Performance Art

Marina Abramovic is a Serbian and American artist, famous all over the world thanks to her extraordinary and shocking performances. She is rightfully considered one of the best in her genre, and her ideas related to physical pain and even a threat to life and health make viewers rethink their perception of many things and step far beyond the boundaries of the common understanding of the world and themselves.

Yoko Ono is an English and American innovative artist, writer, and musician of Japanese descent. Yoko became known to the general public largely thanks to her marriage to John Lennon, a musician and member of the legendary Beatles band. However, long before this union, she clearly showed her talent in Conceptual art, becoming one of the pioneers of installation and performance.

An American artist and theorist, the central figure of the avant-garde of the 60s, the discoverer of the happening - a form of art in which the primary attention is paid to the process of creation. Allan Kaprow appreciated the moment of action in painting, putting it above the result.The fleeting, often quick and spontaneous actions of Kaprow erase the line between art and everyday life and immerse participants in the work, involving them in the creative process and destroying the notorious “fourth wall” between the work and the audience.In his theoretical writings, Allan Kaprow said that after the discoveries of Jackson Pollock and other Abstract Expressionists, painting could no longer exist in its original form. It must go beyond the canvas and move into everyday life.The master called himself “non-artist” and his works “anti-paintings”. “Life is much more interesting than art”, said Kaprow and created events outside galleries and museums: in courtyards, apartments, streets, squares and parking lots. Sometimes his works are even absurd - such as building houses from ice under the scorching California sun; they change the very perception of art and turn everyday life processes into creative acts.The principles of the creation of happening, which Allan Kaprow outlined in his work “How to Make a Happening”, were enthusiastically accepted by many post-war artists who tried to take a fresh look at modern creative methods. Thanks to the discoveries of the American innovator, such styles as installation, performance and conceptual art were further developed.

An American contemporary conceptual sculptor and artist. The art of Bruce Nauman includes a wide range of creative interests: performance and installation, photography and art video, works for the media, printing and industrial production. In all areas, the artist was attracted by the nature of communication, problems of the language and the role of the artist as a manipulator of visual symbols by the means of communication.Nauman received numerous awards in several areas of artistic practice and an honorary doctorate in arts from the American Art Institute. His works are widely represented around the world at the expositions of the most prestigious museums and galleries. The monumental creations of Bruce Nauman inspired many other artists in the second half of the 20th century and continues to be in demand in the 21st century. In 2004, Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the art world. In 2006, according to the rating of Artfacts.net, Bruce Nauman was number one among living artists.

The essence of the performance, which took place at the New York Museum of Modern Art, was that everyone could sit in front of Marina Abramovic and silently look into her eyes for several minutes.

“House with the ocean view” consists of three small rooms, without a ceiling and front wall, installed in an exhibition hall. In these rooms, Marina Abramovic spent 12 days without food, communication, or any connection with the outside world.

The work was presented at the Venice Biennale and won the Golden Lion prize at the competition. For four days, Marina Abramovic washed a mountain of bloody cow bones, which symbolized the victims of the war in Yugoslavia.

The performance, which was conceived as a joyful, solemn event, turned out to be ultimately sad.

The central theme of this performance was the relationship between a man and a woman and the importance of trust in a relationship. For their experiment, Marina and Ulay used a real bow and a sharp arrow, which was aimed directly at Abramovic’s chest.

In this performance, Abramovic and her partner Ulay checked their endurance. They sat with their backs to each other, tied their hair into one common knot and sat motionless for 16-17 hours every day during the exhibition.

The early performances of Marina Abramovic often included elements of self-torture and even masochism. During one of them, which was called "Thomas Lips", the artist depicted a star on her stomach with a sharp blade.

In the performance that made her famous, Marina Abramovic assigned herself a passive role. The naked artist was simply in the room where dozens of various items, such as perfume, rose, scissors, honey, salt and a loaded gun, were laid out on the table.

One of the first famous performances of Marina Abramovic, which became one of the most dangerous. On the floor of the room, the young artist laid out a five-pointed star made of wood, doused it with oil and set it on fire.

Not all of Oldenburg's creations are motionless statues that adorn city parks and squares. Some works have quite practical applications, for example, a boat made in the form of a Swiss folding knife.

Yoko Ono took the idea for her “Wish Tree” from Buddhist temples, where there is a tradition to write down dreams and hang them on tree branches.

In the installation, the artist halved all the objects inside the room (chairs, tables, paintings, carpets), thus conveying her feelings after breaking up with Anthony Cox.

The installation-performance was based on the teachings of Buddhism, which preaches a solution to the conflict by understanding and accepting an opponent and demonstrates the anti-war beliefs of Yoko Ono.

Like in other works of the avant-garde artist, the viewer needs to be directly involved in this installation. To understand its essence, a person must climb the stairs to the ceiling and examine the inscription "Yes" on a small canvas with the help of a magnifying glass.

The main idea of the performance is to make people discard all external factors and conventions in order to discover a new understanding of human nature.

The primary purpose of this presentation is to show the woman's helplessness.

One of the first works of the artist, in the creation of which the audience could take part. This is a blank canvas on a wooden board with a hammer hanging next to it and a bucket of spikes.

Mediums: rectangular bars of ice. Location: photos and materials are available at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, California, the USA).

Ai Weiwei prepared this interesting large-scale performance-project for the world-wide exhibition-festival “Documenta”, which takes place every five years in the German city of Kassel. He invited 1001 Chinese readers of his blog to this exhibition, paying them for travel, accommodation and other facilities. For ordinary Chinese people, such a trip turned out to be a real fairy tale, since they could not even dream of the opportunity to visit Europe. In addition to inviting people, the artist also acquired 1001 chairs of the Qin Dynasty - the artist placed pieces of furniture throughout the territory allocated for the exhibition.