Curating in the Age of Live Performance Allen S

Curating in the Age of Live Performance Allen S. Weiss

Figure 1. Raimundo Borges Falcão (b. probably late 1940s near Salvador, Bahia, Brazil) in his carnival disguise at Carnival Fantasia “Blue Shark.” Near Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 2000. Color photograph 7˝ × 5˝. (Photo by Dimitri Ganzelevich; courtesy of Beate Echols and the American Folk Art Museum)

A radical paradigm shift concerning the theorization of Outsider Art recently occurred with the exhibition When the Curtain Never Comes Down, shown at the American Folk Art Museum in 2015, and its accompanying catalog.1 Consideration of this event thrusts us into the ambiguities and contradictions of Art Brut and Outsider Art, as well as into the complexities of the contemporary sense of “performance,” such that we enter a hermeneutic labyrinth where categories are confounded and ontologies destabilized. Curator Valérie Rousseau presents the project in terms

1. This text first appeared as “L’art brut au risque du musée” inCritique (Paris) 863 (April 2019), trans. Philippe Roger. — Ed.

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146 Allen S. Weiss [email protected] Distinguished Teacher ofPerformance intheDepartments Studies andCinema Studies atNYU. recently produced thefilmDolls ofDarkness(2016), aboutNedjar’s dolls andtheHolocaust. He is and play forelectronic marionetteandtapedvoice basedon thewritingsof Valère Novarina; 1999–2001) Audio Mimesis (2008),aswell asanovel,Le Livre bouffon(2009).He directed TheateroftheEars(a gastronomy, theatre, andexperimental soundart, includingPhantasmic Radio(1995)andVarieties of Allen S. Weiss landscapearchitecture, is theauthorandeditorofover theory, 40booksinperformance museum, withtheexceptionofworksindonationthat DanielCordiergavetotheCentre Art (Los Angeles CountyMuseumof Art, 1992), thefirst largegroupingof ArtBrutinamajor curator Maurice Tuchman organizedtheexhibitionParallel Visions: Modern Artists andOutsider tural world(Cardinal1972:180). This momenthascome, withavengeance. Notthatlongago, astutely wonderswhetherthemakersof Art Brutwillfabricate a Trojan horsetoenterthecul- lunatic drawings”)(1976:168);andintheverylastsentenceof OutsiderArt, RogerCardinal Art Brutcreators, GuillaumePujolleandOttoStein(albeit listingtheworksas “anonymous of Silence([1951]1953), André Malraux, culturalinsiderparexcellence, reproducesworksbytwo the verymomentofitsinception., OnthelastpageofArtBrut Thévoz notesthatinTheVoices options: segregationorassimilation. Yet Art Bruthadalreadybeguntoenter The Museumat eventually destroytheveryintegrityofsuchworks. We arethusconfrontedwithtwopossible art establishmentisappropriating Art Brut, asithasdevouredallelse, anassimilationthatwill becomesobsolete,come whenthetermArtBrut art; orelsethatthe andthereremainsonly ical: eitherthatsuchworkshavebeenscandalouslyexcludedfromarthistory, butthedaymust eschew. Indeed, thetwomostoftenheardcomplaintsamongamateursof Art Brutareantithet- and curatesuchworksbringsthemtheircreatorsfurtherintotheartworldthey tion astheconditionsinequanonofexistence Art Brut, everyattempttowrite, collect, that hasnoothernamethanlife, waitingtobeexpressed. instrument ofdiscoveryandself-discovery, atooltotransformconsciousness, revealingaforce understood aslessacategory(thoughcollectorsandcuratorstreatitsuch), andmorean tive 1967:175–76). This anti-institutional, countercultural, anti-aestheticpositionremainsseduc- of IMPLICITlanguages. Art brutisartbrut, andeverybodywellunderstandsthis” ([1947] quite abit. Almost tokillit[...]Iwashardlybornmakethingsexplicitbutratherasalover (1949): de l’ArtBrut “To define something earlier ([1972]1977). DubuffetestablishedthisgambitinaliminarytexttothefirstFascicule ing theradicalepistemologyofDeleuzeandGuattariinAnti-Oedipus, publishedfouryears speaking of “an upsurgeofsingularitiesandintensitiesunknownorigin” (1976:167), echo- what isdeemedart. to callthe “artworld” (1964) outside culturalinfluences, markingtheirradicaldifferencefromwhat ArthurDantowillcome different privateworld, andtheironlythingincommonisthatsuchartexistsasfarpossible fit alltheworksinthiscategory, aseachcreationisareflectionofdifferentmentalposition, a and inhisprefacetoMichel (1976),Thévoz’s ArtBrut heclaimsthatnocommondefinitionwill at arigiddefinitionwouldbeantitheticaltothespiritofartisticopennessthathepromulgated, that doesnotknowitsownname, artthatisleastlikeart. Dubuffetwellknewthatanyattempt purity findsitshyperbolicinstanceinJeanDubuffet’snotionof ArtBrut, thecelebrationofart or pointsofreference” (17). This Romanticvestigeofacertainidealaestheticandexistential producing workswith “no dependenceonthe Western artcanon” (2015:7)and “without guides familiar toamateursof Art Brut, writingofthe “utter self-sufficiency” ofthe “solitarycreator” The paradoxesandcontradictionsareineluctable:generallyspeaking, givenmarginaliza- Thévoz inturngoesontoclaimthat Art Brutisthenameofthatwhichcannotbedefined, — Danse Macabre (amarionettetheatre forthedollsofMichel Nedjar; 2004,2009), andmost for both Art Brutandexperimentalartalike — that intellectual, social, andeconomicsystemthatdetermines — or eventoisolateit — thus “Art Brut” maybeproductively — is alreadytodamageit

