Culture-context-specific-"Inappropriate" performance Challenge Social Norm through "exageration"
art -> conscious performance (butler and other) -> conflict with view's world perception/model (script) -> revise
revise:
Philosopher J.L. Austin proposed the term "speech act" to highlight that speech is a specialized form of performance rather than a simply a factual statement. speech act Many theorists like Judith Butler had extend this concept of performativity to gender study and queer theory. Specifically, theorist José Esteban Muñoz proposed that video art is also a specialized form of performance for it often put body into display. performativity If an object can be viewed as a performance, can an installation, an art form that is used as a gesture, also be viewed as a specialized form of speech and therefore performance, even though the artwork is physically separated from the body of the artist? A close examination of the work "The Great White Way" and "Tompkins Square Crawl" by performance artist William Pope L. and "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" and its remake by Amalia Mesa-Bains concludes that both works can be viewed as performance in which their meanings are affected by the audience's perceived degree of divergence from their imaginary script. Furthermore, the performance, when interpreted using a script in consensus, can then provides a feedback revision to the perceived script.
Both "The Great White Way" and "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio" are conscious performance that is designed to challenge the perceived script. While "The Great White Way" can be considered a performance even in non-academic settings, it nevertheless fits the definition of performance in academic settings. "The Great White Way" is context-specific and therefore has a dedicated stage for it to perform. The stage, both physical and social, largely determines the meaning of the work. It is sometimes the physical space, the specific place in which performance must take place, that gives the work meanings: [??] English, in [??] book [??] suggested that "Lady Liberty" renders the performance as a "broken promise the widely beloved claim ascribed to 'Lady Liberty'" in the city of Manhattan that is itself a symbol of prosperity. The stage also can be the social context in which the performance happened. Unlike the physical context, the social context is an aggregation of audience's perceived social norm and ideology that forms a general consensus among a group of people. It serves as a pre-written script in which an actor should perform on stage without being "published". It is the presence of this standardized script in the perceived stage that makes Pope.L's performance powerful: in every aspect, a black superman crawling on street purposefully challenges this pre-written script of how one should behave. Therefore, Pope L.'s performance will encourage the audience to either revise their perceived script or to establish punishments as a result of viewing the work. While "The Great White Way" is performance by its context specificity and intention to challenge the script, whether "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio" can be viewed as a performance is still in question.
Despite being a fixed object in place, "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" can also be viewed as a conscious performance took place on a stage. Siturated in the Wright Gallery, "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1991)" is a remake of the original work "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" video. The remake, however, is less of a performance because the very placement of the ofrenda in the white-washed museum context removed its original rich physical and social context in which a religious work demands. As elaborated by [Gonzalez], the choice of placement in grotto, family corner, or in festivals can give an artwork different meanings. [elaborate] Although the remake puts constraints on its interpretation, it nevertheless gives the audience insights on how the original piece should function. Unlike the remake, the original "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" is context specific because it is targeted to the audience who is familiar with the general consensus of the perceived Chicana's religious and culture ideology. While the intention of the artwork is to honor Del Rio,[cite] the gesture of using a religious signs complicates a simple glorification in that it uses "a hybrid genre intended for a new Chicano/a-identified audience able to decipher the multiple iconographic references in both a Mexican and u.s. historical context" (129). Being a context specific "speech", "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" is a specialized form of performance.
Not only the perceived script of targeted audience can change the meaning of a performance as discussed above, the performance itself can affect the scripts of the viewer as exemplified by Pope L. and Mesa-Bains' works. The degree in which the performance can affect audience's perceived scripts depends on whether the audience perceive the work as conscious performance. Two insightful encounters in "Tompkins Square Crawl" by Pope L. demonstrates how two drastically different interpretation can change audience's perceived scripts. While the documentation itself doesn't show the presence of the cameraman, the cameraman nonetheless contributes to social and physical context of the performance. After hearing white cameraman's claim of their relationship, the black male who intervined the performance bended down to confirm such relationship with Pope.L himself. This behavior shows that the interviner interpreted the situration as both Pope L and the cameraman's unconscious performance by misidentifying the act of filming as a white supremacist taking advantage of a black male who, accoridng to [??], crawls in horizontality. Such misinterpretation distorts the viewer's perceived script into the one that accepts white supremacists especially when such behavior remains unpunished. On the contrary, when two residents approach with the misunderstanding that it is an conscious performance that fully disclose black's weekness, instead of revising their perceived script, they decided to punish the actors by trying to stop the performance immediately. (278) Those two drastically different responses illustrate how the same performance can affect the scripts of the viewer.
"Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" also has the power to revise viewer's script. The conscious choice of juxtaposing religious context with secular actor can also be interpreted as an unconscious performance especially when viewed from outside of the museum context. When been viewed as so, the work decreases perceived boundary between religious and secular gesture in two ways: one way is the canonization of the secular figure as suggested by [??], and the other and often ignored way is the erasion of ofrenda as a religious sign, although such effect is no intended by the artist. "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" therefore can modify the viewer's perceived degree of sacredness in the figure and in the sign of ofrenda.
