Week Six: September 30-October 6: Topless Cellist: Pages 67-140
We continue with Charlotte this week, as we enter into the exciting period of her life when she meets and begins a partnership with Nam June Paik. Many of you are underscoring the parts of Charlotte's life—and reflecting on your own—that were the result of merely saying "yes" to things she perhaps never thought/expected she could/would do. When I started my PhD program, I never thought I would finish. When I started a dissertation, I never thought I could write it. When I graduated, I never thought I could actually score a tenure-track position. When I did, I never thought I could do it well. When I was faced with tenure requirements, I never thought I could publish books. When I got pregnant, I never thought I could be a good mom. When TTU asked me to come on board, especially being 9-months pregnant and moving my family across the country so mom could start a new position, I never thought I could do it. Even outside of the realm of traditional "accomplishments," when I was struggling just to find happiness in Lubbock—a place that appeared to be more of a desert wasteland to me than anything, where I had no friends, no extended family—I never thought I could do it. I still struggle with this, but I am happy. It isn't that I lack confidence; I am human, as I gingerly embrace the uncertainties of my life. I still experience similar feelings regularly. (I was asked to moderate the keynote panel at the TASA conference this Friday, and I will likely spend the next 48 hours whispering to myself, "you can do this.") Obviously, I'm not unique, as I know many of you have similar stories of pushing through doubt and uncertainty, but these are the aspects of Charlotte's life that I personally enjoy the most. I'm not sure we ever feel fully prepared for anything, but as many of you noted about your own lives, in addition to Charlotte's, it is the fact that we do them anyway that matters. All of these experiences have taught me to embrace the ambiguity of life in general, knowing that if I "just do it"—an accidental and unfortunate callout to Nike—everything will likely be just fine and I will be better for it.
Enough about me.
Thanks for sharing your stories and for reading and responding to your peers. I've enjoyed all perspectives and opinions very much. Also, thanks to those of you who posted art/images/links, etc. Feel free to keep them coming. After reading the various opinions of Charlotte on the blog, I'm just curious if your feelings about her—regardless of how you feel about her—might change if she were a male. Maybe they would; maybe they wouldn't. There are no right or wrong answers, but thinking about this will be especially important as we enter the period of her life when her nude body and gender become notable aspects of her art.
**Late post for week 5**
ReplyDeleteAs Moorman was preparing for her debut avant-garde recital, she asked her composer friends for music, saying "...I will be the first cellist to play experimental music in a New York City Town Hall debut, I might as well be criticized for playing the best avant-garde music possible." I admired the spunk of this sentiment, as I often find it hard to separate my elation at creating something from the gut wrenching feeling of a negative critique. I wonder what would happen if I embraced her spirit? Even if I cannot avoid all negative feedback, I can still give it the very best effort that I have. I realize that may sound like common knowledge; believe me, it's something that I have "known" for some time, but it's never that easy for me to put it into practice like Moorman.
Holley, I too paused there at her positivity. I need to have a similar outlook when faced with seemingly overwhelming obstacles. I wonder if I had less of a spirit of timidity and more of Moorman's "spunk", how much faster would my artwork push and grow?
DeleteI am torn on my feelings about Moorman. I find her compelling as a promoter. Her constant embellishing and twisting of facts to suit her needs, and her ability to organize something out of nothing is fascinating to say the least. On the other hand, as an artist, I am not that interested in her. She seems to lack a bit of daring. Every time she is confronted about her artistic decisions she sidesteps authorship or responsibility. For instance, when asked about her nudity in Pop Sonata, “I had nothing to say about the routine at all. That was the work of the arranger, Nam June Paik.” Maybe there is something to be said about the difference in roles between an artist and concert musician. It could be that because she is walking the line between performance art and music, I am expecting her to take on more of the role of the performance artist.
