008 16:09 Uhr Seite 4 Cover: Documentation of Feathers on Woman, 1972 (Iowa). Detail of 35 mm color slide Back cover: Documentation of an untitled performance with flowers, ca. 1973 (Intermedia studio, University of Iowa). Detail of 35 mm black-and-white photo negatives Page 1: Untitled (detail), c. 1978. Blank book burnt with branding iron, 13 3⁄16 x111⁄4 in. overall. Collection Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections, purchased with funds from Rose F. Rosenfield and the Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc. Frontispiece: Ana Mendieta (foreground) and Hans Breder in a field of flowers, Old Man’s Creek, Sharon Center, Iowa, 1977. Detail of 35 mm color slide © Prestel Verlag, Munich · Berlin · London · New York, 2008 © for the text, © Olga M. Viso, 2008 © for the illustrations, © Estate of Ana Mendieta, 2008 All photographs of works by Ana Mendieta are courtesy of Galerie Lelong, New York, unless otherwise indicated. Prestel Verlag, Königinstrasse 9, D-80539 Munich Tel. +49 (89) 242908-300, Fax +49 (89) 242908-335 Prestel Publishing Ltd. 4, Bloomsbury Place, London WC1A 2QA Tel. +44 (020) 7323-5004, Fax +44 (020) 7636-8004 Prestel Publishing, 900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, N.Y.
    [Show full text]
  • The Art of Performance a Critical Anthology
    THE ART OF PERFORMANCE A CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY edited by GREGORY BATTCOCK AND ROBERT NICKAS /ubu editions 2010 The Art of Performance A Critical Anthology 1984 Edited By: Gregory Battcock and Robert Nickas /ubueditions ubu.com/ubu This UbuWeb Edition edited by Lucia della Paolera 2010 2 The original edition was published by E.P. DUTTON, INC. NEW YORK For G. B. Copyright @ 1984 by the Estate of Gregory Battcock and Robert Nickas All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast. Published in the United States by E. P. Dutton, Inc., 2 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-53323 ISBN: 0-525-48039-0 Published simultaneously in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Toronto 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Vito Acconci: "Notebook: On Activity and Performance." Reprinted from Art and Artists 6, no. 2 (May l97l), pp. 68-69, by permission of Art and Artists and the author. Russell Baker: "Observer: Seated One Day At the Cello." Reprinted from The New York Times, May 14, 1967, p. lOE, by permission of The New York Times. Copyright @ 1967 by The New York Times Company.
    [Show full text]
  • Online, Issue 15 and 16 July/Sept 2001 and July 2002
    n.paradoxa online, issue 15 and 16 July/Sept 2001 and July 2002 Editor: Katy Deepwell n.paradoxa online issue no.15 and 16 July/Sept 2001 and July 2002 ISSN: 1462-0426 1 Published in English as an online edition by KT press, www.ktpress.co.uk, as issues 15 and 16, n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal http://www.ktpress.co.uk/pdf/nparadoxaissue15and16.pdf July 2001 and July/Sept 2002, republished in this form: January 2010 ISSN: 1462-0426 All articles are copyright to the author All reproduction & distribution rights reserved to n.paradoxa and KT press. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, including photocopying and recording, information storage or retrieval, without permission in writing from the editor of n.paradoxa. Views expressed in the online journal are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. Editor: [email protected] International Editorial Board: Hilary Robinson, Renee Baert, Janis Jefferies, Joanna Frueh, Hagiwara Hiroko, Olabisi Silva. www.ktpress.co.uk n.paradoxa online issue no.15 and 16 July/Sept 2001 and July 2002 ISSN: 1462-0426 2 List of Contents Issue 15, July 2001 Katy Deepwell Interview with Lyndal Jones about Deep Water / Aqua Profunda exhibited in the Australian Pavilion in Venice 4 Two senses of representation: Analysing the Venice Biennale in 2001 10 Anette Kubitza Fluxus, Flirt, Feminist? Carolee 15 Schneemann, Sexual liberation and the Avant-garde of the 1960s Diary
    [Show full text]
  • THE UN-HEROIC ACT Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women’S Art in the U.S
    PRESS KIT, SEPTEMBER 1 30, 2018 THE UN-HEROIC ACT Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women’s Art in the U.S. curated by Monika Fabijanska exhibition accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalog September 4 – November 2, 2018 Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York New York City The following material contains 1/ press release 2/ public programming 3/ the outline of the exhibition structure, with all artworks accompanied by an image, caption, and description 4/ artists’ biographies Public programming details will be announced at the press preview Captions must be used as provided in this document. For website and print quality images, please contact [email protected] Please contact the gallery at [email protected], 212.237.1439 for inquiries, images and interview requests. You may also direct questions to the curator, [email protected] For more information, visit www.shivagallery.org, detailed updates at www.monikafabijanska.com ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION (in the chronological order of the work creation): Yoko Ono Natalie Frank Ana Mendieta Jennifer Karady Senga Nengudi Sonya Kelliher-Combs Suzanne Lacy Andrea Bowers Lynn Hershman Leeson Ada Trillo Carolee Thea Kara Walker Guerrilla Girls Roya Amigh Jenny Holzer Naima Ramos-Chapman Kathleen Gilje Bang Geul Han Angela Fraleigh Guerilla Girls BroadBand 1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THE UN-HEROIC ACT: Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women's Art in the U.S. curated by Monika Fabijanska September 4 – November 2, 2018 opening reception: September 12, 5:30-8:30 PM symposium: October 3, 5-9 PM tours & artists talks: September 26, 6-8 PM, October 24, 6-8 PM gallery hours: Monday-Friday 10-6 Suzanne Lacy, Three Weeks in May, 1977, paper, ink ©1977.