Curating in the Age of Live Performance 147 - and replayed. This mechanism leads us to examine and replayed. — the equivocations of Art Brut should not come as a sur the equivocations of Figure 2. Palmerino Sorgente (b. 1920, Castelforte, Italy; d. 2005, Montreal, Montreal, 2005, d. Castelforte,1920, Italy; (b. Sorgente Palmerino 2. Figure 1999. Canada, Montreal, Street, Notre-Dame on workshop his in Canada) Cyr Marie-Christine by (Photo artsdes Société Collection Montreal. indisciplinés, arts des Société © courtesyindisciplinés; American the of Jr. Aubin Georges and Museum) Art Folk — - - one role of exper —

Dubuffet’s polemic in Dubuffet’s polemic in favor of these strange, eccen- favor of these strange, works has extraordinary tric, field of devolved into an entire and the- criticism, art history, at the core of which are all ory, the paradoxes and contradictions that at first made for such but which are a lively polemic, now put in the service of museological categories of inclu- Perhaps sion and exclusion. the greatest irony is that it was Dubuffet himself — the most anti-institutional and counter cultural of aestheticians (if one dare use the word in this context) — who effectively - institu Art Brut in 1976 with tionalized the creation of the Collection Given de l’art brut in Lausanne. itself remains “art” the fact that undefinable imental art being to belie any definition that might be proffered Pompidou in 1989, and the inclusion of works of the mentally ill in the infamous Entartete the mentally ill in the of works of and the inclusion in 1989, Pompidou was Tuchman When 1937). (Munich, organized by the Nazis Art) exhibition Kunst (Degenerate artists on modern influence of Outsider revealing the he chose to do an exhibition asked why - that no board of trust he answered Art, a show on Outsider simply organizing art rather than Consider changed. This has certainly that. would agree to museum in the USA ees of a major and York), Art (New Museum of Modern has entered the the work of Henry Darger that today that there have been count- has attained an auction price of $750,000; that one of his works and major collections galleries, as well as dozens of museums, subject, less exhibitions on the chief art critic of the Art; and that even the to Outsider around the world dedicated New York As was This is all quite inside. has long been dedicated to this sort of art. Roberta Smith, , Times how radical and conten- no matter the entire history of the avantgarde, the case throughout and commodify art of every sort, normalize, always manages to assimilate, “art world” the tious, Art Brut included. prise. Art Brut is a victim of its own success, and it has attained its ultimate paradox: perhaps and it has attained its ultimate paradox: Art Brut is a victim of its own success, prise. and we is indistinguishable from art simpliciter, Art Brut the moment has indeed come when Despite need no longer preface such discussions with parables and paradoxes of creative purity. makes a crucial move in bringing these works Rousseau several obligatory bows to Dubuffet, “the mnemonic qualities of such insisting that, into a broader and more contemporary context, works origi- visual experiences are partly indebted to the ceremonial background in which the nated and will be subsequently perceived An entire museological program (2015:21). the contextualization of images and their sources” unfolds: the polemic concerning sources is precisely the point where the relations between art brutcontextualization complicates claims about the sup- and art simpliciter are to be found; broad suggests continuities between posed self-sufficiency of the solitary creator; the study of ceremony places us within the con- and ethnography; and the problematic of replay sociology, psychology, temporary discourse of performance and performativity. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on26 September 2021

