Final Reading. Corpus Delecti

I read the 13th story. Luis Alfaro. This is about a play that took place in 1996. In Los Angeles, California. He performs a ritual re-enactment of his mothers slow suicide by consuming the table full of Twinkies. He inhabits her form. He relives her body and voice through his production. There is a poem written that expresses the shame this second-generation Latino feels because of his grandmothers refusal to assimilate into North American culture. The first half of the text is trans-fixed upon the artists conflicted relationship to the past, to his grandmother, and his own 11-year-old Chicano self. The second half of the reading discusses queer theater and social theory. Showing studies of the meaning of sexuality than from thinking the social. The final section of the performance takes on a voice of the charismatic minister, one who might be preaching at his mothers church. Alfaros memory performance, with its focus on the production of hybrid selves and space, is in and of itself a mode of queer theory-making that also functions as social theory.

Corpus Delecti
Performance art of the Americas

Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica

• Talks about how the Internet has an increasing number of artists working with digital communications technology ever since 1994
• Many artist like Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica was one of these artists
• Oiticica engaged in sensorium exploration like social cultural and architectural 

Headed and senatorial works: hoods, masks, goggles, gloves, body suits.

• Clark made many devices that messed with the visual sensory 
• Many hoods and goggles as well 

Parangoles: Samna and interactive art 

• Implications emerging from Oiticica fusion of geometric abstraction and Samba 
• Oiticica had a premature death 
• Died when he was 43

Body/machines hybrids, interface, and network: interactivity into new realms 

• The cyborg had a hybrid of wet and hard ware 
• Had human characteristics like skin and heartbeat 
• " In search of the body "

Corpus Delecti

"Visibility as Strategy: Jesusa Rodriguez's Body in Play"
by Roselyn Costantino

Jesusa Rodriguez is a actress, playwright, scenographer, entrepreneur, and social activist. Her work represents Mexican culture, history, and humanity. Jesusa along with her companion Lilian formed the Divas, a group that produced around 200 shows from the 1990-1997. Rodriguez often uses the female body as the focal point of her piece. She has transgressed tradition women roles in a patriarchal society. They have played an active part in politics. She has always deviated from mainstream art and more serious art. "Frivolous theater" flourished in the nineteenth century because it appealed to all social classes. This type of performance engaged the audience in a way that was very interactive. Rodriguez believed that humor as a necessity for her performances. She believed that you should be in the present and live a life full of laughter. By doing so you can see the world from all angles and see it's infiniteness. 

Lygia Clark and Helio Oiticica

Lygia Clark and Helio Oticica had created countless works of art in the 60s and 70s. Both of their artwork pieces usually complemented each other and went together.  Clark merged the body and the mind together while Oiticica engaged in sensorial explorations involving social, cultural, architectural, and environmental spaces. They reframed modernist notions of universal aesthetics by translating them directly into life and the body. They focused their work on the body and created a language of the body through their artwork. Clark often merged the body’s interior and exterior spaces stressing direct connection between the body’s physical and psychological dimensions.  Oiticica focused on the body as a color and the body in space and time. Both artists increased the art vocabulary immensely with their artwork and the different forms that they used. They both created interactive art where the audience would come and interact with the piece.  

Performance Art 227-249

Museums during the early twentieth century had not seemed to incorporate performances that demonstrated contemporary art; this began to change as the art became more popular. Performances contained such meaning in society, and example would be Neshat's performance of 9/11, demonstrating the criticality of the event. Their visual storytelling had then given a three-dimensional performance that needed no words to achieve aesthetic mastery. Other examples of demonstration in art would also be the cultural revolution under Mao Zedong's reign over communist China.  The dismissal of art and culture in order to bring in a reign of modernism had destroyed thousands of years of art (architecture, paintings, martial art, religious practice). In times of struggle art was a tool to record and inform about the world; however hard it may be. Performance art focused a lot on the movement and participation of the audience as seen in Senegalese performances. The use of dance in performance creates a conversation between the audience that transforms images into a message.

Pages 152-176 performance art

My readings began in chapter 7 which discussed the art of ideas and the media generation. The year 1968 prematurely marked the beginning of the decade of the seventies. In that year political events severely unsettled cultural and social life throughout Europe and the United States. The chapter discussed questions and instructions. Some early conceptual 'actions' were more written instructions than actual performance, a set of proposals which the reader could perform or not, at will. The artists body was an attempt to translate the essential elements of one discipline into another characterized the early work of the New York artist Acconci. The artists worked on their bodies as objects to define the body in space. Ritual dealed with emotions and traditions and expressionism in nature. The artists made their bodies to become living sculptures. To make their bodies into objects. Autobiographies were written about these artists to analytically investigate these artists and their products.

