In this unit we looked at Composing in Movement and Performance, particularly what makes a performance a performance, which has all to do with the composing process and context.
STARTING POINTS
As an actor, I had thought a lot about the definition of performance, and what makes an action performative. I had also spent a lot of my training battling against letting my work become too performative and forsake naturalism.
WHAT I LEARNED
Looking at Marvin Carlson's perspective on performance, I was stuck by how he looked at the bare bones of performance- what in its machinery gives it the right to be performance, in other words. I grappled a lot with his ideas.
I did find his way of thinking about perfomance interesting because it actually seemed to juxtapose some of my beliefs about acting. He talked about the notion of duality in performance, in other words, the idea that performance involves putting on a mask, or pretending to be someone you are not. As an actor, we actually actively work against this idea of performance. We work to live authentically in imaginary circustances. "Performing" to me implies an air of affectation and awareness of perfoming which can detract from the authenticity and the impact of the work.
Nevertheless, I very much agreed with his idea about the purpose and impact of performance across the art forms. Regardless of the mechanics of how something becomes a performance, a performance is always a generous thing. It is giving a plethora of stumuli and stories to an audience to be devoured, interpreted, and reflected upon. Therein lies the power of art.
Dean Wilcox brought up some very interesting points about the validity of postmodern art. I do very much believe that we have to be careful of becoming relativist about art. In other words, we can't just let anything pass as art. I do think there has to be artistic intention and creation. I don't think I can call my clothes hanging in my closet art because I did not hang them there thinking I was creating art. Now, if I actively label my closet as art with a clear process behind that choice, maybe we're having a different conversation.
This is link to our filmed exploration of public performance. The pithy thing to note here is that we both had an awareness of performing but also were following a real life objective and had not scripted anything
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
I'm very fascinated my this discussion on post modern art, and I think I would like to explore more viewpoints on it. When I'm home for Christmas, I want to go to the museum of contemporary art in Chicago and see what strikes me there.
CONCLUSION
Composing in performance offers a lot of opportunity for artistic content, and the question of its definition and execution brings up a lot important questions about the nature of art.
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