Our group started discussing the performance by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, A Muerta. We first tried to discuss the mediality, but we were distracted by the question of risk because we find it confusing. We tried to link the ideas of mediality and risk, but were not able to find any answers whatsoever. Hence we will propose some questions.
What is a risk in performance? Who is in danger? If we as audience weren't in danger then what was the point of his performance? Was he in danger and in what way? We were talking about the danger of being exposed. What is it? Why is it dangerous to be exposed? Is it a risk when the performer is being mediated? Does mediation introduce artifice into performance art and therefore corrupt its purpose? What consequences does this have for documenting performance art?
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Some thoughts in response to your questions:
ReplyDelete-I don't feel like Gómez-Peña was taking any risks with this piece (any more than any artist takes a risk every time they place a work in the public sphere). I think rather that he is simultaneously satirizing and genuinely interrogating notions of risk in performance making, just as he is with notions of performance itself.
-In terms of links between mediality and risk, I do believe that the risks involved in a live act/performance are different if not greater than one which is recorded (though this can include the live moment in which the recorded act is registered). Sarah provides a simple and clear example of this in her ‘performance anxiety’ post when she writes about our on-the-spot/off the cuff commentaries during the teleconference process in contrast to written, edited expressions of ideas. Live performance with the co-presence of others means that the performer cannot edit what is witnessed or experienced. It is what it is/was and that is always risky to varying degrees. The risks involved with a recorded act have more to do with the content and the choice of putting it out their to be judged. That said, there is perhaps more grace in medial risk as we are more likely to honor the right to fail within the live moment--after all we are always, all of us, performing live in every moment. We can relate to that... The recorded act (or performance if we accept that performance and liveness are not tied to each other) perhaps risks greater criticism for having that time to decide if each moment or phrase should be shared with the world.
-I have thought a lot about 'risk' in the context of performance and also about the fine line between risk that pushes us (the performer/the witness/participant) forward and risk that is either disingenuous or irresponsible. This fine line is not really explored with this video but it is a topic I feel is important so I thought I'd raise it.