148 Allen S. Weiss and Craftsmovement, Freud’spsychopathology ofeverydaylife, Russian andItalianFuturism, ify” ([1956]1959:72). Baudelaire’s dandy, Nietzsche’sÜbermensch, Wilde’s decadent, the Arts the worldisnot, ofcourse, astage, butthecrucialwaysinwhichitisn’tarenoteasytospec - nium oreventheatre. Orperhaps moreprecisely, associologistErvingGoffmanexclaims, “All “All theworld’sastage” istakenliterally, butinourtimeithasbecomeastagewithoutprosce - all thewhileevincingdesire toeliminatethedistancebetweenartandlife. Shakespeare’s resulting inreflections, theorizations, andpractices concerningtheroleofeverydaylifeinart, “What is architecture?” His answer: “Everything.” One might well say thesame of performance, mance, thoseobjectsthatwetendtoreferas “art.” morphing aesthetics. That said, wewouldalso need torethinkwhatremainsaftertheperfor larly transientnatureof “performance,” with itsadhoctheatricalarrangementsandconstantly would beephemera, indicatingtheevanescentnatureofallperforming arts, andtheparticu- a specialistonabstractart). Iftherewereasinglewordtobring togetherthesediverseworks, it rian (nottomentionatheologian), andRaphaëlLonnéthat of ahistorianspiritualism(and others), thatof Arthur BispodoRosáriodemandsthe erudition ofafashionandtextilehisto- ple, whiletheworkof Adolf Wölfli mightnecessitatethetalentsofamusicologist(amongmany to issuesofperformanceasanentryintothesediverse, andoftenrecondite, worlds. Forexam- where amorecomplexhermeneuticmechanismisnecessary. Rousseauthuscorrectlypoints understanding. Itisherethatonetouchesuponthelimitsoftraditionalarthistory, thepoint we attempttounderstandthem. Butperhapsthegoalofunderstandingalreadyprovokesamis- even saytheirunreality coherent universe. The uniquenessofsuchworksandworlds, theirunfamiliarity suggests auniversecomposedofendlessdisparateworldswhichdonot, however, constitutea leads tohypothesesaboutthesurroundingimaginaryworld, thesumtotalofalternateworlds the workof27radicallydifferentartists.) While eachlocaldescriptionofafictiveenvironment discrete, autonomousrealities” (1972:46). (Thisisevidentin ,When theCurtain... whichincludes be envisagedasformingablock, muchlessaschool. Ithinkitcrucialtoinsistonthenotionof art brutis, then, totalkaboutalargenumberofindependentartisticworldsthatoughtnot abnormal seemsincomprehensibletous. Who isnormal?” ([1949]1967:202). same asforallthosereputedlynormalpeople;andbesides, thedistinctionbetweennormaland speaking ofthementallyill, “the mechanismsofartisticcreationareintheirhandsexactlythe play, andart;(c) “cultural” artand Art Brut;(d)andultimately, artandlife. As Dubuffetinsists, as Freudsuggestedin “Obsessive Actions andReligiousPractices” ([1907]1959);(b)work, tinuity between:(a)pyschopathologicalsymptoms, religiousrituals, andartisticperformance, From scribblingwegetbothartworkandperformance. This wouldsuggestontologicalcon- tic, closertoanimpossibleprivatelanguagethancultural, symbolicformsofcommunication. forms ofexpression, derivedmostdirectlyfromthelibidoandunconscious, nearlysolipsis- that wesometimescallperformance. Suchscribblingsarethemostcorporeal, intimate, private vate orcollective 1972:14). Thus theoriginsofexpression abstract griffonage, orelsemovetowarddecoration, imagery, icons, symbols(Prinzhorn[1922] from afundamentalpracticeofunobjectivedisorderedscribbling, tracesthatcaneitherremain the needforexpressionfindsitsoutletaccordingtocertainGestaltconfigurations, stemming expression andcreativityamongmainstreamartists, nonartists, andthementallyill. Inallcases, name attheUniversityClinicHeidelberg)arguedthatthereisessentiallynodifferencebetween Hans Prinzhorn(whowasinstrumentalinorganizingthegreatcollectionthatnowbearshis the chaosbeneathimage. Already in1922thepsychiatrist, philosopher, andarthistorian Lyotard, Deleuze, Guattari, etal. Energy, excess, libido, singularity:theforcebeneathform, origin oftheseworks, athematictraversingmodernismviaNietzsche, Freud, Bataille, Artaud, Several decadesago, duringajobinterview, anowfamousarchitecturaltheoristwasasked: Cardinal perhapsbestformulatedthisepistemologyinaquasi-Borgesianclaim: “To talkof Of hermeneuticimportistheinsistenceon “excess ofenergy” (Rousseau2015:22)atthe — are gesturalactsthatleavetraces. Traces thatwesometimescallart, gestures — suggests thenecessityofafluiditycategoriesaccordingtowhich — artistic orquotidian, creativeordestructive, pri- — one might - Curating in the Age of Live Performance 149 all this surrounded by those — attention paid to “evanescent and unpredictable “evanescent and unpredictable attention paid to — Figure 3. Gustav Mesmer (1903–1994, Mesmer machine. flying his on Gustav 3. Germany) Figure courtesy© Stefan of Hartmaier; Stefan by (Photo 1990. Germany, Buttenhausen, Art Museum) Folk American the and Foundation Mesmer Hartmaier/Gustav Theatre Theatre ([1955] 1962); the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, ([1955] 1962); the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Words Things with How to Do stresses the varying modalities of performance. In traditional art history, the prelim- In traditional art history, stresses the varying modalities of performance.

