BP #5 - Music

For the music groupings I decided to go with disco, dubstep, electronic-producer/DJ culture, girl power, and techno. Each of these subgenres of music can fit under the genre of electronic dance music but some differentiating characteristics separate them apart into these groups.

One group that I believe is an influenced by the techno music genre is CAZZETTE. CAZZETTE’s music all seems to be composed not with real instruments but entirely using music that is made electronically. In one of their popular song Sleepless, the music was defiantly created electronically and the singing voices were manipulated as well in a way to sound like robots. In my opinion, most of their music has this robotic essence that is associated with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-sfFFnfO8g

For the electronic – producer/DJ culture grouping I would choose Dillion Francis to add to the category. Dillion Francis seems to use electronically made music for the most part in order to create his music compositions. In one of his popular songs, Get Low, Francis uses a lot of technology to manipulate not only the music but the singing voice as well. Within this song it can definitely be determined that some of the sounds that can be heard are not familiar sounds made from common instruments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12CeaxLiMgE

I would add the music group La Bouche to the disco grouping. Their song Be My Lover not only has the disco genre sounds but it also has the techno genre beats. While some of the beats and sounds in the song sound authentic other sounds electronically made. Also the duo’s unmanipulated singing helps with the disco feeling this song has. Also in the actual music video for this song Lane McCray, one of the members of the duo, can be seen sitting at a desk with various music mixing boards as if creating the music tracks heard in the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka01Y_pYgM

For the girl power music group I think the Cheat Codes and Cade Remix of Maggie Lindemann’s song Pretty Girl fits pretty good into the grouping. The original version of the song has no real use of technology, but the remix has a fast paced tempo with more beats and more manipulation to the music overall. Also this song fits into the grouping because it’s a song about female empowerment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFmCXBL_4n8

The song Stay by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara fits into the dubstep grouping because as well as most of the others songs it was composed using electronic music but the sounds and brats sound like they were a copy of actual instruments instead of just sounds that were electronically made. In Stay sounds such as a snare drum, snapping, and clock ticking can be heard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWEK4v9AVKQ

Performance Art

After doing some research on performance art I came across three female performance artist who stuck out to me the most, Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneeman, and Ana Mendieta. All three women are very well known in the world of performance art. I admire each of these women because even though they all are performance artist when it comes to their specific performance art each one of them go about it so differently. With performance art I feel as though one’s work can never truly be reproduced because no one but the original artist knows the actual feelings felt and thought process of the performance when it was originally performed.

Each of these women are pretty involved with feminist art, which was an art movement that started in the 1950s and female artist would create works that were reflected upon them personally and socially by society. A major characteristic all three use are their bodies as a means of a medium. They tend to focus on pushing the limits of the body and mind. I think using one’s body as a medium really forces the audience and viewers to really consider what is happening during the performance. In Carolee Schneeman’s performance piece Interior Scroll, Schneeman literally pulls out a scroll with a hand written inscription from her vagina that she reads aloud. By using her actual physical naked body Schneeman was able to get one of her major points across which is that women have been historically treated differently because of their biological make up and that should not be the case.

While all three are involved in feminist art they each focus on different aspects. Schneeman mainly focuses on the idea of feminism and women rights seen in media. Mendieta focuses on her personal life and experiences and how they shaped her life and Abramović focuses mostly on overall societal issues. I liked the various works I saw done by Ana Mendieta because although they are influenced by her life she seems to always include the element of nature. In many of my works whether photography or film I somehow always seem to tie in the element of nature. For me personally I view mother nature as this beautiful creation that mankind doesn’t care enough about. I also admire Marina’s works because at times her performances seem so simple but they are inspired by major issues and influence critical thinking. Rhythm 0, one of Abramović’s more known works, in which she had various objects of pleasure and pain and allowed viewers to choose between which objects to use on her. This performance in my opinion seems pretty simplistic but it showed the true intention of some people if given the chance. People want to see the good in other people and trust them but that isn’t always the case.

When it comes to the world of performance art I feel as though it isn’t as popular as it should be. Performance art isn’t something commonly heard or talked about a lot in my opinion. I’m not sure if it’s because people are scared to really open up their eyes and their minds and think critically about certain things or if people really just don’t care. I think it’s an important part of the arts because if forces viewers to see society or the world through a possible new perspective.

Works Cited

Gershman, Rachel. "Marina Abramović - Artist Overview and Analysis." TheArtStory.org,  https://www.theartstory.org/artist-Abramović-marina.htm, Accessed 03 November 2018.

Lopez, Alicia. "Ana Mendieta - Artist Overview and Analysis." TheArtStory.org, https://www.theartstory.org/artist-mendieta-ana.htm. Accessed 03 November 2018.

"Carolee Schneemann - Artist Overview and Analysis." TheArtStory.org, https://www.theartstory.org/artist-schneemann-carolee.htm. Accessed 03 November 2018.

Assignment A6 - Performance Art

In the beginning I really had no idea what I wanted to do for my performance art piece. I came up with some ideas but I wasn’t sure how to effectively execute my them. Finally, after some help from friends I came up with the idea to paint a section of my face as if I had a robot shell under my human skin. Then I was going to just stare at my computer, iPad, and iPhone screens while they had nothing on them but static playing. I also then decided to put up a sign that read “Is technology taking over the world or us?”

I originally wanted to perform the performance in a library because I thought my performance would be more effective in there rather than just anywhere. Unfortunately, the school wouldn’t let me do it and neither did the public library, so I ended up doing it out in front of the Tampa Museum of Art. My friend Jasmine, who was recording, and me ended up spending about an hour and a half out there and as you might see from the video not as many people were out there as I intended.

For the most part most people just walked by and didn’t even look at me or the sign and if they did look it was only for a quick split second. I personally think most people didn’t want to be recorded so they tried their best to avoid us. I thought I would get more weird looks than I did, but I didn’t. Even walking back to school I ended up passing a lot of people and they would look at me and see the face paint but it honestly just seemed like they didn’t care.

Overall, I think my performance art project came out okay. I really wanted to have an interactive element but with the original ideas I came up with and trying to include technology and an interactive element was a lot more challenging than I thought. Besides that, I’m happy with my final piece and hopefully for the few who did look and read the sign it made them think about the technology consumption in their lives and how it’s affecting them.