BODY ON EDGE 1960 - 2000 TO PERFORM, DOCUMENT OR CYBER-INVADE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE BODY ON EDGE. Physical presence and the moment Alan Kaprow’s Happenings, 1960s 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, 1959 Fluids, 1967 Marina Abramovic and Ulay: Nightsea Crossing, 1981-87 Marina Abramovic - The Artist Is Present, 2010 http://marinaabramovicmademecry.tumblr.com/ Documentation On the 20th March 2017, Art student Matt Doughty asked the question “Does performance need to be performed live or even performed at all to be successful?” Matt Doughty: Presentation 20/03/2017 In the presentation he discusses how as students we are familiar with works by Marina Abramovic, Carolee Schneemann’ Valie Export and many more. Even though we have not seen these performances live. This being down to photographs and text documenting the performances. Matt presents a series of works by the Artist Valie Export , demonstrating how her work has been documented throughout her career. 20/03/17 Presenting the following text by Body Artist Gina Pane, in a conversation about her use of photography in her performances. “It creates the work the audience will be seeing afterwards. So the photographer is not an external factor, he is positioned inside the action space with me, just a few centimetres' away. There were times when he obstructed the [audience’s] view!” Matt introduces the idea that many body artists not only welcomed documentation of their performance but also used it as a medium with a clear consideration of its use. In the case of Gina Pane it could also be argued that the photographer is not only documenting the performance but is also an element within the performance itself. Matt has a terrible coughing fit and is unable to continue and is quickly replaced by an otter called Trevor. Trevor says “he’s sorry, for the disruption” and moves back onto the presentation. Trevor shows some images, highlighting some of Gina Pane’s work. Linking onto the previously discussed artist, he says “that while Gina pane uses documentation as part of her performance, there are some that actually use documentation as either the, or as a way to bypass, a performance. Trevor even raises the question if documentation gives more creative freedom to an Artist. Body art tends to be quite extreme on the body, which provides a restriction as there is limit of it being physically impossible or it causing serious harm or even death. He asks “What if there was a way to document a performance that would be impossible to perform in reality”. He introduces the class to the artist, Hayley Newman In her series of works titled ‘Connotations’ Newman parodied the documentary process of performance. The images were forged along with the text recording the performances as if they had happened. The work of Newman leaves Trevor asking to what difference does the fake images provided by Newman to the images provided by artists such as Export and Schneemann. This leaves Trevor concluding that documentation can be just as effective as live performance and should be considered as a medium and like all artistic mediums it really lies on the ability of the artist on if that medium is a success at conveying the desired outcome. Trevor back at home after a busy day, 21/03/2017 Within or without? Art or self mutilation? Franko B - I’m not your babe 1, 1996 Lara Chamas - PA4979017, 2016 Beyond the moment • Being Posthuman • Challenging the notion of humanism • Gender Assignment, IVF Reproductive Technologies, Plastic Surgery… • Artist ORLAN has embraced the notion of posthumanism, modifying her ‘natural’ body and pushing it to extremes with plastic surgery • French Artist ORLAN • Surgical Performances • Re-Incarnation of Saint ORLAN • Pushing her body beyond with implants • Challenging posthumanist identity • ORLAN has moved beyond her natural body by her radical use of technologies • These body modifications reinforce the notion of being posthuman • The series of performances exists beyond the moment https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/working-on-my-novel-cory-arcangel-in terview-124 ‘Working on my novel’ TO PERFORM, DOCUMENT OR CYBER-INVADE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE BODY ON EDGE. • the body as a medium • how anthropocentrism affects art • how complex the system of viewing and interacting with art has become. • How can we separate things into ‘art’/‘body art’/‘documentation’, and how can we identify what is art and entertainment? • Where is the edge of our bodies, is this limited to our physical body, and how far can we push them? • Where is the edge of art and where is the edge of the product of people’s interest?.