ReplyDeleteIn reflecting on how my opinion would change if she were a man, I think I would find her even less daring. I don’t know. I understand the empowering nature of a woman in the 60’s using her body freely in a way, which if done by a man, would barely raise any eyebrows. But then, doesn’t she undercut that empowerment by saying that her body is just a tool for a male composer? Is that something she had to do? Was there something about the situation that forced her to depower her identity and hide behind the composer? Was it an issue of respect for Paik? As the book says about her performance in Originals, “This was the first of many times during her career that Moorman sidestepped responsibility for her behavior by claiming she had only been following a man’s instructions.” I find it problematic if evaluating her as an artist, but again, maybe I shouldn’t be evaluating her as an artist.
"Every time she is confronted about her artistic decisions she sidesteps authorship or responsibility. For instance, when asked about her nudity in Pop Sonata, “I had nothing to say about the routine at all. That was the work of the arranger, Nam June Paik.”
Delete-I think that came from her up bringing do you recall Paik talks about her being a saint, slut, back to saint all in one thought. I think in a way she didnt want her mom to be ashamed but it was something daring she was doing for her. I dont know hmmmm what do you think?
Also do you recall her mom was upset (so they say) that her mother said this is what you do after all the slaving I did to get you into Julliard
Justin, I have the same questions and reactions. And if solely Charlotte made the unforced decision to remove her clothes, does that empower her/women... or is her body still just a tool for men to visually consume?
DeleteI am in line with Justin, if Moorman was a man, i think she would have gotten very little notice. her shucking artistic ownership feels like a female move in terms of a subtle move to the background in which she privileges a male, Nam June Paik, as the creative source.
Deletein general, male or female, the notion that her presence overshadowed the music, that the works weren't just about her artist practice but also a sort of "look at me," is very unattractive for me. artists or non artists that have this presence repel me.
and just for sensory reasons, as one who hardly listens to music but prefers silence or the ambient sounds of the breeze bending back leaves, moor man's "sonic spectacle" would have had me out the door immediately. i would have no need to sue her for being a noisician or loudness, i would simply just not attend or make an excuse (girl behavior) and leave.
in terms of sonic and somatic spectacle, this weekend at the art as practice and research conference I love Jess Humphreys work (who is coming at it from the domain of dance).
Deletehttp://jesshumphrey.com
despite a certain disjointedness, her work read as the cohesive experience of intertextuality, not as random noise or movement. further i believed her body in movement because that she was livingly present with each movement read as a truth of experience. her noise/music/voice also read as blatantly honest. so though she was performing, i believed her to be telling me a truth that she believed through and through and the movement and noise were the manifestations of embodied thought and feeling.
her work is one of the few in the arena of the performative that i found soul pleasing in both dark and light manners.
Candice, didn't they say those comments about her mother were more invented stories, and not reflected by the letters she sent? I don't know, she just deems like the kind of person that's as slippery as an eel.
DeleteKathryn, I agree on the artist presence being annoying if it's attempting to be more interesting than the work said artist is doing. It's almost as if they're playing a role. It seems inauthentic. I'm not a big fan of people in general, but inauthentic people I completely dismiss.
DeleteI appreciate your views Justin and Kathryn,but it seems that the 1960's was letting it all hang out! Hunderwasser ,as a man posed nude and other artists would do the same.I think this era was part sensationalism and part bucking the Puritan status quo of the 1950's.Look at Woodstock or John Lennon and Yoko Ono posing nude.This was shocking to people in this era.The super rich found this experimental and challenging.Others, especially in more conservative parts of the country thought this type of work to be pornographic.Even as late as the 1970's The work of Magdelena Abakanoowicz had done a work with another artist named Ulay.It is called Imponderabilia.Both artists face one another nude.The work challenges our comfort level even today.
Deleteooh David, i love Abakanoowicz and Ulay's piece in which the gallery attender had to decide exactly how they would enter the space since there was no getting in without bobbling and touch a naked body of most likely someone unknown personally. for me though i wouldn't experience the nudity as a for of exhibitionism or artist bravado or narcissism of some kind. instead i would have read this piece and the nudity about broaching social convention around proximity, nudity, etc. Carolee Schneelman on the other hand, even when about disrupting culture conventions, displayed (ha) a high level of exhibitionism and it was done in way that form me blurs the lines between speaking into faulty conventions, bucking the times, and psychological dysfunction...