Not only does the perceived scripts of the audience alters the meaning of the artwork, the artwork itself has the power to revise perceived scripts of the audience. Such feedback loop may offer insights into explaining the cyclic nature of fashion and the constant shift of our ideology as well as the continuous emergence of avant-garde groups.
consciousness Both "crawling" and "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (墨西哥女演员)" are conscious performance that is desined to challenge social norm though purposeful exaggeration
crawling is a performance
"Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (墨西哥女演员)" is performance
perceived Degree of divergence to factual correlation between two symbols (in context) can affect meaning of performance
whether audience percieve them as "conscious" performing
crawling: if it is recognized as 1st degree, then the conflict will encourage reinterpretation, change precieved "stage" (mental picture)
"Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (墨西哥女演员)":
Philosopher J.L. Austin proposed the term "speech act" to highlight that speech is a specialized form of performance rather than simply a factual statement. speech act Many theorists, like Judith Butler, had extended this concept to gender study and queer theory. Specifically, José Esteban Muñoz proposed that video art is also a specialized form of performance for it often puts the body on display. performativity If an object can be viewed as a performance, can a gestural installation also be viewed as a specialized form of speech and therefore performance although it is physically separated from the body of the artist? A close examination of the work "The Great White Way" and "Tompkins Square Crawl" by William Pope L. and "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" and its remake by Amalia Mesa-Bains concludes that both works can be viewed as performances in which their meanings are affected by the audience's perceived degree of divergence from their imaginary script. Furthermore, the performance, when interpreted using a script in consensus, can then provide a feedback revision to the audience's perceived script.
Both "The Great White Way" and "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio" are conscious performances designed to challenge the perceived script. While "The Great White Way" is a performance in a non-academic context, it nevertheless fits the definition of performance in academic settings. "The Great White Way" has a dedicated stage, both physical and social, for it to perform. The stage largely determines the meaning of the work: [??] English, in [??] book [??] suggested that "Lady Liberty", as a physical stage, renders the performance as a "broken promise the widely beloved claim ascribed to 'Lady Liberty'" in the city of Manhattan that is itself a symbol of prosperity. The stage also can be the social context in which the performance happened. Unlike the physical context, the social context is an aggregation of the audience's perceived social norm and ideology that forms a general consensus among a group of people. It serves as a pre-written script in which an actor should perform on stage without being "published". It is the presence of this standardized script in the perceived stage that makes Pope. L's performance powerful: in every aspect, a black superman crawling on street purposefully challenges this pre-written script of how one should behave. Therefore, Pope L.'s performance invites the viewer to either revise their script or establish punishments as an effect of viewing the work. While "The Great White Way" is a performance by its context specificity and intention to challenge the script, whether "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio" can be viewed as performance is still in question.
Despite being a fixed object in place, "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" can also be viewed as a conscious performance on stage. Situated in the Wright Gallery, "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1991)" is a remake of the original work video. The remake, however, is less of a performance because the very placement of the ofrenda in the white-washed museum context removed its original rich physical and social context which a religious work demands. As elaborated by [Gonzalez], the choice of placement in a grotto, family corner, or festival can give an artwork different meanings. [elaborate] Although lacking physical context, the original "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" is still context-specific because it targets the audience who is familiar with the general consensus of the perceived script of Chicana's religious and cultural ideology. While the intention of the artwork is to honor Del Rio,[cite] the gesture of using the religious sign complicates a simple glorification in that it uses "a hybrid genre intended for a new Chicano/a-identified audience able to decipher the multiple iconographic references in both a Mexican and u.s. historical context" (129). Being a context-specific "speech", "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" is a specialized form of performance.
Not only the perceived script of the targeted audience can change the meaning of the performance as discussed above, but the performance itself can also affect the scripts of the viewer as exemplified by Pope L. and Mesa-Bains' works. The degree to which the performance can affect the script depends on whether the audience perceives the work as a conscious performance. Two insightful encounters in "Tompkins Square Crawl" demonstrates how two drastically different interpretation can change the audience's scripts. While the documentation itself doesn't show the presence of the cameraman, the cameraman nonetheless contributes to the social and physical context of the performance. After hearing the white cameraman's claim of their relationship, the black male who intervened in the performance bent down to confirm the cameraman's relationship with Pope.L himself before leaving. The intervener sees the event as an unconscious performance in which a white supremacist takes advantage of a black male who, according to [??], crawls in horizontality. Such misinterpretation distorts the viewer's perceived script into one that accepts white supremacists especially when such behavior remains unpunished. On the contrary, when two residents approach with the misunderstanding that Pope L's conscious perform to discloses black's weakness, instead of revising their perceived script, they decided to punish the actors by trying to stop the performance immediately. (278) Those two drastically different responses illustrate how the same performance can affect the scripts of the viewer differently.
"Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" also has the power to revise the viewer's script. The conscious choice of juxtaposing religious context with the secular actor can also be interpreted as an unconscious performance especially when viewed from outside of the museum context. When been viewed as so, the work decreases the perceived boundary between religious and secular gestures in two ways: one way is the canonization of the secular figure[??], is the erasion of ofrenda as a religious sign, although such effect is not intended by the artist. "Ofrenda for Dolores Del Rio (1984)" therefore modifies the viewer's perceived degree of sacredness in the figure and in the sign of ofrenda.
Not only does the perceived scripts of the audience alter the meaning of the artwork, but the artwork itself can also revise the audience's perceived scripts. This feedback loop may offer insights into explaining the cyclic nature of fashion, the constant shift of our ideology, and the continuous emergence of avant-garde groups.
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