Performance Art pages 177-201

This section of the book talked about life style and entertainment. According to Bruce McLean the key to entertainment was the style and perfect pose. During 1973 and 1974 artists researched this "perfect pose" which resulted into hilarious performances in London. Examples of these performances is "The Pose that Took us to the Top, Deep Freeze." (1973) Along with these performances artists walked the streets in crazy costumes. These were known as costume performances. Performance artists drew on all aspects of spectacle and entertainment for the structure of their work. From this style of performance artists transitioned into punk aesthetic. The mood of these pieces were seen as disruptive and cynical.

Performance art 131-151

Dance had been a part of performance theatre, however there was a development of the "new" dance. In the fifties, many artists such as Dada and many other futurists had always been using dance to show everyday tasks. Eventually the exploration of different dance ideas had been adapted to an outdoor platform. Filmmakers would implement their own cinematic takes on the performance, demonstrating a view on the performance that can show not one perspective of the dance, but many. An important dance group was the Judson dance group; their interpretive dance with the implementation of terrain changed the way dance was seen for the better. Absolute dance was a primary factor in this time because it was a time where the most meaning could be demonstrated by the least movement. Art will always be advancing by challenging every rule that has been made by the generation before. Art is and always be challenged, and because of that it will always continue to grow.

Performance art Pg 202-226

Dance theatre 

• rhythm charged music 
• blend of punk pop and serial 
• Karole Armitage was trained by Cunningham and Balanchine
• Continued to work hard on esoteric guidelines established
• Ultimate dance theatre was that of Pina Bausch

Live art 

• Commercialize cabaret-style performance 
• by Television and film
• The conversion of post modernism was equally monumental 
• The conversion of st paul, was intended the stillness of painting and drawing 
• Play on the painting process as live performance 

Identities 

• multiculturalism
• African american intelligentsia 
• high profile academics 
• The politics of Black performance 
• Lesbians, gays, queer, sex-workers 
• Activist groups 

New Europeans 

• Performance in European Community of the nineties was governed 
• Belgium in the avante-garde 
• Anti choreography movement

New media and performance 

• Inventing ways to incorporate technology 
• growing in numbers 
• Performance videos of the nineties 
• The bear 
• Streets of New York or Tokyo

Performance Arts pg 115-134




Frederick Kiesler

• attracted the attention of the police.
• the modernity of his robot factory. 
• The Berlin police were provoked into action by the back-projection equipment.
• wrote in his essay that making use of complex apparatus such as lift aeroplane and film.
• theatrical concept to create tension in space.

Bauhaus touring company

• importance and encouragement were given the theatre
• metal dance was reported in the Basler national Zeitung 
• Dance in space 
• opened in bare stage whose black floor was outlined
• Dance of the stage wings consisted of a number of partitions 

Living art 

Black mountain College, North Carolina

• Looking for an artist who can create a focal point for the diverse curriculum 
• Combination of discipline and inventiveness 
• Working croup composed all disciplines 

John Cage and Merce Cunningham

• Beginning to make their own ides in small circles 
• Studied fine arts 
• The art of noises 
• "ever smaller unit of a larger composition reflected as a microcosm 
• Sixteen dances for soloist

Black Mountain College 

• Cage and Cunningham had returned to Black mountain college 
• Spectators took their seats in the square arena

New school

• Despite its remote location and limited audience, news of the untitled event spread 
• Some where painters and film makers

Live art

• was the logical step from environments and assemblages
• Red Grooms found inspiration for his paintings and performances 

18 happenings in 6 parts 

• Earliest opportunities for a wider public
• Lights were strung through the subdivided space
• Spectators were warned to follow instructions 

More New York Happening 

• 18 happenings was reflected in many other performances of the time
• most artists developed their own practice 
• Dancers developed innovations in New York

Yam and You

• More performances programmes were organized in New York 
• Performance concerts were held Carnegie Recital Hall
• What is important is what the public itself takes away as a result of my images and the happenings

Performance Art pages 95-114

In this section of the book I learned that the Bauhaus was a teaching institution for the arts that opened in 1919. Unlike the rebellious futurist or dada provocations, the Bauhaus manifesto was the unification of all the arts in a cathedral of socialism. This community of the Bauhaus was held together as much by its manifesto as by the social events they organized. These events were held so that the group could experiment with performance examples. "Man and Machine" was a piece that combined the Bauhaus manifesto with the Russian Constructivist. The stage and costumes was designed to make the human figure into a machine/mechanical type object. The Bauhaus manifesto also combined their style with painting and ballet along with the Russian Constructivists' styles.