Deletei do agree with you David that much of what moorman was doing was of the times within the conventions of the avant-gard
i see the service component of moorman's practice, though i do attribute this largely to an adherence to social female conventions. so i do not wish to minimize her accomplishments and role, I just don't think i would care for her to be one of my intimate friends. of course I only am knowing moorman through the lens of this particular author in conjunction with my personal baggage that is piled at my feet as I read.
:)
Justin
DeleteI think that if you just wait a few more chapters you will see the daring. We all have to copy, and sidestep, and deflect until we figure it out. Even as a scholar i used passive voice and stood on mounds of other's opinions. It takes sometime to mature into what we were meant to be.
Thanks Dr H
DeleteI too moved my family far from family and friends so that I could get my PhD... then got pregnant...wow. Crazy....
My husband is my champion though - always saying "you can do this, so do it." ..... I need a bit of tough love.
Thanks for sharing, Katharine.
DeleteI was surprised she didn't like the label of avant-guarde. Justin I think I'm confusing her as an artist as well. It is a little confusing how performing these experimental music concerts that it gave her self confidence but then when confronted she couldn't take ownership of it, perhaps she couldn't verbalize the theory. Yet I see her and agree with you Holly she has a gutsy side that is asking questions of what's acceptable and taking risks. She commanded the stage from Cage and made remarks, "no one else determines her destiny." Maybe she was media shy and just didn't know how to respond.
ReplyDeleteHi Gail, great comments! I agree with you, maybe she didn't feel confident speaking about theory, or maybe she just decided she didn't have to. I think though she didn't want to be attached to the label of avant-garde because it is a label - and once that is tied to you it is certainly hard to expand off of it, or to be seen as anything else really. In keeping that ambiguity she kept the control, to a degree, to herself. I think it was about the power of self identity and what she wanted to be.
DeleteKim you are right - the label can be frustrating for an artist. "Don't tell me what I am - I don't eve n know who I am". And perhaps she had her own idea of what avant-garde was/is and felt that she didn't fit into that category. She was definitely not Schoenberg composing polytonal symphonies. Perhaps she just couldn't idenitify with it all.
DeleteBut I also get her statement that she was playing music of the now, not the future. Especially as Cage was sitting right next to her?
Would my opinion of her change if she was a man, I don't think so. I value those who are kind and respectful. I don't think that Moorman and I would be friends. However I haven't determined if we could collaborate as colleagues in some kind of situation.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't be friends with her either. I think like Kathy said the mooching world be so crazy. I need stable friends. Perhaps though it is her messiness that makes her great.
DeleteDr. H, thanks for letting us in the threshold of you.
ReplyDeleteAfter I got accepted into the program, I came to Lubbock for a preliminary visit in terms of moving here. Though I had been to lubbock prior to this, it was never with an eye to live her. I am pretty sure I cried that weekend because lubbock is so butt ugly. at the time i lived on ten acres at the northwest edge of the sam houston national forrest. i lived in my hermittage that overlooked a meadow to one side and on all others sides was surrounded by 70 foot pine trees. and in the mornings and evenings i would walk the country lanes and forrest floor of my hermitage hood without the interruption of man's mechanization...no highway noises, i was just left alone with the whisper of the tree canopies as they gave way to the caress of the breeze. giving that up and distancing myself from my elderly parents to come to some place so butt ugly was traumatic. i miss the hell out of my hermitage and micro forest, but i don't think i regret the move. sure it would have been nice to have one the lottery so i could have to living spaces plus a man servant to manage the distant one, but i forgot to buy my ticket.
i am always amazed as to how my knotted neural network streaming with years of english language knowledge collapses under the pressure of pen to page or thumb to pad to spit out gibberish that i cannot see until after i press submit for a paper or post. I'd swear it was early onset! The recurring thought that this corruption of language coherence is not a new problem diminishes the dementia fear...a tad.
DeleteTheir, they're, there honey, it is not that bad.
it cracks me up how ya'll see Lubbock I grew up 64 miles west of there and Lubbock was the BIG city to us hee hee we went to go to the mall, movies, to be a part of the city life... can ya'll imagine my suprise when I moved to Dallas at the age of 17 :o)
DeleteKathryn, I was just in Lubbock for the first time for the TASA conference and yes it is..."ugly"....but even though "a sense of place"has always been important to me..I have been fortunate to live in unusually beautiful places lie Savannah and Tuscon ans uppers state New York and Montana....I find that once you get involved in what is behind those doors at the college and find people who understand you and your research than it does not matter where you live..really...
