PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
For the past few weeks, with our artist in residence Clifford Owens, we have been writing our own one-line “scores” for performance pieces and performing them, as well as learning about the history and importance of performance art in the canon of American art. On October 29, we had the pleasure of a visit from performance artist Shaun Leonardo who gave us some insight into his own performance art work. Leonardo began by explaining how he combines his identities as a Hispanic man, football player, and artist to develop his unique body of work. After showing us clips of his performances, we discussed how he uses recognizable masculine gestures to comment on American society. Then we headed up to the Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE exhibition. We were given time to explore the show and pick a favorite piece before we divided into groups. Each group collectively chose an artwork and created a “still” performance based on our interpretation of Indiana’s work and how it speaks to our own life experiences. Owens photographed our performances. For our final activity, five people were chosen to perform individually for the group. Owens assigned each performer a one-line “score” written by one of the Writers. I performed the score, “Express anger without showing violence.” To prepare, I thought about how I feel and process anger. For my performance, I walked through the audience in silence while making intense eye contact with individuals. Once immersed in the crowd, I selected a person at random who I stood over and glared at, then slowly removed either my sweatshirt or shoes and angrily placed them in front the person. After my performance, the primary reaction from the audience was that I scared people with my intensity. The highlight of the day for me was interacting with the audience during my performance, as well as getting feedback from Leonardo and Owens. It was great to get a new perspective on what performance art is and it was interesting collaborating with other YI Writers on the group performances. By Tess W, Youth Insights Writer
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Josef Bares is a media artist of Czech/German origin, currently living and working in Hong Kong. His artworks have been exhibited across continents, including Germany, Austria, Russia and USA. His area of interest lies in systems of signs. He uses different ways to visually convey the processes taking place in signification – the creation of meaning. He is especially interested in relationships between city and language, space and semantics: How we do ‘read’ our urban living environment. Architecture is universal in its ‘nature’, yet it is highly culturally different – a feature which it shares with language.
For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art
