The Art of Activism - Chapter 3
"When we act in order to bring about social change, it's important not only to 'demonstrate' what we are against in the here and now but also to create a vision of the world we would like to bring into being in the future."
I think this quote is quite accurate and true. So that whatever we are protesting has a real change and is more convincing, in some way, showing the changes in favor is a good strategy.
"We bring the future into our present and normalize as reality a state that still only exist in our imaginations."
The way I interpret this quote is that we can change our future if we put our minds to it. It can be anything we want
Khan Academy Performance Art: An Introduction.
"Following World War II, performance emerged as a useful way for artists to explore philosophical and psychological questions about human existence. For this generation, who had witnessed destruction caused by the Holocaust and atomic bomb, the body offered a powerful medium to communicate shared physical and emotional experience. Whereas painting and sculpture relied on expressive form and content to convey meaning, performance art forced viewers to engage with a real person who could feel cold and hunger, fear and pain, excitement and embarrassment—just like them"
this part of the text has made me reflect a little on how I perceive performance art. I have always preferred sculpture, painting or other types of art to performance art because of the way they can convey emotions, feelings and ideas. However, performance art allows me to see in the flesh these emotions, feelings and ideals of the artist himself at that moment. It is really powerful.
"Shifting attention from the art object to the artist's action further suggested that art existed in real space and real time."
as mentioned before. This connection and sudden sense of reality is much easier to achieve through performance art, it is much closer to me and more impactful than seeing a painting or reading a poem that feels somewhat distant to me.
Yoko Ono - A Groundbreaking Artist, Activist and Fighter behind the Myth of her Name.
"Staged in 1964, one of her most famous works was the Cut Piece, where the members of the audience were invited to cut off pieces of her clothing until she was naked, thus making an abstract commentary on discarding materialism and its impact on society."
sounds quite strong and shocking. However, the message is a bit strange, anyone would say that it would have something to do with femininity, fetishization of the female body or something else. Still, a very good performance.
" After getting married in 1969, the couple invited the press to their hotel room in Amsterdam, where they stayed in bed for a week. This was to become their first “Bed-in for Peace,” project which was part of the peace movement that gained much publicity."
I'm going to be completely honest. Before reading this article, I didn't know much about Yoko Ono other than her nationality, that she was an activist and wife of a member of the Beatles. This piece was the only one I knew about her. And it's a pity that I still don't see the point of it. I don't understand how staying in bed could be a project and more about world peace. Maybe Yoko Ono was never for me.
Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, pedagogy, and Philosophy.
"For a white student, particularly a young white student, seeing the mode of expression of an artist of color can shift as much of their worldview as it does for a student of color."
a recurring thought I have, is that it is not necessary to feel exactly identified with what I consume (in art) since seeing other people's experiences, events and their world is much more valuable to me, being able to understand them is something much better. However, seeing myself represented in art is just as powerful. This way, the world will know more about me and my people.
"Artists need to take in, to process, to decipher, to separate from the noise and create things that are beautiful and impactful to the spirit. Artists have to offer a different type of slowness to work against the speed of today."
Art is mostly made to document the events of our civilization. However, I find most captivating those works that are created to heal and comfort.
Performance
Bill Viola, The Crossing.
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| Bill Viola, The Crossing, 1996, two-channel color video installation, with four channels of sound; 10 min., 57 sec.; performer: Phil Esposito, 4.9 x 8.4 x 17.4 m (Guggenheim Museum) © Bill Viola |
the strongest point of this performance are the visuals and the small details, these help to capture the attention of the audience and that is the reason why I chose this performance, I get very carried away by the visuals.
Still, I find it captivating how it can have several interpretations and if we take into account the religious influence in this performance it is quite strong and powerful.
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