My ARTPOP could mean anything.

A fan since The Fame who has seen Lady Gaga as many times as he has been able. Knows an adequate amount about literary/artistic/theatre theory and eagerly applies this knowledge to the work of Mother Mons†er.

[reversewarholian]

Many apologies for the delay in posts - I've been very busy in my personal life. The next artist that I would like to examine is Marina Abramović. Now seems the perfect time to speak about this remarkable woman as today Lady Gaga participated in a performance art piece arranged by Marina - you may watch the video above and I shall be discussing it more later on within this post.

Marina Abramović is the self proclaimed 'grandmother of performance art' and has produced works of art that have challenged conventions and the relationship between artist and audience for over three decades. Lady Gaga has previously shared her admiration for Marina on several occasions; speaking passionately about her during her ShowStudio interview Gaga described Abramović as a truly 'limitless' person. Lady Gaga also visited The Artist Is Present, an art piece that involved Marina sitting silent and stationary from March 14th till May 31st  whilst members of the audience were invited to sit opposite her and meet her gaze. The piece can be interpreted in many ways but perhaps most relevant to Lady Gaga's work is the fact that it can be seen as exploring connections between audience and performer and the desire to establish a personal and intimate connection with an artist despite a lack of any possibility of normal communication. The desire to possess a connection with a famous individual or obtain fame was a key theme throughout Lady Gaga's Fame perfume campaign. Gaga potentially drew inspiration from The Artist Is Present for her performance art piece for her New York perfume launch where an audience watched her be tattooed, urinate and sleep within an enormous version of her perfume bottle.

Challenging human bodily limits is an area that Abramović has continually explored. Her early artistic experiments were entitled Rhythm and she included a performance piece centred around the connection between mind and body. Within her performance she took one drug that caused her body to spasm uncontrollably whilst her mind remained conscious, after that drug finished working she immediately took another drug that knocked her unconscious but did not affect her control over her body. Other performances challenged her physically and at one point Marina was knocked unconscious within a circle of fire, saved only due to the audience noticing that she did not react when the fire came dangerously close to consuming her. Abramović later commented upon this experience: “I was very angry because I understood there is a physical limit: when you lose consciousness you can’t be present; you can’t perform.” In many ways this is a mindset shared by Lady Gaga and sounds similar to the disappointment that Lady Gaga expressed after being forced to cancel the Born This Way Ball due to a broken hip.

The most famous performance and one that Lady Gaga has cited as one of her favourites, took place in 1974 when Abramović invited an audience to use a selection of 72 objects (including a whip, a gun and a single bullet, honey, and a rose) upon her body, remaining entirely passive for the six hours of performance. Initially the audience was very cautious and non-violent but as time went on they became increasingly aggressive towards Marina - cutting away her clothes, biting, cutting and even aiming the gun at her head. When the six hours was complete Marina 'stood up and started walking toward the audience. Everyone ran away, to escape an actual confrontation.' This iconic piece of performance art has inspired many and is a statement upon the dangers of passivity and the complex relationship between audience and performer. Although there is no way of knowing whether or not ARTPOP will contain material inspired by this piece, the public scrutiny that Gaga was placed under during her period of withdrawal from the public eye would certainly provide fertile comparisons.

The most recent connection between Abramović and Lady Gaga, the recital of the first chapter of Stanislaw Lem's classic Solaris, is an interesting taster of what their collaboration on ARTPOP could be like. The main theme of Solaris is about the breakdowns in communication and the story mostly concentrates on the nature of reality and the limits of science. The increased aggression that the humans direct towards the planet are reflected back upon them, forcing them to learn more about themselves and human nature. Although this piece is not explicitly linked to the ARTPOP project it could allude to the relationship between Gaga and her fans and critics. After all she is a mirror of sorts, taking what is projected upon her by society (POP) and transforming it into her art.

[hillaryclinton-deactivated20241]

I never felt beautiful until the moment I had my picture taken by Inez and Vinoodh.

