Performance or Performance Art?

In Seattle Washington in the bustling area of Pioneer Square tucked under art galleries and boutiques is one of the biggest tourist attractions, the Seattle Underground Tour. This historically educative and elaborate tour entertains the audience as well as giving them an insightful view on the way of life in the founding years of Old Seattle. Considering its neighboring artistic establishments, could this underground tour fall under another classification? The general contemporary definition of performance art (2) is constantly metastasizing into new dimensions. From its traditional identity of the simultaneous exhibition of painting, photography, sculpture and live performance to its new limitless realm of technological media. This underground tour offered many multifaceted dimensions alluding to the perpetually grey definition of the many multifaceted elements of performance art.

As you enter under the heavy antique doors, the conceptual possibilities of the identity of this tour are swung open. As the audience crams themselves in a small room cascading with an elaborately carved wooden bar reminiscent of an old western saloon, they sit with eyes eager and cameras ready. Then walks in the well educated, humorous and witty tour guide eagerly armed with microphone in hand. But his identity is something to scrutinize. Is he a performer, insightful educator or both? As this tour unfolds with a humorous briefing on the history of the toilette it becomes entertaining much like performance art. On the other hand it is not nearly so far deconstructed or ludicrously abstracted like contemporary conceptual performance art can be that the average viewer would get lost in its content. An example of such is a performance clip (3) from a Japanese Design event in Tokyo.This clip is obviously at the awkward and ridiculous end of the spectrum but still is labeled as performance art not just a performance or odyssey.

Further into the tour the audience is escorted on a physical journey into the depths of "Old Seattle" located a few feet below ground level. As the audience descends the creaky stairs case to a damp basement reminiscent of an oubliette with old Seattle photos covering the walls, there is a feeling of total transportation. Isn't that one of the many points of performance art, to shift the viewer’s perception by any means into another point of view? To isolate conceptual ideas of which the performance art piece is aiming to isolate?

Another performance art facet to the tour were hundreds of old, broken, ridden hard and put away wet artifacts lying dormant in the abandoned corridors. These objects resemble nothing less then neglect, so much so that the patina of time on them could resemble artifacts in a mummy’s tomb. These tubs, registers, toilets and pipes all look to be the shells of objects once relied on. Much like an ancient artifact isolated and preserved in a museum, or even a “readymade”(1), these objects have a new existence away from the one that was originally intended for them. Generally speaking readymades “ are an everyday object placed out of its original domain into a new point of view and new thought"(1). Time and isolation took these old Seattle artifacts into another level of definition and existence and into something of their own making. These now redefined fossilized objects could very well be “ readymade” works of art in their own right. Is the tub a tub or does it establish another identity like its family member " R. Mutt”?

What is the defining moment when a premeditated visual and investigative event becomes performance art or presentation? Much like the corridors of the underground, these questions become to dissolve into the dark even more. The experience is alien, enticing, perplexing and fascinating at the same time. Either way in both scenarios, questions, new discoveries and a lot of content leave the audience with a taste of the banquet but yet no real opportunity to bight into the experience due to the monumentally consuming amounts of information and surrounding stimulus. Is it performance art or an entertaining educational endeavor? In conclusion the tour was memorable, amusing, and enlightening no matter which classification it may lie.

Slide Show of Entire Tour


Works Cited:

1)Theodore Gracyk, Philospphy and the Arts. Examples of the work of Marchel Duchamp, MNstate, www.mnstate.edu, June 18, 2004
2)Shelly Esaak, Art History 101- Performance Art. New York Times Company, www.arthistory.com, 2008
3)Utube, Performance Art, 23rd Design Festa, Tokyo Japan, www.utube.com, May 29, 2006

Eva Wilson

[Pause]


