vastgerm

[vastgerm]

Open Work

I don’t play the violin. This violin was acquired after I learned about Dadaist performance and Cabaret Voltaire shenanigans. To add to the absurdity and chaos of these events, some would make noise on instruments they did not know how to play. Being a musician with knowledge of other instruments, this sounded freeing to me since formal music training can sometimes be stifling to creativity or experimentation. I decided to try it out as an exercise with the violin. It is nice to completely disregard notes and technique, and instead focus only on what the sounds are like and how it feels. 

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Participation

I love the act of lighting someone’s cigarette and having my cigarette lit for me. It’s a small gesture, but one that is kind and sort of sweet. There’s an element of intimacy to it that can be appealing. We should do more small, sweet things for each other, even though this is not what immediately comes to mind when one thinks of an act of kindness. It’s the kindness I like.

[vastgerm]

Divine! Once the filthiest person alive! A drag performer who starred in many of John Waters’ films doing all kinds of sick, strange things. 

[vastgerm]

Artist 14

Beth B is a multimedia artist working primarily in film/video and installation. These pictures are from her installation Hysteria, which included live performance, video, and sculpture. The performance aspect came from the two nude women laying in cots who would convulse and contort periodically. The sound of a woman screaming could be heard from a looped video. Straight jackets and other relics that seemed to be associated with mental institutions, like an ovarian compressor, were on display. I initially thought it was about the cruel treatment of “hysteric” women in the past, but the artist says it is about the censorship of female sexuality. Either way, very striking and cool. You can watch it here. 

[vastgerm]

Ah what a clever way of using participation! Love the method and the final look it created.

Project 4

For this project I was having quite a hard time finding something to do and decided to take the route of having participants through technology. I did a series of poll stories on my Instagram that allowed my followers to dictate and create my look. From wig to outfit to makeup style I let other people make those choices for me and it was a fun way to have participants without physically being around others! I was hoping to do something a bit more extravagant but this idea fit best with my timing and availability and I am pleased with the outcome. After taking in the choices made by my peers I just made a short video on TikTok to have some kind of physical receipt that I followed the choices that were made for me!

[vastgerm]

Aw I almost joined and really wish I did now! Even without participation it’s still effective and you still made some sweet sounds. It feels a little lonely but in a good way. A great and accessible idea.

Project 4 - Participation

I played the live stream, but no one joined. (I did have more instructions via the stream title) The few that were a "maybe" didn't make it, so I played a little over 13 minutes solo while a handful of folks filtered in and out. I'd like to redo this, but plan ahead a bit more and have more people actually committed to participating instead of just hoping folks want to play along. I also think I should probably lessen the fancy lights etc on my end, so that it seems more inviting/casual. Here are the droney noisy sounds that I made...

[vastgerm]

Artist 13

What about Miranda July!!!! Probably one of the most mainstream artists of our time at this point, but she did a lot of weird and cool video and performance work back in the day. I also loved her project Joanie 4 Jackie, a chainletter compilation of films made by women. She slightly annoys me now but still has a place in my heart.

[vastgerm]

Artist 12

Alejandro Jodorowsky, while primarily known for his cult films, has practiced performance art for decades. I recently watched his 2019 documentary Psychomagic: A Healing Art where he uses performance as a kind of therapy. Jodorowsky compares his method of psychomagic to Freud’s psychoanalysis, saying the latter is rooted in science and words but the former is rooted in art and touch. He finds people who have experienced some type of trauma and attempts to heal them through unique performance art rituals. 

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Artist 11

Cosey Fanni Tutti was a member of Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions which I previously wrote about, but she did solo work in performance and music as well. Cosey was a sex worker and uses that background in her artistic career; sex is the dominant theme. It’s confrontational, sometimes erotic, very body oriented.

[vastgerm]

The Couple in the Cage Response

Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Pena’s performance piece Two Undiscovered Amerindians... was genius, simultaneously humorous and saddening. I like what one man in the Madrid audience said...  “you have to see the humor in all of this” because it is satirical! A humorous method is often preferred when tackling such a heavy issue. Though there is something to be said about the performance moving one woman to tears. I think being confronted with the image of people in cages can be difficult for some. Especially when said people in cages are darker than you and made to look aggressively othered or exotic. That it was misunderstood and believed as the truth by so many people reflects our unfortunate history and current reality... people really do this shit to each other. The older footage woven in with real examples of othering human beings for spectacle was effective in driving home the point of the performance and providing some context. This may be one of my favorite performance art pieces I’ve seen so far. I like that it played with people’s minds and made them think. I like that it confronted colonialism, whiteness and the racist history of America.