DeleteI thought it was beautiful and created hope with the first Friday Art walk! Impressive!! I believe Charlotte created that sense of place with her festivals. In Victoria - we don't have a great art scene but we have one - looking at how to position my artwork differently in markets that bring art enthusiasts to your work! It's hard to wear all these different hats as an artist - where's my manager! I found myself wondering about Nick Caves assistant and finding I wish I had help like he has!
DeleteAnd where else in TX can you watch your dog run away for three weeks! Lol
DeleteGail, too many cars to let my pup run free, plus all the feral cats which would have her running into the path of mechanized mayhem behind the front bumper of a dog eating beast. my pup has converted the the LEASHed leisure of life of lubbock
Deleteyup, david...staying in lubbock is about the people. that the physical scene for art here strokes me as some pretty sweet eye candy is a perk.
DeleteIt is for sure.however Palo Duro is sio close and that is another perk and 3 hours to New Mexico also is pretty sweet .I stopped at Carlsbad caverns and went through the Guadalupe mountains..now that is something sublime,amazing and I will post a pic or two if you guys want me to and some from the show if you want.I saw Gail's sunflowers there and they were beautiful.
DeleteThanks David, I appreciate that! Was a great group to exhibit with and I'm just so impressed with the Art Walk - would like to bring enthusiasm like that to Victoria or Rockport!
Delete**One more late post for week 5, sorry!**
ReplyDeleteAs Rothfuss describes Charlotte's "Power" to captivate people, I find myself paying closer attention to the way that Charlotte uses people for her own wishes. After her Manhattan Concert Orchestra tour, she persuaded some of her orchestra member friends to stay with her in an apartment (that was not actually her apartment), partially against their will. Ok, perhaps that's overstating it a bit, especially considering that she was searching for a "manufactured family"(31). But this is only one example that came to my mind as I thought about Moorman's considerable self-centeredness. Some may see this as her charm, and Rothfuss does point out on several occasions that Moorman's charm was put to good use. I, myself, am still on the fence. On the one hand, she was always willing to put the work in for all her endeavors, other than her marriage. I am not judging her for this, her husband did not seem to know the woman he was in love with, but simply stating a fact. Moving on. On the other hand, she seems to be setting herself up for a big letdown when she finds that her charm is not enough to accomplish her dreams.
As I said in my last post, I do admire this spunk in her that laughs when she is rejected or criticized (at least in public). And I wonder if this thick skin is a necessity for any artist, regardless if they are in a fringe movement or a mainstream one. When I was growing up, I was always told that I need to get a thicker skin. I finally grew one made of scar tissue, but I know that it has come at a cost to something that I considered a beautiful part of me. The reason I was so sensitive is because I cared so much about people. I never knew a stranger when I was a kid, I wanted to be everyone's friend. And that trusting side did get me into a lot of trouble. A lot. But it also opened people up to me and they feel comfortable around me. I love that. So that brings me back to my original question, do we have to wear protective armor in order to live making our art?
OH I believe 100% you have to have a thick skin to be an artist we are critiqued all through art school and any art we make.
DeleteI think thick skinned helps wade through art making but I think Holly's right you have to be open to people and ideas or you become stagnant.
DeleteI don't know that we need a protective armor, maybe just an intellectual detachment. People are going to like what they are going to like. Sometimes they will like what I do, and other times they wont. Honestly, sometimes I dislike what I do. And sometimes there is something to learn from understanding why people dislike something. Maybe they hate the color blue. That has nothing to do with me. Maybe just an understanding is necessary in that whole Barnum, "you can't please all of the people all of the time," idea.
Deleteyeah i can agree with Justin it took me about my second year in college not to take things personally and to realize that not everyone will like what I create and thats ok... and that i have strengths in places others dont and vise versa, and at times my art is not really created for others but for myself. I have seen art that I didnt understand at first but when I got the back story of it I began to understand it and except it.