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Eliminating the distance between art and life can have two diametrically opposed conse- Eliminating the distance between art and consists of works that are “underside of art brut and self-taught art” the As Rousseau insists, ([1938] 1958), that that and Its Double ([1938] 1958), “the- manifesto of an impossible would inspire so atre of cruelty,” much experimental theatre and performance to gave follow — some found It is telling that among those who witnessed this event, his famous poetry reading. felt that they while others they had ever seen, it to be among the most moving performances Art or life? Performance or failure? were witness to a pathetic mental breakdown. into a work of art (the aesthete); or it can integrate quences: either it can transform one’s life forms of theatre often indistinguishable from quotidian gestures and objects into unfamiliar A new discipline was needed to research this theatre- everyday events (the performance artist). It is would make of apparent failures its success. less theatre and to forge a new aesthetic that the mid-1970s York City during studies arose in New no accident that the field of performance 1960s in that following the momentous artistic transformations of the University, York at New ges- Theater (where a new school of dance incorporated quotidian neighborhood at the Judson (where John Cage had held his famed seminar, The New School for Social Research tures), found Soho (where the detritus of urban existence attended by many future Fluxus members), artworks of the century) its way into some of the most influential process over object and thus set the stage for the pre- conceptual artists who would emphasize This heterogeneous the gallery and museum context. sentation of ephemeral time-based art in notably the work of Richard Schechner discipline includes anthropology and ethnography, psy- and ritual; performance, (1974) on the relations among theatre, Turner Victor (1977) and Life ([1901] 1914); sociology, of Everyday especially Freud’s The Psychopathology choanalysis, Life ([1956] of Self in Everyday with Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis in The Presentation with the speech act theory 1959) of face-to-face interaction as a form of theatre; linguistics, Austin’s of J.L. This reconsideration of the object and (2015:8). “interdisciplinary rather than one-dimensional” performative field its relation to a broader, instal- music, sounds, bodily actions, (10) such as writings, “transient practices” (8) and signs” lations presence of inary gesturality or performativity of the creative act is generally sublated into the the Bauhaus, Les Annales, Annales, Les the Bauhaus, John Cage’s love Situationism, and so much Fluxus, of noise, brought into the more: art is - the most banal ges and street, to the realm of ture is elevated of such Under the pressure art. traditional the “worldliness,” has been “theatre” conception of recog- distorted nearly beyond of this A crucial moment nition. into life implosion of theatre Colombier Vieux occurred at Le when on 13 January 1947, Antonin — whose Artaud Judith Butler’s especially et al.; gender studies and queer studies, Guattari, Deleuze, Foucault, André Lepecki’s analysis of with theory of gender performativity (1990); and dance research, but a vast range of Not a unified theory for the field, failure as a mode of performance (2006). hermeneutic bricolage. utilized in an ever-expanding “tools” theoretical Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on26 September 2021

