A discussion among my peers:
What are your thoughts, ideas, experiences, etc. for each video you chose to examine.
First Video
I chose to watch the video "Marina Abramovic in the MoMA and Ulay". At first, It sounded bizarre to me that a person can sit in a chair for 8 hours every day for 3 months and stare at a stranger on the other chair.
This type of Art is performance-based. In which something is being made by the audience and performer, invoking an intense emotional response within the participants.
People sat on that other chair and stared into Marina's eyes. Some cried, others felt a sense of loneliness. They were in the moment with photographers, Marina, and also the thousand stares from observers. They couldn't escape, they were engaged in the Art.
When Ulay, her ex-lover, came to her performance and sat on the other end of the table, she showed new emotions as she opened her eyes. She seemed surprised, pleased yet heartbroken to see him again. She tried to keep up her performance but broke down into streams of tears.
1. Observer or Participant?
As I kept watching, I suddenly cried which surprised me. It was a bittersweet closure for the two of them and at the same time, It felt ironic to see her cry rather than the participants crying.
I only saw this in a video but it became something personal, yet not.
2. Quote Analysis
"Performances are always about the state of mind."
This felt significant because she had to be in the right state of mind for 8 hours at a time to perform.
"The hardest thing is to do something where you're supposed to do nothing because it is demanding all of you."
Doing nothing is hard for us as human beings with limited time on Earth. Your body could completely shut down, or have the itch to move, however, she had the resolve to control her mind and body for it.
Second Video
I also chose to watch the video "Yayoi Kusama Interview: Earth is a Polka Dot". Her artworks were expressions of her life. Her parents immensely disapproved of her wanting to be an artist. As a result, this caused trauma in her early childhood years.
Maybe because of her obsessive-compulsive neuroses - a type of OCD often centering on themes -, she had an addictive desire to depict her cosmic vision using polka dots. This started her project of 'Mirror Rooms' where she hung up colorful spherical lights in different places of a dark room.
It was saddening to know that her childhood trauma helped her find her purpose as an artist. She just went through such an extreme way to get to her present position.
1. Quote Analysis
"Then, when the piece is completed, I look at it, and I am surprised by the result - always."
Kusama seems to get so lost in her work, it is almost as if she is under a spell. This could be because of her condition or because she, in her own words, 'wanted to do that.'
"...It gives us the sense of the infinite existence of electronic polka-dots."
Before creating 'Mirror Rooms', she visualized how she wanted it to look onto a canvas. The results delightfully amazed her. She thought the universe was just polka-dots in the sky, so she wanted to present that in bold and radiating colors.
2. Thoughts?
Personally, it felt nostalgic and so sad to see Kusama's work. Something about the wild colors used in the light felt like fireworks from a child-like dream yet its dark background feel so desolate.
leave a comment, and share your experience if you have seen or participated in any other artforms out in the world.
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