Performance Art @cverdun - Tumblr Blog

Performance Art Project: Open Work

These past few weeks have been very stressful for me (and I’m sure for all of you too). I have felt like I’ve been restricting myself creatively and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. That’s why I decided to kill two birds with one stone for this performance. The painting in the video was due for my beginning painting class today (Thursday) and this was filmed on Tuesday. I’ve been very stressed about this painting and so I thought recording my process would help me connect to the piece more. For some reason, seeing myself paint helps me feel more involved with the piece. I think it allows me to finally “see” myself creating art. Sure, I can see my hands create the work, but the out-of-body experience you have seeing yourself create from a third person perspective is eye opening. I never noticed how much I move my face when I’m focused on something. No wonder I always have a headache after. Anyways, I thought this would be cool to do since we never really get to see ourselves when we are really focused in on something. I don’t know about you all, but whenever a camera is on me I always acknowledge it. However, I forgot about it for this performance. I painted and forgot the camera existed. That was until I started getting frustrated with the area I was working on. Aside from that, I found this to be a very freeing experience.

And for anyone curious, here’s a photo of the finished product. I replicated The Stroll by Claude Monet :)

cverdun

I love this! Such a good idea! I like how you started to forget the camera was there and just be. Your painting looks amazing and I’m sure you will get a good grade. Great work, thank you!

muchbetterinmydreamsblr

Project 5

https://www.instagram.com/tv/COeVF-DDTcs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Artist Statement: For the free work project I continued with the drag performance aspect. I feel like maybe its a push to consider it performance art since it is a highly edited and compiled video. I had a lot of fun with this project though from recording takes with multiple angles. I enjoy the process of clipping videos and creating, essentially, a music video. It is a fun way to add another element to my drag and be expressive. It feels like a good middle step to getting comfortable performing in person as well. I have really enjoyed having this semester to play, explore and practice with drag and take an artistic route to creating performances and engaging with others.

cverdun

I love your overall theme you chose to go with this semester! I was excited to see you carry it all throughout your projects. I feel like drag is such an engaging art especially with the public. Amazing work, thank you!

Artist Statement 5

For this project I decided to do my makeup. I feel like this is something I used to do everyday, then it turned to something once or twice a week and now that we had to stay home I rarely do my makeup. I love makeup and how powerful and beautiful it makes me feel. when I do have the time and energy to do it I like to document it. I would like to learn how to do eye makeup and when I was younger I dreamed of being a makeup artist. I would say I don’t know how to do other people’s makeup which ultimately made me realize it’s more for fun for me. Enjoy my TikToks! They were also fun to make.

Project 5 Open Work

Artist of the Week #14 - Red Summit Pregnant, Poppy Jackson

I chose this artist because I like the way she uses her work on discussions about the female body. This piece in particular is about our cultures attitudes to pregnant women’s bodies which is relevant with the current issues like maternity leave or job security.

Artist Statement 4

For my project I decided to have a food fight with my friends. It was definitely hard thinking of ways to incorporate other people for this project. I used cans of spaghetti and we each took turns throwing it at each other. It was actually really fun and messy and I think it goes along with my last project of exploring our inner child as this was a food we each would eat as kids growing up and here we are as adults throwing food at each other like elementary children. After we recorded it we all decided it should be like a murder scene off of “Snapped” so I tired to make it scary and dramatic effect. Thank you!

P.S. the neighbors kids in the background where outside on their trampoline when we were doing this and they were screaming at us so it added to the effect.

Project 4 Participation - Food Fight

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeXxTQAb/

TikTok

The video for this project can be found on tic tok!

Performance Artist of the Week #13 Senga Nengudi, Performance Piece, 1977

I chose this artist because of what she represents. I feel as a black woman we experience a unique intersection of racial and gendered discrimination and often we do not have the support or platform for our voices to be heard.