150 Allen S. Weiss transformed curatorialpractice, bringingallsortsofperformance conceptualization oftheartobject, onprocessasopposedtoobject. These considerationsradically has existedanaestheticdiscoursecenteredonthedematerialization, decommodification, and the finishedwork. Yet eversincetheadventofSituationism, Fluxus, andConceptual Art, there like acrab-louse onthephysiquethatitincubates orsuccubatesandthatit pretends tohave through thisrevindicatingvituperation wasacondemnationofthepsychicworldincrusted the obligationsofspatialform, ofperspective, ofmeasure, ofequilibrium, ofdimension;and these drawnandcoloredfigures wastheexorcismofacurse, acorporalvituperationagainst key declarationsconcerningwhat willcometobecalledperformativeobjects: “The goalof ing thosedrawingscreatedtoward theendofhislife, referredtoasgrigriandspells, are physical worksof Art Brut, andby “process” heisreferringtocreativity claiming that, “what countsisnotproducebutprocess” (1972:179). By “produce” hemeansthe expressive act. taught us, asign product maynowbefruitfullyreassessedinthecontextofperformative. As semioticshas can sellpaintingsmoreeasilythanlapsedevents. However, therelationsbetweenprocessand long beensubmergedunderformalistartcriticism, aswellundertheauctiongavel, forone graphs ofnakedwomenusedaspaintbrushes. Yet theperformativeaspectofPollock’sworkhas lar imagination, like Yves Klein’sAnthropométriesseries(1960)withits(oncescandalous)photo- depicting hishighlyexpressivedriptechnique, imagerythathasbecomeintegralinthepopu- the “action painting” ofJacksonPollock:weareaccustomedtoreferphotographsandfilms ist orobserver, whetherweanalyzethegestureorobject. Perhapsmostfamiliarwouldbe of “art”: twoaspectsofasinglephenomenon, differingonlyinpointofview, whetherofart- of thework. Onemightevenproposetheaporiabetweenformandexpressionasconstitutive foregrounding theexpressivenessofcreativeactandstressingformalcharacteristics mation. EversinceRomanticismthereexistedatensioninartcriticismandhistory, between and performanceperse formative (thepowerandmagicofobjects). trumpets, presumablybasedonnotationsthatappearinhispaintings); (d)theworkitselfasper machines); (c)performancesderivedfromthework(Adolf Wölfli playingmusiconhispaper the useofworkaspartaperformativeevent(GustavMesmer activatingoneofhisflying (no artwork, eventhemostconceptual, escapesthisfundamental levelofperformativity);(b) intuit severalpossiblemodesofsuch “performance”: (a)theexpressiveactofcreatingwork vre isaworlduntoitself, thestatusofobjectmightwelldifferfromworldtoworld. We may of theobjectinquestion, specificallyinrelationtoitsroleritualorperformance. Ifeachoeu- iconography forthesakeofnarrative:itisnecessarytodeterminepreciseontologicalstatus center onobjects, notperformancesassuch. Oneshouldbewareofthedangerindownplaying sideration oftheobject, buttransformsit. After all, nearlyalltheentriesinWhenCurtain... mative objects. Forparadoxically, focusontheperformativeaspectsofartdoesnoteliminatecon- ritualistic aspectsof ,Art Brutperformance butalsotoimagineanewontologyconcerningperfor tion “enactment ofthings” suggeststheneedtoconsidernotjustanaestheticrelated the mnemonic, andnotintheobject-orientedproduct” (2015:10). The somewhatunusuallocu- work liesinthisenactmentofthings, revealingthevirtueofintangible, theceremonial, and atrical sense, butitisnotdifficulttoextrapolate. Rousseau: “Theartisticvalueofperformance ent arthistoricallanguageiscalled “production” has becomethelocusclassicusofexperimentaltheatreandperformanceart, hisnotes describ on thesameperformativeandontologicallevel). While Artaud’s The Theatre andItsDouble Artaud’s desiretotransformtheactorintoahieroglyph(thus placingsign, body, andobject marionettes becomeactorsandhumansarerelegatedtothe realm ofobjects)to Antonin but asactororactantinitsownright, fromEdwardGordon Craig’sÜber-marionette (where Cardinal, followingDubuffet, celebratesthe “utter self-sufficiencyofthesolitarycreator,” Modernist theatrehashadalonghistoryofvalorizingobjects, notjustaspartofthedecor — and everyobjectisfundamentallyasign — into museumculture. There existsalonggenealogytothistransfor

