What is performance as a work of art? What does Performance mean in simple words? Famous performance artists and their works

Over the past half century, art has undergone colossal changes, but, unfortunately, not in better side... After carefully reading this article, you will learn about performance, what it is and how it differs from traditional art.

Performance - what does it mean?

This concept is very flexible, performance can be called all kinds of public actions... For example, the famous overseas painter Jackson Pollack laid a Whatman paper on the road, stood on it with his bare feet and sprinkled colorful paints on the paper, and the Russian painter Oleg Kulik got used to the image of a dog-man and rushed, growling loudly at people.

There is several definitions of the term "performance":

• A model of art in which the main action is one or more people;
• Small theatrical performance featured by a professional with a small group of volunteers. Usually the performance takes place practically without words, because the main thing in the performance is the visual part;
• First of all, it is focused on visual perception, performance is a kind of synthesis of various effects, loud music and theater.

In a performance, the artist himself is a work of art.

What is performance in art?

This art is based on human action. If statues and paintings play the main role in other movements of art, then in performance the individual himself is considered a work of art. More recently, performance has been associated with choreography and theater, but in its true form it is considered an interaction between a contemplator and a talented author. With the help of his body, a person tries to convey to the audience his ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Very often, such performances come as a complete surprise to passers-by. A completely unprepared contemplator may not immediately realize what is happening. The performance is highly appreciated as an expert of this art, not only by the permanent spectator, but also by the casual passer-by. For this reason, performances are shown not on a professional stage, but most often on the street.

What is the difference between an installation and a performance?

Many people know words like performance and installation. Unfortunately, you don't often hear positive reviews about data. fashion trends... So what is the difference between performance and installation? And what are the goals and important tasks of the painters acting in these directions?

Word " installation»Came from of English language from the verb "to install", which translated into Russian means - "to install", which to some extent depicts the technical criteria for the development of an installation: it is not "depicted" or "composed", but is determined, formed and assembled from separate cut fragments.

The art of installation is a spatial composition made by a painter from a variety of elements:

1. Visual information;
2. Text information;
3. Natural objects;
4. Industrial manufactories;
5. Industrial products;
6. Household objects.

Various altar-like constructions in cultural premises are considered the most ancient predecessors of the installation. A lot of installation-like things were in different time, and especially in the era of the Rococo and Baroque styles. The installation, nevertheless, was systematized and genre-comprehended quite recently, when the figurative and genre boundaries within the arts were almost completely destroyed.

The founders of the installation were a surrealist and a Dadaist from France Marcel Duchamp.

Along with objects, promotions, happenings, performances, environment and land art, the installation is a kind of floating, in terms of genre and plasticity, a type of occupation where the predominant gesture, the painter, and the extended projection passage are predominant.

The main elements of the performance

It contains 4 main elements that set the performance apart from other classical art objects such as a statue or canvas.

These elements include:

• The performer himself;
• Simultaneous interaction of a casual witness and a brilliant performer;
• Time;
• Space.

Based on these elements, we can confidently assert that a performance is a kind of living image shown to the audience at a certain hour and in a certain place. It assumes a conditioned plan, where all the smallest movements are thought out with precision. The author dresses himself in the image of some hero and clearly follows a certain type of behavior, which makes it possible to formulate the idea of ​​his performance using a variety of attributes, postures and gestures.

At the same time, passers-by are not lured into this process, but are only by spectators... Very often, the hero of our article is a satirical action, calculated on a very strong impression of a casual witness.

What types of performance are there?

Usually it is of several types and primarily depends on the task and the meaning of the performance. Most often, viewers are offered to see a modern performance, but only sometimes on city streets it is possible to observe such peculiar actions as provocative or sots-art performance.

In the first case, the performance is based on the desire of the performer to portray the true reliability of everything that happens on this moment... In the second case, show the viewers your indomitable disposition and awaken in people a strong shock from what they were watching, or even introduce the viewer into a state of shock.

How does performance differ from classical art?

The main difference between classical art and modern performance is the subject of creation. If in classical art the center of interest is an impersonal object (canvas, statue) created by a talented performer, then in a performance the performer himself is the main one.

If the performance requires a long rehearsal, then the performance, although it is thought over to the smallest detail, presupposes spontaneous actions and the effect of complete surprise at the hour of the performance. In a performance the well-known concept of "the main role" is completely absent.

Over the past decades, all sorts of trends have appeared in modern art in this article, we have opened the veil of secrecy and learned about performance, what is an action in which the performer himself is a work of art.

