A STEP, ELEMENTS, AND A PATH

 

    In a billion numbers of people, everyone is capable of having that one ability that can be shown to the world. Different people have different innate or skilled talents but only half of it has the courage and confidence to show them to the world. Everyone can sing, dance, or act but not everyone is determined to choose that path. Perhaps, God has given you the talent to perform but it is only on you to decide if you will make your path in performing arts come true.

A STEP 

    It all goes down in just a single step, a first try that would give birth to a long journey of trials towards a goal. And that’s how performance art started. During the 20th century, performance art had an important role in avant-garde art through anarchic movements such as Futurism and Dada. Artists frequently resort to performance as a way to reinvigorate their work in times when they grow weary of traditional forms of art, such as painting and traditional types of sculpture. While other artists are influenced by Abstract Expressionism; it emphasized the importance of the human body in the creation of art. As World War II occurred, performance art became a popular tool for artists to investigate existentialist philosophical and psychological issues; painting and sculpture relied on expressive form and substance to convey meaning and so performance art required viewers to interact with a real person who could experience cold and hunger, fear and pain, excitement and shame.

    Furthermore, the post-war movement paved the way to recognize performance art as a protest through which Viennese Actionism began using performance art in a violent and explicit form in the Austrian capital during the 1960s. The Viennese Actionists were repeatedly arrested as a result of their aggressive performances, protesting state surveillance and limits on speech and mobility. On the other hand, the rise of second-wave feminism and American performance art occurred at the same time in the 1960s and 1970s. Performance art became a new, aggressive medium that women artists used to express their outrage at social injustice and to take control of conversations regarding women's sexuality. Although performance artists' concerns have evolved since the 1960s, the art has remained a constant and has been widely accepted into the traditional institutions and galleries from where it was previously barred.

ELEMENTS

    Through the years, the process of developing performance art involves essential elements to execute efficient performances. It is comprised of four elements; the time, space, the performance itself including the artist, and the audience. These four elements shaped performance art in their particular purposes in the art. Space or the settings is valuable in every performance wherein it could be a museum, stage, or elsewhere that could make the performance happen. Performance art is nothing without the audience that will serve as the critique or reactors in a play. Time, on the other hand, is also a crucial element to make an appropriate date desired to gather respective audiences. And most importantly the performance itself including the storyline, script, props, and artists is the main component of this genre.

A PATH

    Performance art is continually evolving and adapting to how modernism shaped our culture today.  As technological advancement is emerging, performance art is also revamping into a new and improved model. Indeed, technology isn’t just challenging traditional collecting habits, but changing the medium itself. The number of organizations hosting live performances is expanding, Broadway plays and live opera performances are drawing record crowds, and there is a greater than ever demand for commercial recordings. Once again, theaters are shifting. The diversity of performance spaces is growing as a result of changing and focusing on local social contexts, increased ecological awareness, and the merging of various creative forms. On the other hand, live performances are increasing locally, generally in tiny organizations with limited operational budgets and a mix of paid and unpaid artists and personnel, while the commercial recorded and broadcast performing arts industry growing globally.

    Overall, the notion of getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things isn’t a bad idea at all. Just as how the performance art started; feeling wary of what they used to do, and tried involving body form and facial emotions in an art form. Indeed, this is how we gave birth to new forms of art. And with that, as long as skills, creativity, and aesthetics of the minds of the people are present then art will continue to evolve and transpire just as how rich this industry is. 

REFERENCES

Performance Art Movement Overview. (n.d.). The Art Story. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://www.theartstory.org/movement/performance-art/#:%7E:text=20th%20century%20performance%20art,which%20they%20read%20their%20manifestoes.

Performance art: elements and artists’ practices. (2012, April 18). Celia Yi Xie. Retrieved July 18, 2022, fromhttps://celiayixie.wordpress.com/thinking-practice/tp-final-essay-draft/#:%7E:text=There%20are%20plenty%20of%20evidences%20to%20show%20that%20almost%20all,art%20relates%20to%20performance%20closely.

Filmer, A. (2019, July 2). Theatres are evolving to reconnect us to each other and the environment. The Conversation. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/theatres-are-evolving-to-reconnect-us-to-each-other-and-the-environment-118735