    [Show full text]
  • View Program
    Y HELLENIC REPUBLIC MINISTRY OF CULTURE & SPORTS STATE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ORGANISATION – P RODUCTION Biennale Director STATE MUSEU M Syrago Tsiara OF CONTEMPORARY ART Head of Αdministrative Services - Project Management BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION Athina Ioannou President Curatorial Team Andreas Takis Yannis Bolis Vice President Angeliki Charistou Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock Domna Gounari Areti Leopoulou Secretary Giota Myrtsioti Thodoris Markoglou Eirini Papakonstantinou Members Evi Papavergou Alexandros Baltzis Katerina Paraskeva George Divaris Maria Tsantsanoglou Aliki Kostaki Syrago Tsiara Anastasios Nikakis Lois Papadopoulos Museographic Design George Tsakiris Anastasia Valavanidou Registrar - Artworks Conservator Director of SMCA Maria Tsantsanoglou Olga Fota Electrician - Lighting Supervisor Director of the Contemporary Art Kostas Kosmidis Center of Thessaloniki (CACT) Syrago Tsiara Public Relations - Communication Chrysa Zarkali Director of the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography (ThMPh) Public Relations Support - Adaptation Hercules Papaioannou of Graphical Applications Cleo Gousiou Editions Kleoniki Christoforidou Educational Programs Evi Papavergou Katerina Paraskeva Secretary - Volunteering & Internship Program Christina Plevritou Accountants Department Dora Kaipi Areti Karavassili Maria Pournou SMCA Reception Georgia Lili State Museum of Contemporary Art CACT Reception 21 Kolokotroni St., Moni Lazariston Eleni Stergiou 564 30, Thessaloniki, Greece Cleaning T: (+30) 2310 589141 & 143 Thomay Katrana F: (+30) 2310 600123 Maria
    [Show full text]
  • Ana Mendieta.Pdf
    Osterweil/Mendieta SOMETHING IS AMISS in the first shot of Ana Mendieta’s film Moffitt Building and then take it out again. Although she kept her films short and silent, she Piece, 1973. The image is of an ordinary white Midwestern exterior with a glass learned to maintain her poker face by eliminating the subjective perspective of door and a storefront window, both blinkered by venetian blinds. Neither the the camera and ceding to a more neutral viewpoint. And though she jettisoned address number (230) nor the old-fashioned lettering (h. f. moffitt) provides the kind of visual mediation and distance provided in Moffitt Building Piece by much of a clue. But after a few moments, the camera tilts down to what looks the car’s windowpane, Mendieta remained ambivalent about direct encounters like a bloodstain on the sidewalk in front of the adjoining door. The blot seems with the body. Over the next decade, she continued to question the imperfect out of place, for nothing else in the scene portends violence. Before we have a evidence of being. chance to figure out what has happened, the camera zooms impatiently into the Much of the attention given to Mendieta’s art has focused on the photographs spill, insisting that we bear witness even as passersby do not. There isn’t just of her earth-body works. With a few notable exceptions—including the 2013 trav- liquid saturating the threshold, but grisly matter. eling exhibition “Ana Mendieta: Traces,” which opened at the Hayward Gallery This is the doorway to Mendieta’s apartment building in Iowa City, 1973.
