Conceptual Art Activity

The activity involved the participation of the entire class, and had each of us draw at random one of four different line drawings. We copied the drawings on to a sheet of paper and then posted them on a wall (this was done 3 times), while never breaking our order. I expected our finished image to appear uninteresting, and without organization - despite the fact that there was much collaboration in making it. My expectations were met, and thus I can say that without knowing the process used to create our piece, one would not give it a second glance. However, conceptual art emphasizes on the ideas/concepts embedded into the constructing process, and therefor the viewer would have to be informed of how our piece was made. The idea in our case may have had something to do with disorder arising from order.

Performance Piece

The purpose of my activity was to find out whether or not the meaning of a conversation could still be conveyed if those conversing spoke backwards to one another. I had initially expected that it was possible, however, with much confusion and stumbling resulting. In actuality, the participants faired better than I thought.

My instructions were as follows:
1. Both participants select a topic to discuss (it can be about anything: a certain class, their mood, a politician, ect).

2. The participants can only speak to one another backwards. For example, "I'm always tired in the morning" would be said as "morning the in tired always I'm."

3. The participants are aloud to write out what they themselves are about to say (to make it easier), but can not write down what the other person has said to them.

4. The participants should not spend time deciphering what the other person had said, but rather quickly respond to what they sink was said.
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Tim classmate their about talk to chose participants the.

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In addition to conducting my performance, I took part in two others. For the first performance, I was required to bounce a ball while walking in a circle, and was not aloud to look directly at the ball. I'm not sure on the exact intentions of the performance, but it was most likely to test motor skills and concentration, and to make me look silly - I lost track of the ball several times. For the second performance, I was told to write an action/word down and present it without words or sound to a partner. I then had to guess the other person's action/word, while they in return guessed mine - somewhat like charades. Naturally, I chose guitar hero.

Performance Art

Above: one of Yves Klein's anthropometries, Vampire.
-image from YvesKlein.com

"Performance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. It is opposed to painting or sculpture, for example, where an object constitutes the work."
-www.wikipedia.com

Observing the career of Yves Klein, a French artist who co-founded the new realism movement, you can see that he uses performance art to assist his audiences in understanding the ideas behind his works, as well as to allow them to witness first-hand the processes used to create them (often part of the meaning). Though Klein displayed musical compositions, paintings, and books(all objects which normally constitute the work), he stripped them of what was expected (paintings would have no images, books no words, etc.). This was best witnessed through performance, and was done with the intent of emphasizing the imprint of his subjects, as well as to mix theoretical with philosophical concepts/ideas. Klein's most famous works included his blue monochromes, his anthropometries, and his voids - empty areas he would sell for gold (which would later be thrown away in a river).


Sources: YvesKlein.com, Wikipedia.com

Shadow Activity

The shadow activity required us to follow a partner's shadow around while having one foot on it at all times. Rather than alerting our partner vocally each time we lost track of their shadow, we signaled them by tapping two stones together ; We switched roles with our partner every time the stones were tapped. I expected this activity to be rather monotonous as we only had a small area of the parking lot to work with, and I had assumed that we would only be walking. However, within seconds the activity evolved into a game as my partner and I were trying to lead each other to impractical locations (over bushes, on the other side of fences, and on top of cars) in an attempt to throw one another off. The no-talking rule was quickly ignored as well, since the activity was too energetic for silence. Overall, I would label this activity as being silly, yet interesting.