Performance Art is Interactive

Both of the readings for today's class discussed performance art and how it requires some sort of interaction from the audience.  Hershman's article posed the question whether or not one can observe something without it influencing them.  I would say a simple no.  Anytime something is seen, it has an effect on the viewer.  This would seem to be especially true of art, since art is trying to connect with the audience and evoke a feeling out of them.  In "Art as Performative Enactment," the point is made that the viewer always creates his or her own meanings from their experience in viewing the artwork.  Clearly, everyone is from a different background, which would lead to different interpretations and interactions with artworks.  

An interesting example I found of performance art (I have no idea how I stumbled upon this...) is a video of Jay-Z performing "Picasso Baby" for six hours.  I am not particularly fond of Jay-Z's music, but that's not the point here, so I looked past it.  By performing the same song, over and over, for six hours, the song's meaning will change based on the different audience members and Jay-Z's level of energy for each performance.  The video shows him rapping at different audience members and those audience members interacting with Jay-Z in different ways.  This will also change how each performance is received, both by those individual audience members and by the entire audience as a whole.  For example, one of the audience members starts to dance with Jay-Z and this would give her a more direct influence on this particular performance and it likely increased the energy level for the rest of the audience.