Roselee Goldberg’s “Performance Art History” really put into words what performance art is and was. Particularly for me, I have not heard about performance art very much before this class even and only seen briefly one of Marina Abromovic’s pieces. I could identify it but I really didn’t know what classified performance. Clearly dance, playing instruments and other types of performance are different to performance art. I did not know that it originated with fine art however. The phrase, (performance art) “suggests a level of playfulness or satire,” definitely put performance art into words as Goldberg writes about the uses of performance art in protest throughout WWI and history. I also think that the avant-guard portion is an interesting comparison- and i wonder if avant-guard works are its own category of post-modern art or if it is post Modern art at all. Overall I enjoyed this reading and thought it explained performance art well.
The second reading, “The Other History of Intercultural Performance,” by Coco Fusco was extremely eye opening and powerful. I had no idea that the exhibition was so large or any of the history behind it. The way GuillermoGo ́mez-Pen ̃ia and Coco Fusco adapted their art piece from these historical events was ingenious. Specifically what comes to mind was the part where people could pay to see their “exotic” male genitalia showed how shallow and dehumanizing some of the historical displays were. As I was reading, I thought it was hilarious in what they came up with to entertain white audiences. And the funniest part was I knew that these types of acts are taken seriously. When Fusco writes, “The cage became a blank screen onto which audiences projected their fantasies of who and what we are” it really hit me because that’s when I realized people want to see what they want to see. It is the same concept as denial- many know that there is a living breathing human front of them but can easily dismiss them if they want to. I found that the list from 1493 to 1992 so effective as it shows that these were regular occurrences, not just isolated incidents. I felt my heart drop each time I read the next time a human was disregarded and dehumanized. Coco Fusco is an incredible writer too, her essay is very well developed- I like that she ties in these early displays to cultural appropriation and explains the harm that they do to people. I think when she writes “What may be “liberating” and “transgressive” identification for Europeans and Euro-Americans is already a symbol of entrapment within an imposed stereotype for Others” really encapsulates the performance and shows the privilege that white people have and are often not aware of. This reading specifically hit home for me- I am of Chinese descent and throughout my life I have only been seen as my skin and what people think about China. I am also adopted and am not culturally Chinese. Though for many people, that’s my identity. The types of voyeurism, eroticism, and spectacle that Fusco writes about is infuriating and needs to stop. Overall, I really thought the reading was powerful and everyone should read it.