— rather than “performance” inthemore- — is alwayssomehowlinkedtoan — music, dance, Happenings, — what inverydiffer - - - - - Curating in the Age of Live Performance 151 - - are about as close as — the varying roles of objects in perfor — what Jacques Derrida analyzed in terms of “forcener le what Jacques Derrida analyzed in terms of — and consequently, the private ritualist activation of these works’ the private ritualist activation and consequently, — or simply eccentric neurotic, be they psychotic, — in a list that is certainly incomplete —

(Artaud [1947] 1987:18). The “performance” in question is double: first, the violent the in question is double: first, “performance” The (Artaud [1947] 1987:18).

An object is always a sign (thus meaningful); always an event, albeit usually exceedingly slow An object is always a sign (thus meaningful); always an event, formed” formed” Figure 4. Arthur Bispo do Rosário (b. 1909, Japaratuba, Sergipe, Brazil; d. 1989, Colônia Juliano Moreira, Moreira, Juliano Colônia d. 1989, Brazil; Sergipe, Japaratuba, 1909, (b. Rosário do Bispo Arthur 4. Figure Photo Hahnemuhle on Print 1985. Janeiro, de Rio Moreira, Juliano Colônia the at Brazil) Janeiro, de Rio Galeria courtesycollection; private Livre 1937]; [b. Firmo Walter by (Photo 2/5˝. 35 × RagBaryta 3/5˝ 23 Museum) Art Folk American the and attack on the materiality of the page the activities asso- are forms of collective activity, While ritual and theatre magical capacities. Art Brut ciated with subjectile” (see Derrida 1986) subjectile” but deemed impossible, Wittgenstein what possible to a private world and a private language, One can provision- and of expression in general. art, what may function as a test of the limits of ally schematize mance, paying special attention to the degree of human agency and the relative autonomy of paying special attention to the degree of human agency and the relative mance, experimentation (disappearing after use); (b) accessory the performative object: (a) implement of or relic); (c) trace or documentation of performance of decor or performance (enduring as trace mar doll, puppet, audio); (d) simulacrum of performer (manipulated video, films, (photographs, electric, whether mechanical, of human manipulation, ionette); (e) unique entities (autonomous or electronic); (f) performative objects per “object”); (g) per se (the human body as performance se (animate fetishes or idols). This (thus animate); always fundamentally performative (regardless of human intervention). last half cen- would suggest a new aesthetic and a new form of theatre: in the art history of the led to the dema- the rise of conceptual art and the critique of the autonomy of the artwork tury, the multiple within the realm of performance, terialization of the art object; to the contrary, of things. use values of objects has led to a new stress on materiality and the relative autonomy what is at stake is neither performance (pro- In the current aesthetic and museological climate, “the contextualiza- but the relation between the two, cess) alone nor artwork (product) alone, This suggests the value of performance 2015:21). (Rousseau tion of images and their sources” “visual the term It is noteworthy that Rousseau uses theory as a guide to such interdisciplinarity. the gestural sources and the performative ends suggesting “works,” rather than experiences” in “replayed” that such objects and imagery will be to mention Furthermore, of iconography. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on26 September 2021