[ladyxgaga]

[reversewarholian]

One of the most exciting aspects of the recent ARTPOP announcement for me was the artists that are collaborating with Gaga. If Gaga is truly going to deliver on the hyperbolic statement that she will 'combine music, art, fashion, and technology [...] bring[ing] ARTculture into POP' then she needs to fuse her own hugely popular cultural presence with reputable artists so that she isn't running entirely upon her own self-elevated steam. (Born This Way ultimately failed to do that and her claims that it was the best pop album of the century fell slightly flat as a result.) The names dropped in the album announcement are incredibly promising and I will be spending the next couple of posts discussing them and hypothesising how exactly they might collaborate and combine their artistic style with Gaga's, beginning with Robert Wilson.

  For those of you unfamiliar with Wilson, allow me to briefly sketch out a few details about him that will allow you to understand his work. Wilson is an avant-garde theatre director who challenges theatrical norms, specifically the use of movement and language in the theatre. He was described by The New York Times as '[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theatre artist'' and as such is it fitting that Gaga, one of the world's most famous musical performance artists, should work with him.

  Throughout his work, Wilson challenges the value that we put on words through a multitude of ways. In the past he has created staging and programmes that use a barrage of words that force his audience to view language for what it actually is - a construction of symbolic letters and words - rather than what language represents; in semiotic terms he stresses the signifier over the sign. Furthermore he combines this challenging of language norms with an increased importance on the power of movement and once remarked, “The way actors are trained [...] is wrong. All they think about is interpreting a text. They worry about how to speak words and know nothing about their bodies. You see that by the way they walk. They don’t understand the weight of a gesture in space. A good actor can command an audience by moving one finger.” Wilson demonstrated the power of movement and interpretation in his piece I was sitting on my patio this guy appeared I thought I was hallucinating. Within the production there were only two characters and they delivered the exact same stream-of-consciousness monologue. However due to the differing intonation, movement and stresses, viewers found it difficult to believe that the words had not been altered as each recital was wholly different despite the same script. Critic Arthur Holmberg cites that for Wilson 'meanings are not tethered to words like horses to hitching posts' and that he opens up language and performance to interpretation, ultimately giving power to those viewing art to make their own judgements.

  In relation to what we know about ARTPOP this is incredibly significant and interesting. Ever since Gaga exploded onto the music scene she has always paid attention to the full experience. Just like Wilson becoming frustrated with actors focusing entirely upon their verbal performance, Gaga demonstrates how it is best to not simply think on a one-dimensional level about music. She pays equal attention to visuals, marketing and performance, as well as the relationship between artist and fan, and it is this 'whole package' element to her artistry that has aided her in her rapid rise to superstardom. Specifically in regards to ARTPOP Gaga has repeatedly stressed that the album is about 'possibilities' and that 'ARTPOP could mean anything'. Obviously this major theme of the album ties in very well with Wilson's work and no doubt he will be a valuable ally and mentor in nurturing this aspect of the album experience.

  However the overlap between Wilson and Gaga is not constricted to their similar artistic philosophies - Wilson is also regarded as a highly progressive figure with theatrical lighting, believing it to be one of the most important aspects of stagecraft. Tom Kamm, the set designer for Wilson's the CIVIL warS, stated that 'a set for Wilson is a canvas for the light to hit like paint [...] If you know how to light, you can make shit look like gold. I paint, I build, I compose with light. Light is a magic wand.' Now remembering the fibre optic wig, an 'ARTPOP invention', which Gaga claimed could be linked to her performance lighting, the potential for collaboration in lighting technology appearing at the ARTrave is exciting and would showcase a combination of art and pop performance in a perfect reverse Warholian way. Regardless, this collaboration has multiple possibilities and as always we shall have to eagerly await to see what the Haus have prepared for us.

[For more information/images visit the design museum's website and read his wikipedia page.]

[reversewarholian]

With ARTPOP's first single a mere 45 days away I have decided to create a blog to contain the majority of my feelings in the run up to the release. Here I will analyse the hints and symbols that Gaga has given us, as unpacking her artistic vision is half the fun of being a Lady Gaga fan. For the most part this blog is for myself - sparing my friends and family from my pent up excitement and hypothesising - but should you enjoy my thoughts and want to follow me, I greatly appreciate it and would love to talk to you about your own ideas.

[Gif source: hausofalfred]