One idea that Carlson presented that I found particularly interesting was the idea of a "restored behavior". Restored behavior, defined by Richard Schechner, is pretending to be someone other than oneself. He talks of a certain distance between "self" and behavior, similar to an actor and the role the actor plays on stage. "Even if an action on stage is identical to one in real life, on stage it is considered "performed" and off-stage merely "done" (Carlson, 4).
I was so excited when I read this passage because this almost mirrored the in-class discussion where we talked about routine, almost mundane actions like doing the dishes or standing in line at the bank. I recall thinking that if I was doing dishes at home, this doesn't necessarily qualify as performance or performance art, but if done during a scene in a show, it could hold great value or meaning. I also connected this to a point I made in class about how I think the smallest (sometimes unspoken) agreement must be made between performer and observer for any act to be considering an act of performance rather than an act of doing. For me, this point that Carlson made helped me to have a somewhat clearer understanding of what performance is, if not what performance definitely is not.
Later in the passage Carlson brings up another idea of the possibility of all human activity potentially being considered performance. The defining factor, then, would be in attitude - "we may do actions unthinkingly, but when we think about them, this introduces a consciousness that gives them the quality of performance" (Carlson, 4). I totally agree with this line of thinking. If I am consciously aware of how I am doing the dishes, doing them with care or lackadaisically, if I am aware of how I look and appear, whether others are in the room or not, once awareness and thought is attached to an action, it does seem to become a performative act rather than a "doing" act.
An event I remember a while back that, to me, challenges the notion of "performance" is when actress Tilda Swinton performed The Maybe at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. You can read more about it here. Swinton, throughout the year, would sleep in an elevated glass box for museum patrons to view like any other piece of art.
If we were to try and categorize her art, and use Carlson and Schechner's idea of "restored behavior", Swinton is technically a performer doing a piece of performance/performance art. If Swinton chose to sleep in her bed at home, there would not be much thought behind that decision. I am tired, therefore I will go to sleep. That act of sleeping would not be performance, but merely doing. Sleeping in a glass case in the middle of a museum gallery, however, requires a large amount of thought.
Swinton's Likely List of Performative Thoughts:
- What to wear to her performance
- What to include in the box with her (in this case, a jug of water and cushions)
- When to perform this (randomly, without notice)
- Initial sleeping arrangements
- To explain what she was doing or let the work speak for itself
I found it particularly interesting that you brought up Tilda Swinton's "performance" in which she sleeps in the glass box because during our class discussion the instances that were coming to my head that I thought were definitely and could not be performance were if a person were sleeping or in a coma. Now that you recalled this what I would would believe to be performance art back to my memory I am reconsidering my thought that I had in class. I'm not really sure if I would qualify her act of sleeping since it is an un-conscience action and technically not restored to be a performance, but her circumstances that she set up around her sleeping to be the performance. I would think that there is no way for us or even her to know that she is performing if she is indeed sleeping because it would inhibit her to have any control in her performance. It's definitely something to think about and there are a lot of if's and but's but I think since it was premeditated it qualifies as a performance even if at some point during the performance she loss consciences, without that premeditated step though I think that it wouldn't have the same qualification.
ReplyDeleteI think Yvette makes a good point here about her act of sleeping- but how much effort and ease and preparation necessary to be comfortable enough to allow her body to fall asleep under these circumstances is something that is incredibly interesting to consider, and I would argue that even sleeping in front of an audience could be argued that it is performative precisely for the reasons that Michael mentioned in his list. Then again, what IS performance?!?
DeleteGreat points everywhere. After giving this more thought, and especially after reading Yvette's point about the giving up of control and it not being a performance anymore, it made me wonder if it truly does stop being a performance and transforms into living art. While I'm not in total agreement that it's not a performance, I keep returning to the display of it all. Sleeping in a bed is different from sleeping in a glass case. Old, fragile, art is kept in glass cases in museums. Did Swinton's performance art piece serve a double function of living art? But then I think that the choice to become a piece of living art makes it a performance. Where does one end and the other begin?
DeleteI chose restored behavior as the definition that stuck out to me as well. I think your example is really interesting because immediately i thought that would be performance art. I don't think there is any disputing that at all. The consciousness of the performance is what makes it a performance. She chose to put herself on display and the audience came to see this. I do think it's interesting that you went on to think about the various things she thought of in her performance. I never really think about that kind of stuff when it comes to performance art because it's not as clear as all the thought that goes into a theatrical performance. Very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI apologize if you get this comment twice . . .technical difficulties, yay! I also found the section about attitude and consciousness of action equating to performance to be fascinating. I like your example of washing dishes and how suddenly becoming aware of yourself doing dishes causes you to notice how you are washing them, whether it is carefully or lackadaisically. In a sense, you become aware of playing some kind of action in relation to the task. It may also be that the mere consciousness of doing the dishes changes the way you wash them, because, as you said, you are now aware of the way you appear. I also love your point about how, in everyday life, washing the dishes is simply a mundane task, but suddenly when it is put onstage, it can have a multitude of meanings and be filled with subtext. I thought of the example of singing in the shower. Since this is something that most of us do consciously, and, most of the time, we do it when we think we are alone, are we essentially performing for ourselves? Can it is still be considered a performance when the performance is for only one person, and that one person is also the performer?
ReplyDeleteOh Maggie… I fear that if I were to think too much about your singing in the shower example I might lose my mind. I know Amanda argued points about if a performance is valid even if there isn't an audience. I again go back to my point about the performer/audience agreement. An audience, consciously or not, "judges" a performance and usually comes to a good or bad review. If you were to step out of the shower, after blazing through the Rent soundtrack and maybe throwing some Bon Jovi in there as well, and then thought to yourself, "That was a good (or bad) singing job I just did" then I guess you would be evaluating your own performance. I think, technically, that the act of singing in the shower could then be considered a performance, albeit a very self-serving one. Ignore the time this is posted, it will only make me feel I'm more crazy… People often sing alone to prepare for a recital or recite a monologue alone to memorize it. I would call these rehearsals. Are rehearsals then performances for yourself? Or do rehearsals stand separately from performances?
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