Performance Artist of the Week #12 - Shower Curtain, Itch, Fortune Telling, Laundry by: Satomi Shirai

The artist I chose for this week is Satomi Shirai. She is an Asian-American artist and created this series to document and express her experience moving from Japan to NYC in 2004. I think it is important as artists to use our work not only as a platform but also a tool for journaling our present emotions and being venerable in telling our own stories.

dunlapel

Project #4: Participation

This project was, in all honesty, the most fun I’ve had in this class. For my performance, I decided to play Super Smash Bros Ultimate with my boyfriend. He doesn’t really like being on camera but the fact that we were playing one of his favorite games made him more willing to make an appearance. We’ve been together for nearly 3 years and we always play this when we’re feeling a bit competitive. I used to be absolutely horrible at the game but over the years he taught me how to properly play and now I can sorta hold my ground against him in a fight. This game is almost nostalgic to me in a way because it helps me look back on the early part of our relationship where we played this all the time. Now with our busy schedules, we play it once in a blue moon. This game is always a fun experience to play with him because I can see how much I’ve improved overtime even if he always wins. I loved that I got to do a performance with him in it since he is such a big part of my life. I’m glad that I got this experience with him.

For reference in the video, I’m playing as Kirby and he is playing as Mewtwo

Strong language warning

cverdun

This is so cute! I have been with my boyfriend for three years as well. Sometimes we catch ourselves having moments like this where we feel nostalgic of when we first started dating like when he picks me up or we go to eat at a spot we used to go to all the time!

samdavickart

Project 4 - Participation

When I was a kid my mom taught me how to fold origami cranes that she calls swooses - I have no idea where she got that from, apparently it is the word for a goose/swan hybrid. Regardless, I remember I was so excited when she pinched the paper bird’s chest and pulled on it’s tail, causing the wings to flap. It wasn’t long after that I was mass producing these swooses at an alarming rate so that I could ensure each of my elementary school classmates could share in the joy they brought me. It didn’t really occur to me until recently that my practice in ceramics has reconnected me with that part of my inner child. I find it so very exciting to be able to create objects that bring others as much joy as they bring to me. I feel so incredibly lucky and grateful that I this is what I am able to do with my life.

For this project I knew I wanted to find a way that I could allow others to channel their creativity into something that was interactive. When I was first brainstorming for ideas, I thought about one of my favorite works of all time - Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room. She created truly such an ingenious way of allowing the work to evolve through the creative participation of those who were lucky enough to walk through the installation. I wondered about how something similar could be accomplished in the art building, but felt that there was no way I could accomplish a similar visual effect given the reduced amount of students with in person classes this semester. My friend Serei suggested that I should try to find a way to minimize the space that participants could interact with if there weren’t very many of them. So I settled on interactive canvases. In the hallway of the art building I hung three canvases and provided participants with a plethora of the most exciting/nostalgic children’s art supplies that I could afford. Although I attempted to steer the theme in the direction of “unleash your inner child on these canvases”, I really just wanted to see how people would interact with the canvases in general. Honestly, I don’t think I could have asked for a better result. People were vulnerable, supportive, whimsical, and creative with their participation. It truly has brought me so much joy, and I hope that it has at least brought a little to the participants.

I will be leaving them up in the hallway for as long as I possibly can so if any of y’all walk by in the hallway, please feel free to interact how you please! Thank you so so much to everyone who has participated.

cverdun

I love this! It makes me excited to go back on campus next semester because I would totally draw on this if I saw it. Also a fun way to practice social distancing guidelines yet still feel connected through doodling. I would love to see some of the texts/comments people wrote up close!

Artist of the Week - Marsha P. Johnson

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/06/26/us/marsha-p-johnson-biography/index.html

Marsha P. Johnson stood at the center of New York City's gay liberation movement for nearly 25 years. But LGBTQ rights weren't her only caus

Marsh P. Johnson was an activist and performance artist with The Hot Peaches and the Angels of Light. I chose this artist because I am inspired by how she used art and performance and just being herself to change the world. I feel like I can feel her beautiful spirit!

Reading Response #4

I feel like the more I learn about American and European history I become more and more disgusted. I think what these performance artists did was very eye opening to how not much has changed when it comes to viewing minorities, whether that be Asian, African, and other indigenous peoples. I say not much has changed and possibly even gotten worse since we have seen so many hate crimes and injustices by our own government recently.