    [Show full text]
  • Over Front Cover
    Introduction: An art of the precarious Aaron Levy Edited Transcript: Master class with Carolee Schneemann Jordyn Feingold, Erica Levin, Aaron Levy, Emma Pfeiffer, Justin Reinsberg, Nicole Ripka, David Wilks, and Elliot Wolf sales rep: 1st ofa date: artist: cust: control: job #: Back Cover Front Cover rel #: Introduction: An art of the precarious there’s always these sort of tensions, of reference, but it’s a very succinct little Aaron Levy essay concerning the violence that has always been historically embedded against cats and women, the demonization of them both in early history and For many years, Carolee Schneemann’s work has foregrounded the relationship how that has its residual aspects still. between the artist’s body and the social body. Her art, her relationships, and her institutional negotiations have all foregrounded the fundamental relationship EL: I’ve been wondering about the repetition that happens in Mysteries of between the individual and socio-cultural conditions. She has enabled us at the Pussies, with the Finnish echo of what you say in English. Of course that Slought to think in similar terms, and to negotiate our position, identity, and probably has something to do with the context in which it was made, but for an practice in relation to the city and beyond. English audience there’s also something that I found really moving about how it takes these terrible accounts and turns them into something unrecognizable The word precariousness is often understood in terms of vulnerability, and if you don’t speak the language. There’s something really interesting about how the condition of being dependent on unknown conditions and uncertain that works in the piece that I found myself thinking about a lot afterwards.
    [Show full text]
  • Fluxus: the Is Gnificant Role of Female Artists Megan Butcher
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College Summer 7-2018 Fluxus: The iS gnificant Role of Female Artists Megan Butcher Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Contemporary Art Commons, and the Other History Commons Recommended Citation Butcher, Megan, "Fluxus: The iS gnificant Role of Female Artists" (2018). Honors College Theses. 178. https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/178 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pforzheimer Honors College at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The Fluxus movement of the 1960s and early 1970s laid the groundwork for future female artists and performance art as a medium. However, throughout my research, I have found that while there is evidence that female artists played an important role in this art movement, they were often not written about or credited for their contributions. Literature on the subject is also quite limited. Many books and journals only mention the more prominent female artists of Fluxus, leaving the lesser-known female artists difficult to research. The lack of scholarly discussion has led to the inaccurate documentation of the development of Fluxus art and how it influenced later movements. Additionally, the absence of research suggests that female artists’ work was less important and, consequently, keeps their efforts and achievements unknown. It can be demonstrated that works of art created by little-known female artists later influenced more prominent artists, but the original works have gone unacknowledged.
    [Show full text]
  • PAJ 115 (2017), Pp
    Moving Marks Brooke Carlson Draw to Perform 3, live drawing performance symposium curated by Ram Samocha, The Crows Nest Gallery, London, July 30–31, 2016. he resurgence of drawing within contemporary art comes at a time in the digital age in which it is important to trace the traditions and conventions Tof what it means to draw. This resurgence is seen in recent museum exhi- bitions such as Drawing | THE BOTTOM LINE at S.M.A.K in Belgium (2015–16), annual festivals such as Drawing Now in Paris or The Big Draw in the UK, and in contemporary spaces such as Drawing Room, London (founded in 2002), specifically dedicated to the drawing discipline. Over the past few years, the per- formative aspect of drawing and the role of the body in the gesture has become increasingly prominent. Evidencing the physicality of the body in the drawing process has risen in response to the continually advancing digitalized and tech- nological versions of writing, drawing, and marking. By crossing over into the field of performance art, artists have begun to explore how far the gesture can be extended regarding method, process, materials, space, and duration. This investigation of performative drawing was highlighted at the international live drawing symposium Draw to Perform 3. Curated by Ram Samocha, an artist who specializes in performative explorations of drawing, the symposium opens up a platform for inquiry, experimentation, presentation, and discussion. From eighteen different countries, thirty-six artists with diverse practices and artistic backgrounds are drawn together to participate in the two-day event. The connec- tion between these artists is their constant query: “How can you make a mark and how can it be interpreted?” Organizing the event in two parts—a twelve-hour day of both short and long durational live performances, followed by a day of workshops mentored by six of the participating artists—the curator does nothing short of maximizing the opportunity for both artists and audiences to connect and share the experience of live drawing.
    [Show full text]