DeleteHolley, I love that question, "do we have to wear protective armor in oder to live making art?" and really I think it is about balance. In order to create anything, from a paper to painting, we cannot live in fear of what everyone else will say, but we do need to be conscious of others feelings (but not let those opinions hinder/hurt you, but rather motivate and inspire). So, yeah, I think on one level you need armor, to stand up for your work, but we also have to have some means of understanding for others and their opinions/reactions/etc. And I agree with Justin's comment, "people are going to like what they are going to like" and to acknowledge that is good, but don't let it hurt you (though this is often easier said than done).
DeleteReading this week was kind of entertaining... I chuckled a few times out loud specially during Paik's part of the book. when he left the scooter went to a bar and forgot it was there. On a small spectrum I can relate to Joan ;) (Charlotte) as a coordinator and not having funds or much help in doing it. I appreciate her so much reading this because she was so giving always wanting ALL the arts to come have a place to show. I too did this in a smaller type of place a winery in Valdosta where I was taking my undergrad I saw she had this awesome space she wasnt using and asked if I could show art during art after dark she was excited and so was I. But the students were still scared I was under the impression a lot of students didnt like doing juried shows cause they cost and they had juries but here i had a place that did not cost money and no judgement (a few ppl i had to push out of their confront zone) if you had art I had a wall to put it on. I got a few artist that did it (specially when i told them they could sale lol) the professors even came to opening shows but I bought refreshments, created fliers, hung art, etc but I did have a handful of friends that would help and if we didnt have enough artist we would pull in our own work. I miss that though it brought us so close together as friends and artist. I was always inspired. Reading this week just brought back so many memories for me but to the question you asked about the regards of her being male or female I feel Paik was the male version of her but what kind of irritates me is how NO one told him to go nude or do these erotic types of things but when Charlotte does it people seem to think a man told her to do it so to me even if a man "told her to do it" SHE is the one on that stage performing and those notations I feel try to take that from her in a way.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful Candice that you encouraged artists to hang their work! I think artists need a place to come together and exhibit their work; it creates community and encouragement.
DeleteI know when I created an art display case in the high school I was working at, most students were fairly sure they'd never have art "good enough" to be on display. They weren't excited at all about the display cases. But I wanted to show ALL my students' best works, so each semester every student would have had at least one of their best works up on display in the halls for all their peers to see. Pretty soon, everyone was excited about the display cases--teachers, parents, and even students that weren't in my class!--and would rush to see the latest pieces on display.
For me, it is more important that I promote art in others than make art alone in my studio. I need the artmaking for my own mental clarity, but my purpose come out of encouraging other artists and engaging them with their community.
I can appreciate Charlotte for how much she poured in to that same mission.
Courtney,At the TASA conference this week, this is a topic discussed how to create a space,a place for artists to exhibit their work,not simply to exhibit in the traditional manner but also using a phone to see art which is in a soecific location and a place for artists to create any type of art they choose.There were presentations from one person who also went so far as to create an artist residency in New Mexico and trying to help artists apply for grants and other ways to make art for specific sites,generate income in order to create art etc Someone from TTU also presented a paper about the app he is trying to launch so that artists can post images of their art virtually.Very interesting
DeleteCourtney thanks... yeah it was sad to see college peers still afraid to show and get out there. I am so glad you do that for our youth that is something they will always remember. I recall my high school teachers always encouraging me to show and even enter in competitions :o)
DeleteI think what is most distracting for me is the constant uncertainty of how much truth is in Charlotte’s stories. It is like she wants to be a “serious artist” in her actions but cannot verbally commit to them. I feel like she could have said a lot more meaningful things if she hadn’t told such entertaining stories and brushed off direct questions about her work.
ReplyDeleteI understand how giving Kaprow credit for her playing seminude in Originals might downplay the scandal of women asserting their bodies. But for me, even if it was all Moorman’s idea, stripping does little to represent the empowerment of women.
The “baptism of nudity… made her a sensitive and inspiring performer” (as described by Paik). What is it about female nudity that, simply by baring our feminine parts, we become “art”? Or am I missing something?
