Friday, February 4, 2011

rhyme on happenings

Quite honestly, I'm struggling to write this post because I didn't have much of a strong reaction to the happenings or Kaprow either way. I have three sisters who have either a) graduated with degrees in dance or b) are attending school as dance majors. The oldest lives in Chicago and she's involved with dance that borders on the edge of performance art, so I've been semi-familiar with that part of the art world for six years or so.

I've never been a part of a happening, don't get me wrong! But I have definitely seen many shows that have been bordering the line between traditional dance/performance art. Maybe it's because I'm already familiar with this area that I find it difficult to write about? My reactions to it have dulled somewhat over the years...I guess I generally don't mind performance art either but because it's such a physical interactive experience I find it difficult to describe verbally.

ANYWAY I will talk about Miranda July instead because I think she's great.



She's a visual & performing artist--her performance-based pieces are (at least to my knowledge) much more scripted than the Fluxus pieces or the happenings, and she's also written and directed a few short films. What really draws me to her is that connection she establishes between different people--I've talked about this is almost all of my posts so far so I feel kinda repetitive! But the way people connect, interact, and inspire each other, indirectly or otherwise, is something that fascinates me. In a way, I suppose the happenings are exploring this idea as well, but much more abstractly. It's easier for me to connect to people like July, though it may partially be because it's easier to experience her work. Man the more I think about it the more complicated my thoughts are! Augh. Time to stop, I think.

2 comments:

  1. What about how you are participating with celebrity culture by hi-jacking those hi-res portraits and PhotoShopping in your face? What does that mean and how does it connect to Kaprow's ideas about blurring art and life and performer and participant?

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  2. I agree that performance in all always matter more than what the topic/theme is actually.I could not understand the comment of Shimon that what you did on Photoshop.Have you done that?
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