ok so i've been really disturbed by what we've seen this week. i don't want to watch someone sew their mouth shut or mutilate their body. i don't think self harm is art, i think self harm is needing to go talk to a specialist about why you enjoy that. maybe this has to do with people i've known who have had a lot of problems with self mutilation but i don't consider that art at all.
i really enjoy the electronic music and the use of ordinary sounds that don't need to mean anything. we have talked about merce cunningham in my dance classes many times over the years and his work with john cage. basically john cage made his music and merce would tell him the length he needed it to be, then on the night of the performance, cunningham would tell his dancers the order in which they would perform their phrases and they would perform to john cage's music for the first time. they never heard the music until the show. this was one of the first times that dance and music did not mesh. cunningham felt like they didn't need to go together in the classical way that dance and music usually works.
as for the art of like "end after 9" and the blank white screen forever and things like that, i feel like that's not art. i think something i love about art is that not just anyone can do it, and a lot of what we're talking about in class makes it seem like art is just whatever but i think art is really special and everyone has it in them, but it's all different kinds of art. the art is however that person uses the talents they have. i didn't feel like some of the work really showed any kind of talent. that's just my opinion though sooo.....