Video performance "I want a fur coat"

In this video, the artist Veronika Orlova will show a “bloody performance” on a square in St. Petersburg in defense of fur animals, from which a person makes fur products:

Performance(English performance - performance, performance, performance) - in simple words: view contemporary art where the work is the actions of the performer himself or a group of artists. If in other forms of art the object is a painting, sculpture, or a moving object (kinetic art), then in a performance the author himself is a work.

Performance is an avant-garde and conceptual art. Sometimes even dance, theater, ballet are called performance. In a sense, this is so, but the term "performance" itself means something else - something that is related specifically to a highly specialized genre, or when a performance is created precisely as a performance and nothing else.

For the first time the word "performance" was used by the composer J. Cage in 1952, when he performed the piece "4'33" (4 minutes 33 seconds of silence) on stage. As an active trend in art, it appeared only in the 1960s. The most prominent representatives this direction in those years were: Yves Klein, Vito Acconci, Herman Nitch, Chris Burden, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, Oleg Kulik, Oleg Mavromatti, Elena Kovylina and others.

Performance in its essence is not only a vivid style of the avant-garde, which tries to oppose itself to the classical forms of art and do something revolutionary, but also a philosophy of a special kind. Through special conceptual actions, the author tries to convey the understanding of one side of life or another. He tries to convey his feelings not through a painting, sculpture or something else, but through live interaction with the viewer. Such performances are often very unusual and unexpected. An untrained viewer may not understand what is happening at all. Here, both the opinion and response of an experienced viewer, who understands a lot in performances, and a casual passer-by who met with the manifestation of such art by chance, are appreciated. For this reason, performances are held not only in special places, but also on the streets, in public places, etc.

Living paintings, which involve the active participation of not only the author-artist, but also the viewer, represent an action to destroy stereotypes and view the world from an unusual angle. The creative component here undergoes drastic changes... If people are accustomed to seeing the usual creativity in its usual manifestation, then even abstractionism or cubism for a person who is not versed in art can become more understandable than the same performance. However, some of the types of performance have become familiar and understandable to us for a long time. Stylistic solutions such as Flashmob, planking, harlem shake and even the infamous Pussy Riot punk prayer are also forms of performance.

Video: John Cage: 4 \ '33 \ '\' for piano (1952). The world's first performance.

Art is a deep and multifaceted sphere of human activity. Differences in the perception of the surrounding world, the strength and depth of emotional experiences, their character, as well as individual views and talents have given rise to many trends in art. A separate place among them is occupied by performance, the modern definition of which appeared in the 1960s (although the birth of this direction took place back in the 20s of the twentieth century). What is hidden behind this seemingly common term?

Performance - interpretation of the term

First of all, performance is a performance, some kind of action focused on public demonstration. The event has a clear organization, staging, carries a certain idea. Its basis is human actions. There are several main interpretations of performance:

• A “living” form of art, in which one person or several persons at a certain time and place represent a plot.
• A pseudo theatrical action, organized and directed by one leader (professional) or with a group of followers. In the course of a speech, rhetoric is often absent, because the idea of ​​the production is conveyed through visual images.
• A short performance by one person or a group of people, taking place according to a previously planned scenario, the purpose of which is to awaken emotional and aesthetic experiences in viewers and fans.
• A kind of synthesis of theater, music and props (special effects), the perception of which is made by means of a visual assessment of what is happening.
• A public speech, the purpose of which is any call, advertisement or certain effect.
• Promotions by artists whose purpose is not to present finished product, for example, paintings or sculptures, but the actual process, ideas.

Performance - the main differences of this art form

• The key object of action is a person. It is he who personifies the work of art itself. A performance can be either single or group.
• One of the main differences between this type of performance and theatrical is the lack of premeditated remarks. At the same time, the scenario of the event, all movements and postures are precisely worked out.
• For the perception and understanding of the performance, there is no need to possess special knowledge or an intellectual base - any passer-by is able to watch the performance, experience certain emotions (according to the individual characteristics of perception and the rating scale) and move on.

Often, performance is part of such stylistic solutions as flash mob, Body Art, Harlem Shake, planking.

A performance is an action, a performance in which the participants try to convey a certain thought or idea to the audience.
The word "performance" comes from the French verb "perfounir" and literally translates to "fully supply" and the English verb "perform" - "to perform."
The American composer J. Cage was the first to introduce the concept of “performance” in the 50s of the last century; his performance (the word appeared in the poster) was called “3.33 minutes of silence”. However, it was only after about 20 years that the concept of "performance" came into vogue.