Performance Art pages 75-94

My reading began with chapter four. This chapter discusses surrealism. It involves the first paris performance. This performance began an outrage of the Parisian public. The audience of the twenties was not entirely unfamiliar with such provocative events. My readings discussed the costumes that were used during the presentations. The Salle Berlioz performance had been an attempt to give a new direction to Dada activities. There was a trial of Maurice Barrés. Following the trial, relations were strained between Picabia, Tzara and Breton. My reading talks about a show that was Relâche. It was a performance of the mud-twenties. It consisted of ballet costumes that men wire throughout the performance.

Performance Art pages 56-74

My notes are on pages 56-74 and it starts off with the Tzara reciting poetry and utilizing the theatrical technique of a chorus. The reading talks of a cabaret that demonstrates a microcosm of emotion within the human experience. Producere means to produce; in art one can produce emotion as well as artists. The cabaret proved to be a success and influenced many generations of performance art. The cabaret did not just stay in one culture but expanded onto other countries in one form or the other. The cabaret had inspired artists to evolve and create different methods to convey emotion; while displaying the power of their individual messages. the term absolute had become a vernacular used to describe dance, poetry, and art. The absolute meaning states that the minimum of impressions is enough to evoke unusual images. Eventually the cabaret began to lose popularity in the early 20th century. Dadism was introduced at the turn of the century and exhibited unusual practices to provoke thought and evoke emotion. Dada became so popular that people flocked from all over to experience the Dada revolution. Dada had started in Berlin, moved to Spain and New York, but inevitably lost popularity in Zurich.

Performance Art pages 38-55

• Production art was an ethical proclamation by the constructionists
• Broke down traditional element of French medical court face.
• Productions: called The Twins and The Theater of the four masks 
• Students are active in designing productions for Mastfor.

Revolutionary performances:

• Foregger was developing mechanistic art form
• Mechanical Dances
• Mass demonstration was organized by Nathan Altman 
• Red army was involved 
• represented revolutionary activists 

Magnificent Cuckold:

• Talks about how the stage consisted of frames of conventional theatre flats, platforms, and chutes.
• Characters new acrobatics 
• loose fitting overalls

Blue blouse and the factory of the eccentric actor

• overtly political
• involved more than 100000 people 
• in news papers 
• They were also circus actors, in film, and other productions.

Moscow is burning

• Was experiencing cultural riot 
• 1905 revolution 
• commissioned by the soviet central agency 

DADA 

• expressionist theatre performances 
• Dada activists began at the Cabaret voltaire in Zurich
• His plays were no less controversial. 
• Kokoschka in Vienna 
• Wedekinds travelled beyond Munich 
• Tried to align his work with expressionism 
• Demonstrated that the move with variations of pitch and rhythm
• Ball in Zurich 
• Hugo ball and Emmy Hennings arrived in Zurich in summer of 1915 
• Henning recently got out of prison 
• Ball was obsessed with understanding the German culture,
• wrote endless texts on philosophical malaise of time. 

Performance Art pages 19-37

Pages 19-37 of the Performance Art book talks about the mechanical moves, ballets, synthetic theater,  and Russian futurism. Mechanical movements are body actions based on staccato movements of machines. A famous work called "the Printing Press" released in 1914 was based off instructions in a private performance given for Diaghilev. 12 people, each part of the machine, performed in front of a backdrop and created a "machine," hence the mechanical movement. Russian futurism was marked by two factors, on the one hand the artists' reaction against the old order suspiciously foreign but more acceptable since it echoed this call to abandon old art forms. In this movement people walked the streets in crazy outfits, their faces painted, large top hats, velvet jackets, earrings, and spoons in their button holes. This "self-painting" was the first speech to have unknown truths.

Performance Art pages 1-18

I had to read the first 18 pages. The introduction discusses performance as an artistic expression in the 1970s. At the time conceptual art was the popular art form. The first chapter is about futurism performance. Which is more manifesto than practice. More propaganda than actual production. Te chapter addresses the first futurist evening. Discussing futurist ideas for the first time. This took place in Italy. Futurist painters become performers. They were gathered together to start a futurist performance and discussion. There are also instructions on how to perform in my section of the reading. A more elaborate version of earlier Evenings. The performance led to another manifesto.

