Art as a Performative Act

“Self-recognition comes about when the work of art calls our being into question, or when it transports us into another order of things, where we discover our own most identity in the truth of being.” – Art as a Performative Act, 72

 Through art we become more self-aware. That being said, what happens when we ARE the art? We become the very thing that makes us aware of what we are, which sounds like quite the conspiracy theory. As I read these pieces, I struggle with thinking about what I would like to do for my own performance piece. I consider myself incredibly self-aware and wish to become even more so through my performative art piece. However, I have the preconceived notion that performative art must always be provocative and make a grand political statement or gesture when there are many different ways to define art and create it.

I often look to Bo Burnham who is a comedian and yet is very controversial in his material as well as his use of intermedia. In the opening of ‘what.’, Bo Burnham’s second comedy special, Bo incorporates an incredible amount of media and there is no doubt that every single action is premeditated. With a pre-recorded song, miming, choreography with the lighting, and even magic. Yes, I have the tendency to fan girl over Bo Burnham – he is a witty comedian who started on YouTube and used that fame to propel himself into a television personality with two comedy specials and albums – but it is truly remarkable to see the ways he so seamlessly incorporates media in his performance to make a real statement about sex, consumerism, and all aspects of the pop culture industry. It is as if every single part of his act is premeditated but that brings me to wonder – is all comedy stand up performance art? In Burnham’s show ‘what.’ he makes a joke that criticizes video editors however the audience watching at home does not get to hear the joke because the video editor cut it out – this makes me wonder what the actual experience of watching the show was and having Bo Burnham explain that segway. Perhaps he said “I got a really good joke about video editors, video editors are so fucking…” and then told the joke to the audience or said “great! I’m just using this time to fill for when we edit the video for Netflix and YouTube. Is Burnham’s performance meant to be viewed live or online? If it is an online performance can we still consider it performance art?