Ope lemme just sneak past ya right there real quick oh sorry there whoops oh geez real sorry about that fella oh boy
Also real coward behavior by the guy here to to face away from the male model
Ope lemme just sneak past ya right there real quick oh sorry there whoops oh geez real sorry about that fella oh boy
Also real coward behavior by the guy here to to face away from the male model
I actually went to this. It was a Marina Abramovic retrospective. I think the naked bouncers were only posted in position every now and again, cos I definitely did not have to squeeze past them. And that guy in particular was must’ve swapped around in the exhibition cos when I saw him he was lying down on a table, face-up with his nob out.
Also, one of the exhibits had this old lady wearing white robes, doing a fast on some structure elevated above the crowd. She would only drink water for the whole run of the exhibition. Her entire living space was essentially cross sectioned, so that even her toilet was on display for all to see - and where she slept, and so on. She looked absolutely miserable but her eyes said ‘dont worry, I’m on a spiritual/artistic journey’.
There was a quote from Abramovic (whose work this lady was replicating), about how on day 4 she went a bit loopy and felt like she could see everyone’s energetic wavelengths or something.
Anyway, I thought the old lady could do with a morale boost so I smiled and waved at her, and gave a nod of ‘respect, brah’. People were not pleased with that. I felt a sudden encirclement of dirty looks. Even my partner was a bit pissed off that I did it.
The experience introduced to me the debate of ‘what even is arts etiquette’? Am I not free to consume it however I want? It’s performance art - the whole point is the relationship between the live subject and connection you feel with them in the room. I said sorry anyway, and I can see that I was being a bit of a bellend, if I’m honest…
But inside I wondered - why am I the bellend? I’m the only person here treating the other human in the room like a human rather than like a zoo animal. The etiquette is to navel gaze and swill your wine. No wonder performance art is almost exclusively the realm of middle and upper classes.
If I was her - stuck in the rafters of the Royal Academy for a week, people staring me down every single time I take an increasingly watery shit - I’d at least want someone to rock-paper-scissors me at some point.
Wow how dare you interact with art you’re supposed to give money to the art and observe the art and go hmm yes this is art to the art. You are absolutely under no circumstances supposed to INTERACT with the art. That might reduce the VALUE of the art. Experiencing the art and going “wow it’s kind of weird that nobody is treating this human that is doing the art like a human” and actually thinking about the art is NOT PART OF THE ART
Honestly fuck art snobs and the entire art world. I know many artists and the “art world” does not and has not and will not ever do a single fucking thing for the humans that actually make art. You were 100% in the right for silently interacting with the art in your own way. Anyone who tells you otherwise is too stuck up their own bourgeois THE SANCTITY OF THE ART WORLD ass and should be disregarded.
Anyone who disagrees feel free to struggle below but you will literally never convince me otherwise.
Your take is also my take. “High” contemporary art is high on its own farts and powered by rich asshole money laundering. The “rebellion” of postmodernism is the establishment and is over a century old now.
Pretty much all performance art interrogates the relationship between the artist and the audience as spectator and the audience as participant. The audience is pretty much definitionally a part of performance art. Also treating a performance with hushed reverence and enforcing a strict separation between art and the audience is quite literally a cornerstone of bourgeois respectability, historically speaking
“This is actually part of the art performance” goes all the way down. Even the art snobbery and “how dare you interact with living beings here” shaming.
I’d rather just cut the Gordian knot and acknowledge living beings doing something socially awkward (presumably for pay) and accept my place in the performance accordingly.
The art world has been ossified somewhat by a very long period of “art is about subversion for its own sake and making sure the stupid peasants don’t get it.” Art should challenge its subjects (and the artists) regularly, but the idea of “being hostile to the audience is smart and cool” is over a century old and is no longer rebellious… it is the establishment now.
I’ll be honest I’d do the same thing you did but I’d double down (appropriately, gauging the person putting themselves on exhibition willingness to interact with me) and definitely do a round or few of rock paper scissors.
But it’s less out of a sense of kindness towards our fellow man and more out of spite for the artificial self-imposed chains of swine that thinks themselves better than they truly are.
Also because a good bout of random rock paper scissors is always fun
I don’t know why, but I way more often than not win at rock-paper-scissors. I have a way of psyching people out; best way I can explain it is “deliberately make the wrong choice and own it,” like choosing rock three times in a row.
I think it has to do with people becoming aware that the most commonly played hand statistically is rock therefore try to be smarty-pants by planning around that plan, realizing other people also know that plan thus planning around the plan they are planning, and falling victim to their own schemes and eating fist.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
spirit cooking