One of the practitioners which has been influential to our research is Marina Abramović who experiments in detail with her body. One of her pieces of work Rhythm 0 1974 allows the audience to experiment with objects against her body. There are 72 objects which are laid out onto a table, some of which include knives, a gun, condoms. These objects and materials allow the audience to experiment with her body and leave their mark in which ever way they please. Similar to this, we would like our audience or participants to use the materials provided in any way they wish. The outcome, in some areas (painting on canvas) should effectively represent their mood.
Abramović is opening up institution which will house all of her performance art experiences ‘time based an immaterial art’ for people to come and see her work and experience what she is so passionate about. Abramović talks about her definition of performance art: “My definition of performance art is that it is an art that has a mental and physical structure into which a performer steps, at a fixed time and place, in front of an audience. At this point, the energy dialogue begins” (Abramović 2013). Our research within the ‘community’ and how they participate in certain situations therefore reflects their behaviour. Abramović talks about the public participating and being in control of the performance within her piece Rhythm 0: “When the public is participating, there are all kinds of possibilities for them to intervene and change the flow of the performance and change the meaning of the performance” (2013). This statement is very interesting to our groups research because we want to give our participants the freedom to use the space and experiment with the objects. Our mission is to achieve a positive outcome through mediums such as visual, sound and the physical, and ultimately how these can change the mood of the installation itself.
The artist and the public need time to enter a state of mind, which can be achieved through repetition and the long duration of the piece. Each element and material becomes something else. You open the door and close it. That’s just opening and closing a door. But over hours, it becomes something else. It can take on another meaning (Abramović).
We hope that within our durational installation process that we will see the effects of the participants moods and effectively created our end product.
Works cited:
Marina Abramović interview with Pitchaya Sudbanthad Availible at: http://www.museomagazine.com/MARINA-ABRAMOVIC Accessed: April 15 2013.