Photo metaphors

Flowers: Kisses are the flowers of love in bloom.
Weddings
The blooming flower is the life of a young child.
Basket: Childhood
The basket holds all the necessities of life.
The mystery of life can be found from within the basket
Little red riding hood
Fruit: the fruit of life
The sweet nectar of the fruit of the body
Do not let your body rot like that of a poisoned fruit
Teddy bears: childhood
The teddy bear holds all the child's secrets
Teacup and roses: beauty and the beast
Drink from the teacup which resembles life
You are as fragile as a small teacup
You carry yourself like a graceful teacup
Money: greed
Fortune
Power
Happiness to own all
Suitcase: an adventure is waiting
All your dreams can come true with this one suitcase
Carry your whole life in this suitcase
Moving on
Starting something new
Taking an adventure
Handcuffs: prison
Being locked up
Sexual meaning
I am trapped within myself like a handcuffed prisoner
My skull has my brain handcuffed inside
Camera: the camera is the eyes of the Internet
The camera sees all that we can not hold onto to
Take a picture it will last longer
The camera gives life to the still world
Gun and alcohol: poverty
Crime
Alcohol leads to violence
Mixing two unfriendly people is like giving a drunk guy a gun

Prop metaphors

"Hanging around the hoop"

"That's a slam dunk"

"Sorry, but this isn't basketball, And I'm not your rebound."

"Nothing but net."

"Air ball."

"Where words fail, music speaks"

"It is little rift within the lute, that by and by will make the music mute, and ever widening slowly silence all."

"As sweet, and musical, as bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; and when Love speaks, the voice of gods make heaven drowsy with the harmony." 

"In a sadly pleasing strain, let the warbling lute complain."

Cornucopia symbolizes the womb.

The corn of plenty

The mother's bounty

Abundance of ideas

Cornucopia of choices

"Smile, you're on camera."

"The camera can be the most deadly weapon since the assassin's bullet."

"The camera adds ten pounds"

"Either the camera will dance or I will.

"The camera relieves us the of the burden of memory."

"A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar you pretend it's not there."

"Emotional baggage."

"It's not so bad to live out of a suitcase. It's a really beautiful life."

"Suitcase of problems."

"Life is a journey."

"Keep calm and pack."

Umbrella symbolizes unity.

"Compromise makes a good umbrella but a poor roof."

"The mind is an umbrella, it works better when opened."

"As thin and neat as a furled umbrella."

"My dreams are a stupid refuge, like an umbrella against a thunderbolt."

"Ace in the hole."

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well."

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game."

"It's a house of cards."

"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards."

"Red is the ultimate cure for sadness."

"Red telephone a.k.a the hotline"

"America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth."

"Communication is key."

"It has become appallingly obvious that technology had exceeded our humanity."

"Technological process has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."

"The internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity."

"Gossip is nature's telephone."

"Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you''ll ever regret."
"To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men."
"I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life."
"The little red book is the tool of the Cultural Revolution."
"In such ugly times, the only true beauty is protest."

Picture Metaphors

 "Chain me up but you will never get the answer you're looking for."
"Handcuffed for life."

Suitcase: "He carries a lot of baggage."
Camera: "Cameras allow you to discover new ways of seeing the world."
Books: "I'm an open book."
Books: "Don't judge a book by its cover."

 "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer"
"School is like a prison."
"Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues are written in water."
"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."

Lions represent pride, loyalty, strength, indivuality, and bravery.

 "Communication is key."

"Money is power."
"If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil."
"Friendship is like money, easier made than kept."
"Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink the thirstier we become."

"Wealth is a tool of freedom, but the pursuit of wealth is a road to slavery."

"Television is chewing gum for the eyes."

"Control freak."

Cows represent labor, goods, wealth, and life.

"Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out."
"Imagination is a beast that has to be put in a cage."
"You can cage the singer but not the song."
"The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it."

"Lovable like a teddy bear."
"She squeezed her child like a little kid squeezes a teddy bear for comfort."
"Security Blanket."

Picture Metaphors

"What goes up must come down."

"Put down your ego and lift some weights"

" When life brings you down you get the fuck back up" 

"Life is exercise" 

"The harder it is the stronger you become"

"Wine is like sex, it starts from the lips"

"If alcohol kills millions of brain cells, how come" 

"Alcohol is not the answer it just makes you forget the question"

" A beer a day keeps the doctor away" 

" They say alcohol is your worst enemy, but in the bible it says to love all your enemies."