Performance definitions

There are many

• A form of contemporary art in which a work is constituted by the actions of an artist or a group at a certain place and at a certain time.
• Quasi-theatrical performance, directed and performed by professional artist, alone or with a handful of initiates - hired extras, fellow colleagues, usually without verbal accompaniment, or such is insignificant in comparison with the pictorial part.
• Art of actions produced by artists in front of the audience. They differ from all types of visual art in that the main thing is not the result of the artist's work (painting, sculpture, material composition), but the process of this work, that is, a certain action.
• A contemporary art form, a short performance performed by one or more participants in front of an audience, planned in advance and proceeding according to a certain program. The meaning of the performance is not in itself, but in the space of deeply individual, aesthetic and eventual experiences of eyewitnesses and accomplices.
• One of the types of contemporary art. A performance focused on audio-visual perception, a synthesis of all kinds of directions: theater, music, special effects.
• A type of contemporary art, where the work is the actions of the performer himself or a group of artists. If in other forms of art the object is a painting, sculpture, a moving object, then in a performance the author himself is a work.

Performance - "everyone decides for himself"

In general, performance is a concept so extensible that it can be called any public action, especially if it is incomprehensible to average minds (American artist D. Pollack, having spread the canvas and standing on it, sprayed paint around him on the surface of the canvas.
In the forest by the river, the artists of the Collective Actions group sewed a shell of a “ball” 4 meters in diameter out of variegated calico, filled it with 500 inflated balls, put an included electric bell with a battery in the “ball”, tied it up and let it flow along the river, stood and admired, how beautiful the "ball" floats. The artist Oleg Kulik dressed up in the image of a dog-man and rushed at passers-by with a growl. Participants of the studio "InZhest" depicted "fresh flowers" on the asphalt)

Performances by Marina Abramovich

Serbian artist Marina Abramovic, who lives in New York, is considered one of the most creative inventors in the field of performance.
- Then she at the Studio Mona gallery in Milan, she invited viewers to do something with her body using the objects laid out on the table. The performance was interrupted at the moment when Abramovich, already half-naked (the spectators-participants cut off her clothes from her in pieces), someone thrust the barrel of a pistol into his mouth.
- Then connected its mouth with the mouth of a colleague by a special assembly. The abnormal ones inhaled each other's breaths until they ran out of oxygen and both fell to the floor unconscious with their lungs filled with carbon dioxide.
- Then washed a mountain of bloody bones in memory of the victims of the war in Yugoslavia.
- Then exchanged glance with any visitor to the exhibition, which was recorded by a camera. This is how she looked 1,500 people in the eye for almost 720 hours.
- Almost two weeks lived in a kind of apartment (three open platforms), suspended on the wall of the gallery. During the performance, the heroine did not speak and did not eat anything, giving it all the time for public display. She could not go down: the ladder was made in the form of knives, sharp and already bloody.

Performance is not a quest! However, do not rush to turn around and leave: this action combines all the advantages of quests in reality and theatrical performance, and your team here are the main characters.

Each performance is dedicated to a specific theme, most often the organizers create horror quests and try to scare the players in order to shake them up and take them out of the measured pace of life. In the performance, the game of professional actors is closely intertwined with the plot and actions of the players, and therefore the ending is almost always unpredictable, unlike the quest, where after 60 minutes you will still find the coveted key.

The variability of the ending of the game is not the only thing that attracts visitors. The main feature of performance is the presence in the game of actors who direct the gameplay, while often interacting with the players through dialogue or even body contact.

Many performance organizers suggest choosing the level of contact before the game, and beginners who are not experienced in attending quests and performances should start with the "light" level so as not to be disappointed in the genre after the first visit. We advise you to pay close attention to the safety of playing in performances and follow a few simple rules from the video below.

In performances, there is usually a minimum of logical tasks and puzzles, since the main emphasis is formed on arousing certain emotions and experiences in the players. At the performances, special attention is paid to the atmosphere of the playroom: the use of special light and sound effects complements the elaborate legend. Another feature of the performance is that the participants' feeling of the reality of what is happening does not leave until the last moment. Remember, it's easy to believe that this is not a game.

The first performance in Russia was the brainchild of Claustrophobia, which opened at the end of 2014. The team of participants in the performance ended up locked in the house of a man-eating maniac who was collecting "rare specimens". Before the game, it was suggested to put on special suits, after which each player was supplied with a bag on his head - only after that the team was escorted to the game room. The Collector worked successfully until the end of December 2016, having managed to inspire many organizers to create scary performances in the post-Soviet space.