I just took a gander at this piece from the NYTimes. Normally I reserve my art thoughts for ART THOUGHTZ, but hey, I ain’t really have naught to do, so I decided I’d briefly share a few thoughts on the matter of Live Performance Art™ vs. youtube/internet/”mediated” (what a nefarious word!) consumption of performance. Viewing performance art via a screen cannot in anyway replicate the sensation of a body in Place, whether navigating said place, or bearing witness to an action in space, but I don’t think performance for the internet is seeking to supplant those unique aspects of Live Performance Art™. It’s more about creating an audience with your own agency, not through venue, or institution that deems a performance “important”, but rather taking the compromised space, that “mediated” (still so nefarious!) digital space and converting it to serve your own purpose. It’s about conducting actions with very little resources at your disposal, reaching out into the abyss and somehow finding a community, however anonymous the on-line audience might be. And in the end, the anonymous viewer is still a person and they can’t be discounted just because they’re not drinking wine from a plastic cup while watching someone gesticulate, suffer, or provocate in front of them in person. All this being said (rather poorly, I know) I think Ocularpation is great, and I doff my Spider-Man fitted to Zefrey Throwell.
Now that I’m done talking with my white voice, let’s listen to those prophets of yesteryear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