I do know Courtney - I get what you're saying- are they objects within their own field or using it to push past fear, boredom to create a new tension in her work - I can't decide just yet!
Deleteyeah i keep going back and forth with Charlotte at times I see this strength and then other times I see her hand it all over....
Delete"i have learned a lot being associate you and Cage...I've learned that art is strictly a question of individuality.I found myself forgetting all about punishments and all about rewards and all about self-styled obligations and duties and responsibilities and remembered one thing--that it is me--no one else--who determines my destiny and decides my fate." (76) Moorman.
ReplyDeleteThis quote had me all over the place in my reaction. My first reaction was to the notion that one decides their own fate and destiny. I felt every "bullshit" hackle on my neck rise up. There is a very small strand of truth in this, but i don't believe the bulk of it. The social variables that shape us narrow the spectrum of what we can even consider as our options. And there is so much in life that is pushed and pulled by chance that to claim I determine my own destiny and fate reads like a lie. in the same way i know "sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me" to be a lie.
At the same time I do believe, I have to pull up the anchor and push away from the shore that would have me ritualistically repeating conventions that "others" would have for me. it is my responsibility to push out of the safe harbor, set my sights, and paddle. But I cannot fully dictate my destiny nor fate. a fate i might choose, probably falls far short of even the new shores i now walk upon.
i do agree, especially for a woman, that to exercise a loosening of the tethers of cultural conventions of punishments and rewards and the self-stylized obligations which have us conforming...in a sort of consensual discriminatory way...that i need and have needed to temporarily cut or significantly loosened embodied conventions to find my way in my creative practice and the practice of locating myself on a path that makes sense for me.
i also had a push pull with "art is strictly a question of individuality." yes and no.
NO. my no relates to my notion that there is no such thing as a desecrate object--i can only understand a thingness within the context of more thingnesses. Lakoff and Johnson developed the notion of cognition as being ground in metaphorical thinking (conceptual metaphor theory)...this is to that as that is to this...and without that i cannot conceive this...thus an object or thingness can only be understood within a field of this and thats. got it? :)
so perhaps the notion of individuality in her statement is what rubs me wrong, but that she tosses in the word "strictly" which for me isolates the individual in the same way she makes the claim that "destiny and fate" can be isolated and under my control.
and perhaps it is that i am just biased because my brain and life have just never conformed to longterm planning and that i prefer to ride and trust the disruptions of chance. now there are a few things i do hope for...i hope to partner again and hope to hell he has great kids he gets along with cause playing with grandchildren is on my bucket list. i assume this will come with out me stomping my path into my own destiny in the same way the day i was schedule to go look at golden retriever puppies with friends, my DOPT (pup) showed up exactly one hour before my friends arrived. I couldn't have picked a better pup. And i didn't, when she was dumped out in the country, she chose me from the liter of humans in my neck of the woods. so i have learned to trust that the waves of chance bring good stuff. Of course i still take responsibility for things...ie applying to grad school isn't a chance move, applying for exhibitions isn't a chance move...but i do trust what comes out of the lots i cast into my future...and they never look just as expected.
"Magically, Paik had appeared at precisely the moment she needed him." (82)
DeleteI BUY THIS!! and in terms of her destiny, it does mean she needed to have a particular readiness, for Paik's moment of arrival. She had to be out at see paddling her boat for him to come along side for the way their lives would intertwine and reshape both.
...or was she part of Paik's destiny?
DeleteHa, that was a nice laugh. Good point Justin, she may have just been a pawn in the fate and destiny of Paik's making :) Very good point. smile.
DeleteI did kinda get that feeling too when reading Paik's part of the book as if fate put her there and he found someone who would do what HE had been envisioning BUT then again it wa her choice too to perform the way she did.