152 Allen S. Weiss formance underitspurview more readilycollectible” (Rousseau2015:7). The factthattheartworldhasrecentlytakenper and thatcollectorspublicinstitutionshaveprioritizedtheconservationofworkswere ists in theageofperformanceistoattendboth. ties). The verbandthenoun “work” (œuvre /œuvrer) areindissociable, andthegoalofcurator slow event(notonlygivenitsphysicaldegradationovertime, butalsoitsperformativepossibili- performativity”: whileanaestheticizedgestureisalreadyaworkofart, everyobjectisavery between gestureandobject, aproblematicinformedbywhatonemightcallthe “paradox of doned bytheircreators. Hencetheaporiabetweencreatorandcuratorwhichparallelsthat trary, isdedicatedtofindingnewcontextsandrolesforallthoseobjectsproducedaban- be ephemeralprops, alwaysgroundedinaspecifichistoryofexpression;thecurator, tothecon- cially concerning Art Brut transformed intoart. Mightthegoalsofartistandthoseperformancecurator reveals howritualtribalobjects, whentheyenterEuropeanmuseums, losetheirmagicandare into arthistory? A usefulparallelis Alain Resnais’sfilm, Lesstatuesmeurent (1953), aussi which neutic powersofinterdisciplinarity, draw Art Brutfurtherintothedisparagedculturalrealm, works? MighttheverycontextualizationdemandedbyRousseau, bringingtobeartheherme- moment whenthepolemichassucceededbeyonditswildesthopesinfamiliarizinguswithsuch etition benothinglessthanatactictomaintaindiscretediscourseof Art Brutatthevery of replay, preciselytofindpointsofreference. Mighttheslippagebetweensingularityandrep- core ofRousseau’sprojectistocontextualizetheworkswithinritualisticceremonialspace self-consciousness ofthe “solitary creator[...]withoutguidesorpointsofreference.” Yet the ritualistic twice-behavedbehavior, appearsasabowtoDubuffet, stressingthesolipsistichyper- referential” (inRousseau2015:10). To focusonsingularbehavioralone, withoutconsidering singularity [...] As anact, theperformativeisdefinedbysingularpropertyofbeingself- ond tothenthtime. Performanceis (1985:36). ‘twice-behaved behavior’” component ofperformance: “Performance means:neverforthefirsttime. Itmeans:forthesec- a ceremonialcontextpointsto(withoutexplicitlymentioning)whatforSchechneristhekey brut” (Cardinal 1972:46). This impliesalimit, and onemightaddaparadigm, onceweconsider that, asCardinalsuggests, autisticexperienceis “an idealpoletoorientourthinking aboutart where spectatorandcuratornecessarily misstheperformanceandmisrecognizeobject, such one mighthesitatetousetheterm “art” inthiscontext. This mostextremelimit of Art Brutis not knowitsname(seeforexample Fuchs1989). Itistrulyherethatartandlifemerge, though ditions constitutenotjustaform ofexpression, butoneofafundamentalartthatliterallydoes their creators, suchthatthegestures, grimaces, rants, andseizuresassociatedwiththesecon- guage, worldsthatarenotsomuchalternateorimaginary asprofoundlyandpainfullyrealfor art): totallyinaccessiblesolipsisticexpressions, artformsthat stemfromatrulyprivatelan- major collectionofsuchart gested bytheartist Arnulf Rainer within oroutsideofpsychiatricinstitutions? We reachthelimitsofepistemology, alreadysug- positive resistanceofartisticcreativity, orelseovercompensation forastiflingreality, beit ner: arethese Art Brutheterotopiasexpressionsofviable alternativelifestylesachievedbythe cussion oftherelationbetweenartandlifeinitsmostmaterial,, onecansaymostbrutal man- (Rousseau 2015:13), whichresultinheterotopias, “islands ofresistance” (22). This provokesdis- tices gatheredunderthecategoryof Art BruttoFoucault’snotion of “practices offreedom” its ofadiscoursethatoriginatedaslimits. Rousseauassimilatesthevariousprac- with personalexpression. The curatorbecomesagenealogistofthegesture. We areatthelim- of thissortareminimallyconcernedwithinstitutionalrecognitionandmaximally such ephemera The centralthemeoftheexhibitionisclear: “We canevensuggestthatmostself-taughtart- To thecontrary, RousseaucitesBirgitPelzer: “Performance presentsitselfasapracticeof — and Iwouldincludethosewhoconstructedartenvironments — has offeredanewparadigmforthefieldof ArtBrut, especiallysinceartists — — — be mutuallyincompatible!?Forperformingartists, objectstendto in hisnotionsof “autistic theatre” andKatatonenkunst(catatonic and creatednewmeansofdocumentationconservation — who isdeeplyinspiredby Art Brutandwhocreateda — are ‘performance artists,’ — espe- - Curating in the Age of Live Performance 153 - - - - that is to say, we the specta that is to say, — Figure 5. Hans Krüsi (b. 1920, Zurich, Switzerland; d. 1995, 1995, d. Switzerland; Zurich, 1920, Krüsi (b. Hans 5. Figure with Bahnhofstrasse, the at flowers selling Switzerland) St. Gallen, Black 1978. Switzerland, Zurich, lap. his on machine” “cow a © Meeuwse Eveline by (Photo 8.5˝. × 11.6˝ photograph white and Museum) Art Folk courtesy American the of Meeuwse; Eveline ------