Film Response #4

I found this work very disturbing. I could not believe people would actually bring their kids to an exhibit like this. This goes to show how ignorance is taught at a young age. I think it was brilliant how they tricked everyone and there were very few who could tell this was either fake or thought it wasn’t humane. It was very revealing how the different audiences from other countries varied in their understanding and interpretation of this work.

samdavickart

Project 3 - Site Specific Situations

I have had this idea since last semester when I created a twenty piece series of these bells for my mold-making and casting class. It was my intention to capture the sounds of bells and windchimes that immediately transport me to a place of childhood nostalgia. I thought that finally doing a bell drop would satisfy the brief for this project. As I continue to make bells that hold a deep personal significance, I would like to continue hanging them in locations that produce a similar nostalgic feeling. In about 2017 or so a great childhood friend of mine Lainey stayed with me for a few days before she embarked on the Colorado Trail. It was the first time I had a friend from back home visit me since I had moved out here and I was so excited. I drove her to Waterton Canyon when she was ready to begin her journey and decided to walk up the trail with her for a while because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. We were having such a blast walking up the first couple flat miles of the trail. So much so that I didn’t realize that I had walked five miles in my flip-flops with her. After Lainey and I parted ways, I found myself lost in self-reflection on my long walk back to the car. It was such a profoundly beautiful day that I look back on with so much fondness. I wanted to pay homage to this memory by playing a little song for the canyon on my bells. I left them hung from this fallen tree in hopes that future people who wander off of the trail a little bit can find a fun surprise, play their own little song for the canyon, and make beautiful memories.

cverdun

Wow I love this! I bet whoever finds this will have a similar feeling of nostalgic wonder!

callforclarity

Site Specfic Performance

(Sorry it’s so late)

Artist statement:

I have a complicated relationship with death, as I’m sure many do. It fascinates me, it scares me, in many ways, it rules me. When I was 15, my boyfriend died by suicide and I developed post traumatic stress disorder. My fear of death controlled my actions, thoughts and relationships for many years. When I entered my 20s I began actively working to accept death as an inevitable part of life and work through this trauma. This cemetery I chose for my site specific performance has been a huge part of this on going healing process. I began coming here with my partner about 3 years ago. Here I can appreciate the temporality of life and I think about how the energy of people who have passed never ceases to exist, and I find comfort. I have taken so much from this place, for this performance, I wanted to give to it. The graves that line this cemetery are predominately from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, many seem long forgotten. For this performance, I bought a bouquet of roses, the flower of gratitude, and placed them at the graves. I did this to give back, to remember, and to pay homage to the space that has aided in confronting my own prolonged grief and acknowledge how far I have come.

(Sound warning: I left the sound in the video because I think its essential to the space, but it was very windy, so for the sake of your ears turn down your volume to low before clicking on the video)

cverdun

Claire, this was a lovely idea. Beautiful and thoughtful work. I have enjoyed seeing your projects this semester you have such brilliant ideas!

performanceartlaurenduff-blog

Blank Sign Experiment, Project #3

During the fall semester a few class mates of mine were trying to film a dance video for one of our classes on the 16th street mall. We were asked to leave asked to leave various different locations of the mall before we could even start filming. We had white poster boards and I wondered if this had something to do with it. I went down to see if I could recreate and document the same experience as before. I took a blank poster board with nothing written on it and live streamed myself on Instagram. I was only asked that I couldn’t display a sign down there and when I showed him the other-side of my blank poster board he did not ask me to leave. I was not really sure why this was different than it was before. Did they decide that because I was by myself it was not a big deal or had events from the summer passed longer and the security was not as worried? Did my skin color lead them to believe I was not a threat? After I had left down town I looked up what I had done a similar demonstration had been completed by Aslan Sagutdinov in Kazakhstan in 2019. He held up a blank sign to see if he would be detained and he in-fact was. It leads us to question what is public space? When I was looking up my rights before going down there it says we all have freedom of speech but not necessarily freedom of where or when.

cverdun

This is very interesting and something new to me! I did not realize there was security like that downtown? I wonder since all the protesting that has been happening they are in high alert. This is honestly kind of creepy!

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