For my performance art exercise, I followed Yoko Ono’s instructions for Map Piece by allowing myself– and a couple friends– to get lost. We started by pointing out random directions and started walking, loosely trying to keep track of where we had been. We ended up walking across campus through parts I had never been before. We got past the CU Denver buildings and almost onto 16th street. We circled back and went through the main parts of campus where the Fall Fest fair was taking place.
To anyone else, we looked like ordinary students walking through the fair, but to ourselves, we knew we were in the middle of a type of performance piece. Because we looked so ordinary and there was a lot going on, we were interacted with by a lot of different people. We ended up collecting assortments of free items ranging from pens to water bottles to condoms. I think that in a way, the things we encountered play a role in the performance piece itself. Many of my thoughts stemmed from things I was being given and from listening to the world around me. At what cost are these organizations advertising? What are they advertising for? Is there a sort of ritualistic tone or practice that goes into interacting with people in that way?
Something else that I found to be very interesting was the groups of people separate from the school fair that were handing out pocket Bibles to passersby. This sparked my thoughts on the implications behind religious texts and actions. It made me wonder if how the way I interact with these offerings could become art on its own. What if I accepted the copy of the New Testament and simply began ripping the pages and eating them one by one in front of these people? What would they do? Can I consider that to be art? How would their reactions play into that performance? I really thought about doing it, but I didn’t want to cross the line of disrespect towards them. But even that in itself raises a question– can offense be considered an art form?
Mae's 4D Art Blog 