regarding those performers for whom the curtain never falls, such is not parody or provo regarding those performers for whom the curtain never falls,

— To unfold the allegory of To tors And for us it always falls. Only we can see the curtain. but simply life. not theatre or art, cation, formative moment. Indeed, the very difficulty of determining whether or not a performance is Indeed, formative moment. as Rousseau argues, It is certainly the case, actually taking place is often part of the performance. parodies, “characterized by the presence of limit-experiences, Art Brut are that these works of whereas their However, (2015:13). situations” and burlesque provocations of moral standards, transgressive nature is apparent to those who are being parodied rical performance, now some other sort of temporal or spatial cue is necessary to mark the per now some other sort rical performance, tinuity between Art Brut and art tinuity between and between life and simpliciter, Whereas traditionally the opening of a proscenium curtain signals the beginning of a theat art. formativity than that of exper imental performative practices, and whether performance holds the key to establishing the con phor, and it would be fascinat phor, ing to spin out this allegory in relation to the theatre of Luigi Samuel Weiss, Peter Pirandello, and of Peter Brook, Beckett, Only then could Artaud. course Art Brut we determine whether evinces a different mode of per ers are condemned to perpetu It is difficult ally remain onstage. to know whether these actors are aware or unaware that this is all while we know that if theatre, it is much all the world’s a stage, larger then this small théâtre The “curtain brutnever . comes is thus a mixed meta down” scenium, thus a theatre; we the thus a theatre; scenium, spectators are fully aware of the spectacle and can leave at any while the perform moment, performance and formance art, a pro The curtain implies brute. the performative aspects of such aspects of such the performative not the most appro- Would art. - of the ephem priate celebration the experience pass, eral be to let This would perhaps unnoticed? the end of a certain indeed entail many move- but after all, art, pre- ments of the avantgarde their even demanded, dicted, own dissolution. “when the curtain never comes “when the curtain never the differences is to reveal down” per between modernist theatre, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00900 by guest on26 September 2021

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