In any performance, there are two major perspectives: the perspective of the performer and the perspective of the spectator(s). I feel that by bringing my sister, Sue, I got another view of the same event that we both attended. It was very interesting to hear what she witnessed because it helped me further reflect upon the entire performance. It was also helpful that we both rehearsed the performance on the rehearsal date and that on the day of the performance, Sue decided to watch it and be part of the spectator crowd. When you are performing, you are very aware of what you are doing and others around you who are also performing. This could be listening to other people’s voices, watching their movements, knowing the movement you will make next and being aware of the movement you are making at that moment. This was my perspective. Also, it is one thing to watch a video of what you performed, but to see it live is another. To watch the entire group do this as it happens is another aspect of the performance, which is Sue’s experience that I would like to share.

I was curious of what others were thinking while watching the Shua Group’s production. Seeing the people passing by in their cars also made me wonder what they were thinking, because they were simply driving past the location and catching a few seconds of whatever movement we were performing. During the beginning of the performance, Sue overheard a grandmother talking to a little girl, her grandchild. The little girl asked, “What are they doing?” And her grandmother replied, “This is performance art.” She later went on to describe what performance art was since her grandchild did not know what it was. I never thought about the fact that when you are performing something or sharing art like this, that there might be those who do not know what it is yet. It made me realize that by showing these performances and by displaying it to the public in this manner, that it is almost as if we are bringing forth these questions that will allow them to learn more about what is going on around them. By allowing others to see your art you are intentionally and unintentionally teaching them about art itself! Or about that particular type of art.

On the other hand, in any event where you display your art, there will be those who will voice their opinions and let you or others know that they dislike what they see and/or hear. Sue also told me of a man who was talking to a woman. During this time in the performance, the sound was louder than it was when we began. I believe those handling sound were creating sharp, loud noises on their megaphones. They almost sounded like distorted whale “voices.” The man turned to the woman, annoyed, and asked, “What is that noise?” The sounds stopped for a while and the man said, “Well at least that annoying noise stopped.” She witnessed two spectrums: one where the person disliked an aspect of the performance, and another where there was curiosity and appreciation.

And of course, there were others who had these perplexed looks on their faces. Sue told me that you could almost hear them think, “What are they doing?” That is very typical with pretty much all types of art. Some people will get it and some people won’t. But isn’t that another great aspect of art? To make someone question what it is, to make them wonder what the meaning behind the art is, that is what art does. Perhaps not all the time, but a lot of the time it should raise at least some questions.

One of my favorite comments that Sue told me about was when she saw a group of women passing by. One of the women was watching us as we all started our circling and tangents. She said, in Spanish, “Que lindo!” In English, this translates to, “How beautiful!” While performing, I tried to catch a glimpse of the looks on people’s faces as they watched what we were doing. With some, I noticed the same appreciation that this woman voiced. That’s one of the best parts about almost any kind of art when you can make someone forget about whatever it is that is occurring in their lives and put a smile on their face because of what you are showing or what you are doing. I think that’s one of the thoughts that I returned home with.  Additionally, the fact that when you put a group of strangers together to perform in the same space, no matter our differences, it truly unifies the group. Just another one of the many positive and beautiful aspects of art! I did not expect to have these revelations after being a part of this event, but I am glad that I was involved in it.

Public Moves: From My Perspective

I attended the Public Moves event this past weekend on Sunday, October 26, 2008. The date arrived quickly. It felt like it was just last week that we, as a class, were informed about this event and that we rehearsed for it. Before the actual performaces took place, we all met in the third floor of the Visionary Arts Museum. My sister accompanied me for the event as well. It is always a good experience being able to share this kind of interactive art with someone else. This is why I think it would be interesting to also incorporate another blog entry with her perspective of the performance. She actually rehearsed with the rest of the group and for the performance, she was a spectator. Also, she would document the rehearsal or performance when I couldn’t.

Back to the day of the performance. After receiving instructions from Laura and Josh, we exited the third floor of the museum and immediately began to hear sounds from the megaphones. Some were located on the roof of the building and others who were handling sound were scattered around. The rest of the group walked around the hill, to the right side of it. Then we made our way up. The performance started minutes later with everyone beginning to intersect after hearing five megaphone whistles. This lasted for a while. As I was intersecting, I saw three people dancing and doing “The Macarena.” Other people were doing their own things as well. I saw one girl give another girl a piggy back ride. Some other people were waving their arms up and down and around. It’s amazing how much the movements changed from rehearsal.

Later, we heard sounds from the megaphones, which prompted us to freeze on the spot we were standing on. There were some people who had to freeze with one arm or one leg in the air. That must have been a little tiring considering the fact that we were frozen for quite a while. Then we heard sounds from the megaphones again, which meant that we could unfreeze and start “meeting.” This time, meeting with other people was different. One two separate occasions, two people grabbed my hand, and instead of letting go and moving onto the next person, they held on and made me spin around so that I’d start walking the opposite direction that I was originally going. It was very unexpected but fun. I sensed their enthusiasm just from that as well as from the laughter that I kept hearing from everyone else as they were meeting. This also lasted for quite a while. I was able to make at least three trips from left to right of the performance space.