DeleteI found the Fluxus movement quite interesting .Flux is of course change .The notion of anti art hurts the ego as artists pooled their creative resources into a sort of art group think.It fostered an attitude of continuous/flowing expression .George Maciunus(P-95) wanted to establish this phenomena as an artistic movement by writing manifestos and establishing rules, the very thing these anti establishment artists were against.Moorman was his rival and moved forward with her sound work.Others followed.I love the author's quote on page 96: "But her deepest pleasure was being of service to art and artists." This of course flies in the face of the ego driven artist who hoards their gallery opportunities or other art related aspects.This ,of course , is antithetical to what collaboration is all about.I also found Philip Monaghan and David Trinidad's collaboration lecture quite stimulating at the TASA conference on Friday.Here, words and images flow together as these two artists worked together on a project they really loved-classic late 1950-early 1960s films involving sexuality and identity.Very enjoyable and thought provoking!
ReplyDeleteDavid- Oh, I absolutely agree, and I love that you brought up the discussion between David and Phillip. I was especially impressed when David brought up the point that seeing Phillip's paintings brought his poem to a whole new level of understanding for him. That visual display actually tuned him into to a deeper meaning behind what he had thought was a random list poem. I especially appreciate the power of collaboration between mediums and artists because I believe that there are many ways to experience the same artistic expression. In that sense, I do believe that Moorman and Paik created something beautiful during their time. They taught the audience, and other artists around them, to never take their artistic expression for granted. Perhaps some of their expressions were more about garnering as much attention and shock as possible rather than fostering a deeper connection, but at the very least they taught us to seek out new ways to reinvent the classics.
DeleteI started teaching Fluxus and conceptual art to my Art 1 students, who are by nature a bunch of teenagers with no interest in art. It's been challenging but fun. I detailed the whole thing on my blog if you're curious.
Deletehttps://artinsubordinate.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/my-fluxus-conundrum/
David – I’m glad you brought up the Fluxus movement, because I think originally Charlotte was inspired by this group and loved the collaboration with these members. I find Charlotte to have these same attributes in her mission of the avant-garde: for the purpose of bringing music to the masses, to challenge the basis of power in the art world and the performance is based on the element of chance to shape the ultimate outcome of the piece. (The Art story.org/Fluxus) I agree with you these were very different times and challenging the status quo was a big part of their process – in shocking ways – who could be the most shocking and at what level of this performance is transcending – can the viewer relate to the emotion?
ReplyDeleteHolly, (I agree with you.) I think Mooreman and Paik created this “world” that allowed them to explain their theory versus challenging status quo. There are two quotes that made me determine the above statement; p132, “I am more convinced about my philosophies, hopes and dreams then ever.” Charlotte Moorman and p.134, (she was writing for the grant to pay for her festival) It is historically important that the avant-garde get as fair a hearing as is possible in our culture. Only after the public has been exposed to it can it accept it or reject it.” I think she was convinced and knew the “world” she was creating because it was getting her attention.
When I think of avant-garde I don’t associate it with self-destruction, danger, provoking disturbance or leading to uncontrollable or undisciplined conditions. Avant-garde that pioneers, innovates, and creates an original work is the definition of theory. You know, like Michael Jackson – his music and dance was innovative in the 80’s but he appealed to my “sense” of avant-garde and his style crossed generations, socioeconomic and multicultural types. So I guess I’m having a hard time being there for Charlotte and her “world” or definition of avant-garde.
Do you think later on she would have accepted or even welcomed "avant-garde" to define her work? Like after working more with Paik?? hmm
DeleteI also really loved that Rothfuss used to described the coolaboration between Cage and Moorman - an "antiduet". I didn't know what that meant, but later as she described Cage melting "into the background, literally in her shadow", it made sense..
ReplyDeleteFeminist
ReplyDeleteI though that the discussion between Cage and Johns was particularly interesting on page 77. I circled it. Johns - "years later Johns said that he disliked her [Moorman] work for as long as he could remember because he felt that her presence overshadowed the music she was performing."
There it is! That is when it happened... she transitioned from being an instrumentalist performing music to a performance artists performing! I got so excited, that sentence is so critical. I can't believe that Johns didn't see it. I can understand Cage getting over her performances and resenting her shining star, but Johns should have known better. Somebody should have known what was happening, recognized the epiphany that Moorman was having. That's when it all changed 26'1.1499 for a String Player was that crucial piece that made Moorman an artist.
Wonderful job!
Deletepost marker
ReplyDelete