[vastgerm]

I love the use of music technology in all your work. The delay creates a super satisfying sound that amplifies your performance and adds kind of a surreal quality since the gear isn’t visible to us. Great, relatable concept.

Site Specific Situations: Present at Play

In a time where everything that can hold our attention is at our fingertips, I wanted to use technology to bring focus back to being present, much like we used to do when we were children. I think a lot about how I used to keep myself entertain for hours outside growing up in the woods, just sitting on the ground and playing in the dirt with whatever little nature-treasures I’d find. These days, we all claim to have no attention span due to the mass amounts of entertainment we can have at any given moment. Being “present” is something everyone strives to regain. With this project, I wanted to put myself back into the mindset of my childhood self and pay attention to all of the little things right in front of me in my own back yard.

I used a high-sensitivity, omnidirectional condenser microphone, ran it through a light delay pedal, and placed it on the ground in front of me. I then proceeded to play in the dirt and grass, crunch leaves, and break twigs, all while listening to the sounds amplified and repeated back to me. The use of delay/repetition was inspired by a grounding practice where you observe your surroundings and state different things that you can see, hear, etc, in order to keep yourself in the present moment. The repetition of the noises I was making was a type of audible version of this practice. I crack the twig, twig cracks, twig cracks, twig cracks. The repetition of every noise I made forced me to have a stronger awareness of every moment I created.

[vastgerm]

This is beautiful. Such a tender and thoughtful performance. As someone who also struggles with grief, I was moved by this and your artist statement. Well-documented also.

Site Specfic Performance

(Sorry it’s so late)

Artist statement:

I have a complicated relationship with death, as I’m sure many do. It fascinates me, it scares me, in many ways, it rules me. When I was 15, my boyfriend died by suicide and I developed post traumatic stress disorder. My fear of death controlled my actions, thoughts and relationships for many years. When I entered my 20s I began actively working to accept death as an inevitable part of life and work through this trauma. This cemetery I chose for my site specific performance has been a huge part of this on going healing process. I began coming here with my partner about 3 years ago. Here I can appreciate the temporality of life and I think about how the energy of people who have passed never ceases to exist, and I find comfort. I have taken so much from this place, for this performance, I wanted to give to it. The graves that line this cemetery are predominately from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, many seem long forgotten. For this performance, I bought a bouquet of roses, the flower of gratitude, and placed them at the graves. I did this to give back, to remember, and to pay homage to the space that has aided in confronting my own prolonged grief and acknowledge how far I have come.

(Sound warning: I left the sound in the video because I think its essential to the space, but it was very windy, so for the sake of your ears turn down your volume to low before clicking on the video)

[vastgerm]

Artist No. 10

Jack Smith was a pioneer in experimental & queer cinema and performance art. His work was loud, dramatic, kitschy, and flamboyant. Very much a product of a distinct era of New York. Smith was one of those artists who made their entire life into art.

[vastgerm]

Site Specific Situations

Soil is one of the most integral elements of life on earth. I knew I wanted to work with it in some capacity, at first planning on digging a hole in the ground and burying myself in an attempt at being closer to the natural world. Instead, I brought it into my home. The bathtub setting is a more intimate one, and one that has connotations with cleanliness and self-care. The act of bathing in dirt could be seen as ironic, but to me it stirs thoughts of burial, rebirth, and how the human body continues to interact with the planet after life.

[vastgerm]

Artist No. 7: Survival Research Laboratories

Mark Pauline started the machine performance art group Survival Research Laboratories in the late 1970s. The group built large machines to destroy each other and their surroundings. They were tied to the industrial music scene, with harsh noise being an integral part of performances.

[vastgerm]

Film Response 3

Asco, the ‘70s LA art collective, were pioneers of performance and multimedia art within the Chicano context. I found it valuable and interesting to see what performance art looks like in a culture different from the one that seems to dominate the image of the medium. The group was heavily involved in the Chicano civil rights movement, despite being criticized for making art that fell outside the norms of their culture. I’m into their stance of freedom of expression at any cost.

[vastgerm]

Artist No. 6

Johanna Went is a performance artist and musician who was active in the 1970′s Los Angeles punk scene. Her chaotic shows featured elaborate and often vulgar costumes and combined ritualistic symbols, such as bloodletting or religious imagery, with noise music. Her vocals during these shows consisted of screeching, yelping, or wailing. I love her.