"Do not drop the soap"

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" 

"He who opens a school door, closes a prison"

"Open a prison door, the real dragon will come out"

"When you stuff yourself to other peoples standards, it becomes a prison."

" Man cannot live a life without love, how flowers cannot live without sunshine"

" Your mind is a garden, you can grow flowers or weeds"

"Roses are red, Violets are blue."

"Flowers represent love, flowers represent death"

"When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited" 

 " Money is the root to all evil" 

"Money cannot buy happiness" 

"Money is power" 

"Money is God" 

" Money cannot buy love, but it can buy you a lot of stuff that you love" 

 "If you want to be a lion, you must train with the lions" 

"Lions must not concern themselves with the opinions of lambs"

"Your heart is loud as a lion's, rawr."

"Stay hungry"

"Be a lion not a sheep" 

 " Do things Today Not Tomorrow"

" She's Bomb"

"We are sitting on pensions of timebombs"

"Countries with atom bombs are not independent" 

"A heart break isnt as loud as a bomb exploding, its louder"

 " Then pen is mightier than the sword"

" Logic is like a sword, those who appeal to it shale be perished by it"

" Be as sharp as a knife" 

"Sword is justice"

"Sword is injustice"

"Live by the gun and die by the gun"

"Guns dont kill people, people kill people using guns"

" Smile for the camera, and wait the flash"

" Guns just do what it is told" 

"Guns show no mercy"

"Smaller clothing smaller suitcase"

"I will gladly live out of a suitcase" 

"Keep calm and pack your suitcase"

" I go to seek great purpose"

"Have a suitcase by heart and be ready to travel"

Exercise for Rebel Artists: Pg 69-83

Creative Indian wrestling 

History and objective

• inspired by traditional form of wrestling practiced 
• extract the testosterone and competitiveness 
• physical performance experience 

Instruction

• Face partner and spread your feet 3 feet wide
• outside edge of the right foot of your partner 
• shake hands

Part 1 Basic Indian wrestling: 10 mins

• pull, push, shift's one weight without losing balance
• left side as well

Part 2 Stylized Indian wrestling

• Work together to reach the limit of your balance 
• help regain balance 
• shared point of contact is left and right hands 

Part 3 Creative Indian wrestling 

• Creative freedom in your movement 
• Jam duet 
• Hand, back, hips, shoulders, legs 

Aikido/Chess games

History/Objective 

• developed in Dartmouth college \
• conceptual game uses concepts of Aikido and strategy of chess 
• perform intelligence with body 

Instructions

• 2 mins 
• simple questions 
• physical dialog 

Variations 

• chairs 
• props 
• instructions 

Conceptual poetic exercises 

• pedagogical practice 
• breathing 
• create energy

Poetic introductions 

Objective: challenges to introduce themselves poetic  

Instructions 

• Gather in a circle 
• Tell us Name and Creactive fashion

Poetic Exquisite Corpse 

History and objective- 

• Someone starts drawing and passes it around.

Instructions-

• Poetic DJ 
• Start by open minded rhetorical statement
• mapping session someones act
• dynamic rhythm to the poetic exercise. 

Today's questions

Dark or gazing exercises.  

Exercise for Rebel Artists 84-98

The spectrum is a non-confrontational platform to air extremely sensitive issues that may otherwise be avoided. Some examples are political issues, identity, sexuality, and spirituality are constantly shifting and so are our community alliances. It is important to explain to the participants that the exercise is, first and foremost, about “the subjectivity and fluidity of notions of identity and community.” They must understand that the exercise is about self-identification and self-perception and not about imposed identity.

The Zapatista-inspired town meeting

Inspired by some of the Zapatista assemblies, we have found this discussion format to be very useful to creatively address the aesthetic, political, and social questions and/ or tensions that arise during the workshop process. Certain tensions are inherent to the human condition: some people have large personalities and more strident voices.

Discussing the implications of video and photographic documentation

We normally introduce this discussion on day four, at the beginning of the second session; the discussion should focus on the importance of and risks accompanying photographic and video documentation. An inquisitive question would be: What are we going to do with this documentation – merely revise it as a visual diary.

“Pulling performances out of a hat”

This is a good exercise when participants are getting physically tired and the instructor begins to sense that it is time to let the bodies of participants take a break. 

When everyone has completed their scripts, participants sit in a circle and place their written instructions in a hat. One at a time, each participant chooses a piece of paper out of the hat and reads it to him/ herself.