Later, we did something that we did not rehearse on the day that I went to the rehearsal. We were told that when we heard the word “line,” we would all have to line up at the top of the hill, shoulder to shoulder. We also had to pass it along to other people in case they didn’t hear the word. Along with the sounds from the megaphones, there were sounds of people saying, “Line,” then again, “Line, line.” And we all lined up and waited for our cue to slowly descend the hill simultaneously. As we began to descend, our next move was to crab walk down the rest of the hill. Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we sat on the edge of the sidewalk. We waited for a short time and then we all got up and began circling and tangents. I basically circled on most of the left side of the hill and soon I heard the word “disappear” from someone. This meant that one of the leaders said, “Disappear” and those who heard it would pass it on to someone else. Then who ever was closest to either side of the hill would disappear by turning the corner respectively on each side. I disappeared on the left side of the hill.

We slowly crawled back onto the hill and each person had to lie on their backs on the hill. This was called “rest.” Then some people would move closer to others and then more people joined then, which was a movement called “couch.” We would join each other’s “couches” until everyone was sitting on the hill as one big group, which was a “portrait.” Soon afterwards, someone would yell, “GO!” This was meant for us to pose with who ever was near us or just pose in general and then they would yell, “Relax,” which indicated for us to just sit and relax on the hill. This repeated a few times. When we heard “Go,” we also had the option of leaving the group and walking uphill to get to the very top. Less and less people were on the hill until everyone was at the top. Then we lined up again one last time at the top of the hill. The end of the performance was everyone backing up slowly until they were no longer in sight from those facing the hill. That was the performance!

From rehearsal to the event, some things changed but it did go smoothly. Usually, when there are that many people, sometimes chaos is unavoidable just because there are so many people involved. However, this particular event went on without a hitch! It was amazing. Check out the pictures below!

I attended the Saturday, October 11, 2008 Shua Group rehearsal for Public Moves. I posted some pictures for you to see what we did during the rehearsal. I think it went well. I didn’t know the hill was going to be that steep, but luckily no one fell down. When I caught a glimpse of the hill, it just looked so massive. I didn’t expect it to be that vast. Since other people were welcome to rehearse, I asked my sister if she wanted to come with me. (She did.) We arrived a little bit late because it was my first trip to the Visionary Art Museum and we took a wrong turn at one point. But we were there long enough to hear Josh instruct everyone one what the “performance space” was and how we would be using it. After other brief instructions, we all walked uphill to enter the performance space. 

Soon afterwards, we were introduced to a movement called “intersecting,” where we walk along the performance space and walk around, in front of, beside, or behind people. We  could cross the other person’s path or walk in front of them briefly in order to intersect with another person. This continued for about two minutes. Then we regrouped to learn of our next movement, which was called “meeting.” We moved around each other by holding each others hands briefly, like a quick hand shake. What I noticed about that simple movement was that it not only helped us have this kind of fluid movement but it also helped us connect with one another. That was interesting. It was like we were no longer just a group of strangers but artists using movement to transport ourselves from one space to the next. When you are part of a group of people, we all treat each other like strangers because we are. But when everyone is doing the same thing in this group there is a sense of unity and maybe even understanding among one another. The rest of the movements had a lot to do with timing. We walked down the hill slowly and waited for our cue to begin “circling,” which was walking in circles or walking in a straight line and turning around to and repeating. We could also begin “tangents,” where one would run up a portion of the hill and run back down to the bottom and meet with the rest of the people who were circling.

After rehearsing that for a few minutes, we waited for the group leaders to say, “Disappear,” in order for us to literally disappear and turn the corner on either side of the hill. If we were too far away to hear them, people rehearsing were asked to pass it on and say it to others who were passing by or in front of them. Afterwards the people on the right side crawled back onto the hill and sat down and the others on the left crawled over and slowly joined the group on the right. This was already near the end of the rehearsal. We were then told to lie down on the hill. Then, the leaders said, “Go,” which indicated for us to “pose” for the camera man that was at the bottom of the hill. A few seconds later they said, “Relax,” which meant exactly what it sounds like, to relax, and we simply sat on the hill, motionless. What concluded the rehearsal was the entire group of people walking into the performance space and emerging at the top of the hill little by little every time the word “Go” was shouted. Once everyone was at the top of the hill, we all held are hands up in the air and joined hands simultaneously. Our hands stayed up for about 30 seconds then we all took a bow. We then walked backwards slowly until we reached the flag pole and stopped. I wanted to take pictures to allow others to get a good view from the top as well as the entire hill in order to somewhat see the depth of the hill area and how vast the hill is. It was a fun experience and I’m looking forward to the actual event coming up. In the mean time, check out the pictures!

Samya