The Brian Denis show at the Sande Webster gallery in center City Philadelphia is a collaborative mix of approaches to one main theme. This particular exhibition shows works of mixed paper, torn digital prints, large-scale rainbow dots paintings and one installation in a bay window. Though most of the works seem to be presented through different media but the common denominator is the duality of experiences one can have when faced with the uncontrollable elements of nature. The over all jester of this exhibition was the notion of how we journey through the unknown variables of life and how it feels to be controlled by something uncontrollable.
To the right of the gallery are many installments of the “ (mondays) Retreat” series. These works are made of small hanging paper, digital prints, metal leaf and wood. There is a constant color scheme of grey, black, and blue with some streaks of bold color. This series has a very subtle touch of chance and control through artist’s intentions of tearing and placement. Each work has different elements of tension, friction, elegance and texture. It is a journey through the artist’s eyes on how he addressed the unpredictable elements of chance with the torn mediums through his placement of them.
Along the walls there hangs the series “ High Castle” which are many large-scale paintings executed with meticulous dots. The works all seem to mimic one another due to the same palate each one shares along with the rainbow wave like dot patterns that flow over each surface. The placement of the paintings seems to be as important as the composition. The light of the gallery hits the paintings on the brightest point of the composition. The color of the painting gets darker the further away it gets from the light. Where there is a light source in the painting there is a literal one hitting it. Could this be apart of the artists content as well? This could further exemplify the Denis’s intentions of nature defining reality. The physical light source of the gallery is literally developing as the light source of his own work. The diverse repetitious movements of the colors all seem to cave in the wake of the light source, thus further illustrating the cause and effect of nature.
At the end of this gallery space is a large bay window in which the work “Helm Drop” is installed. It seems to be the exclamation point of the artist’s intentions. Set behind these windows is an undulating pattern of blood cell like forms made from open weave red and orange metal mess. Behind that there seems to be a network of iridescent ribbon, but this is very hard to see. This work contains luminous unknown variables, much like nature. “Helm Drop” embodies repetitious forms that are set against the variables of the out doors. This provides the obvious elements of chance and variation of nature directly into the work rather then mimicking it as it did literally with the works “ High Castle”. The changes in nature give this work it’s life and death. As the sun moves the light changes creating shadows which present the feelings of weight and mass then the light hits other parts creating the feeling of illumination, wonder, and weightlessness. But with all this constant changing one thing remains, the physical window with the installation stuck behinds steel bars. This exemplifies Dennis’s concept of the ever changing elements of nature placed against the unwavering steel bars of our own physicality.
This show reflects on emotion and our own fragility as we are placed in the uncontrollable arms of nature. Knowing the artists intentions makes the reasoning behind the execution of his work easier to grasp. All of the bodies of work seem to address these issues in different ways, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. From the boldly colored works in the series “ High Castle” to the dull works on paper in “ (mondays) Retreat” all deal with the unknown element of nature. The cause and effect that can introduce itself changing everything around it. Then the there is “Helm Drop” which pulls the show together conceptually and visually. The show is small and personal. Stop and sit on the aluminum chairs and take a moment to listen and observe the quite messages from all different directions.

Dong Ding the Ensemble could Ring

Maneuver through the chiming bamboo curtain and arrive in a gallery turned into a musical playground. In ICA’s massive lower level is a collective array of art works from various artists both from the past and contemporary. The art works are composed of many diverse mediums such as chimes, broken pottery, clothes, wood panels, string, statues and trash. Although different in physicality, the works conceptual intention is sound. Curiosity and obscurity is the overall impression of the unique and diverse works but only a few rise above their physical and auditory limitations to become something more.
The curator Christian Marclay’s intention for Ensemble was to bring together a collaboration of diverse sculpture and installation art works from a vast array of artists that engaged the element of sound. By doing this there would be a contrast of visual elements but more importantly different acoustical components that would take up the massive lower level space of the ICA. Like an orchestra these works all play their own part in creating a musical environment that engages people to physically interact with the work and also witness it. From the loud motion detected bell to the hand held bell, these works put the viewer in an unfamiliar place of play and involvement. The regular art audience that would see a show is now seeing and hearing it. The Ensemble experience is not a conventional one, so it can’t be experience conventionally.
Apart from hearing footsteps in this large gallery space there are the random bangs and clangs from the motion detected works to the noises of people playing with other installations. As the surroundings become familiar, the contrasting qualities of the works become more apparent. Some are subtle and demand a delicate ear while others are startling with abrupt rude hammering. Overall only a few stand out among the acoustic ciaos and ascend to another place.
The delicate work of Celeste Bousier-Mougenot “Untitled series #3” seems to be in a world of its own, which is an achievement being among all the noise. In a serene blue blow up pool floats delicate china. There are bowls, glasses, and dishes engaging in a slow circulating waltz in the safe boundaries of the pool. The calm Ti-chi movement of the dishware is engrossing. Upon closer evaluation there can be heard slight tapping and tinkering of the glasses against the china. Much like when Alice was listening to the mad hatters tea party, the viewer can close their eyes and imagine ease dropping on a dinner party. The viewer can feel as if they are listening to a secrete event that they were lucky enough to have paid attention to.
To the right of the gallery against the wall is another work that seems to rise above the rest. This work by David Ellis “Untitled” is not obviously incorporating the aspect of sound. It is in essence a heap of trash shoved against the wall of the gallery. Upon closer inspection there can be heard the swishing of the trash bags, the tinkering of cans opening and closing and things banging in the large aluminum trashcan. The element of imagination is again coming into play in this work as it is in the work by Boursier-Mougenot. This work takes the viewer to another place outside of the works visual and auditory limitations. It is not just a device of random auditory occurrences but an artwork that sparks curiosity and wonder as to the source of its sound.
Reflecting on contemporary concerns on the classification of art, the show Ensemble stretches the definition of what an “art show” can be by utilizing under stimulated senses. This show embraces the unfamiliar and helps expand on the possibilities of sculpture, installation, and new ways of show casing art. The audience delves into strange territory that moves them to embrace the Ensemble show by using not only the sense of sight but also sound. This places the audience in a fresh frame of mind that opens them up to a new art experience. So is this an art show, or just an exhibit of fun creative devises? Who is to say? To experience a show such as this is a very refreshing one. Ensemble is a playful, engaging, obscure and curious show that should be encouraged for people of all tastes to visit and investigate.