4D

     This project was inspired, in part, by the movie “The Artist is Present”.  After watching the movie, I realized that people carry a lot of emotional baggage. I guess I always knew that, but the movie really reinforced the point that it can be a life long struggle.  Physically being chained to the bags, even for a short duration, was limiting and cumbersome.  It was difficult to move.  I got tangle in the chains.  It was surprisingly uncomfortable. The same difficulties happen when we drag emotional baggage around. Cutting away the chains was physically and symbolically liberating. The video ran a little long because it was harder to cut the chains than I expected.  Not because the cutters were not strong enough, but because I had difficulty using them.  Just an unintended metaphor that organically occurred in the performance.  I came back for the cutters because I think it is important to reinforce the idea that people should take the tools they have with them.

     Overall, I did not like this documentary, mostly because I found a lot of the performances to be dark or negative.  For instance, cutting yourself or slamming yourself into a wall.  However, that does not mean that I did not find some points interesting and find a take away message.  I found it interesting to see all the work that it takes to make a performance piece on the scale of the performance at the MOMA.  It was also interesting to see what influence and motivates an artist.  Watching the biography of Marina Abromovic gave insight into her works.  It appears that her childhood has had a profound influence on her art and performances.  The issues of discipline and lack of affection as a child resurface often in her works.  Even the MOMA exhibit is about the discipline and need for affection. Sitting in a chair 6 days a week, 7 hours a day for three month takes immense physical and mental discipline.  The lack of affection is satiated by performing and by the 750,000+ people that came to the exhibit. The take away from this documentary, for me, was to be aware of how the past influences the present and the future. To be aware of how past life experiences influence the art that is produced.  How much these experiences impact an artist is not necessary good or bad, but it is important to that the artist be aware of them.

     Performance art according to Goldberg “...is about the crossbreeding of the arts...”  This is what makes performance art so interesting. Performance art can be as common as an open mic night or as haute as a performance at the MOMA.  It defies the traditional constraints of “fine art” and open up possibilities for artists.  Performance art has been used to make social and political statements, to challenge social beliefs and to increase an artists audience base.  Performance art requires the audience to interpret the experience of the art instead of the just viewing a static work.  Performance art is a radical concept, making performance art difficult to classify and evaluate.  

Three line drawings

Verb list

     The objective of this assignment to make something vanish and then reappear and then vanish again reminds me of the cycles that occur in life and in nature.  Tree leaves, plants, and flowers disappear in the fall only to reappear in the spring.  This occurs on a yearly cycle.  There is the cycle of birth and death and then rebirth or transformation, depending on your beliefs.  Fractals are repeating, never-ending patterns.  They remind me of the cycles found in nature and in the cycle of life.  They can appear chaotic and random, but are highly organized and structured.  Moving them on and off screen makes them vanish and reappear in a physical context. Overlapping the fractals causes them to disappear and re-appear in a transformative context.  Their original state vanishes when overlapped, then reappears when not overlapping.

4D Assignment #4: Video

4D Video Assignment due 11/3/16