Hi! My name is Kate and I am from Oakville, Ontario! I am currently in my fourth year at the university of Guelph, majoring in Studio Art.
“The Artist is Present” Documentary Reflection
2. What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her precedents. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote, “When you perform it is a knife, and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup”.
Some key features of performance art that I’ve learned through watching Marina Abramović’s work in her documentary include vulnerability and risk. Vulnerability appears in a literal sense, through nudity and the use of the body as a medium for self-expression, but also through the emotional rawness of Marina’s work. Her performances often draw from personal narratives, exploring past relationships or deeply personal themes she wishes to test or better understand. Another major feature of performance art is risk. Unlike acting, which is based in fiction, performance art blurs the line between art and reality. This idea is reflected in Marina’s quote: “When you perform, it is a knife and your blood. When you act, it is a fake knife and ketchup“. With acting, there is less at stake, nothing real to lose, and sometimes not much to gain. But in performance art, the artist often pushes their physical and mental boundaries to extreme and unimaginable levels. In her piece The Artist is Present, Marina sat silently across from anyone in the audience who chose to sit with her. Participants could stay for as long as they wanted, engaging in silent, face-to-face interaction. She became a mirror, offering each person her full attention, empathy, and presence. The emotional intensity of these encounters was profound, often leading to tears or deep reflection. Remarkably, Marina treated each individual with equal respect and care, taking on their emotional energy and making them feel truly seen, even as strangers. The reactions of the participants were authentic and deeply in-the-moment. One of the most powerful aspects of performance art is that the audience becomes part of the piece. There is no real script, and each performance is unique and unrepeatable. Often controversial, performance art usually carries a message or provokes thought, aiming to create a lasting impact.
3. Discuss ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?
Performance art resists many traditional museum and commercial art world conventions because it is not something tangible. Unlike a painting like the Mona Lisa, it isn’t meant to hang on a wall or be collected as an artifact. It is not static, it thrives on movement and interaction. Often, the artist’s body becomes the medium, and the audience serves as a participant or point of contact. Performance art challenges conventional definitions of art, often sparking the question: “What is art?” or “What makes something art?” Unlike traditional forms that may require years of technical training, performance art is driven more by purpose and intention. What matters most is having a cause you’re passionate about and a message you’re determined to express or explore. Rather than existing for passive consumption, performance art centers on experience, sometimes an uncomfortable one. It provokes engagement and encourages dialogue, giving the audience something to reflect on or even be unsettled by. Because it lacks physical form, performance art is fleeting; it can’t be repeated in the exact same way. This stands in stark contrast to traditional artworks that remain on display for decades, fixed and unchanging. Marina Abramović addresses the challenges of this impermanence by documenting her performances. In some of her exhibitions, she shows compilations of past works through video, allowing a broader audience to access experiences they may have missed in real time. In her documentary, we also see her teaching others to recreate some of her earlier performances, which were then presented as a live exhibition. These methods make her work more accessible. However, this also raises the question, by making performance art something you can re-watch, does it lose some of its unique impact? The “awe factor” of witnessing something live is diluted when it can be watched over and over again.
Assignment One: 1 KM
The Yarn Wall
Reflection
For my 1 km project, I decided to gather all the yarn I had lying around and measure out 39,370 inches—the equivalent of one kilometer. My ruler was 18 inches long, so I divided 39,370 by 18, which gave me approximately 2,187. That meant I had to measure my yarn 2,187 times. It was definitely time-consuming, but I think it was worth it in the end!
Once I had measured and unraveled all the yarn, it was time for the fun part. I began hanging it up on a blank wall in my room using masking tape. I started by attempting to create a flower, but quickly realized it was far too time-intensive. So instead, I shifted to hanging larger chunks of yarn to create a background that covered more space followed by adding in more details later.
I didn’t follow a plan, everything was guided by intuition. I taped the yarn wherever it felt right, and once the tape was down, I never moved it. I wanted the installation to feel organic and unedited, focusing on abstract shapes and loose ends.
What I found most fulfilling was making something tangible out of measurement, something we usually think of as numerical. Working with yarn allowed me to see the concept of measurement take shape in my own hands, inch by inch, in a slow process.
After receiving feedback during the critique, I do wish I had kept my video in real time instead of speeding it up. It would have better conveyed the slow, seemingly endless nature of the work, the feeling of constantly asking myself, “Is this it? Am I finally done?” It was a time-consuming process, but deeply rewarding.
Turning The Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art Reflection
1. Describe the work discussed in the article and the unique
challenges – as well as the unique gifts- that come with attempting to archive personal movements?
In the article discussing Katja Heitman’s work Motus Mori, she explores how each person expresses emotion through unique mannerisms and forms of touch, making every interaction deeply personal. It reminded me of an experiment I once saw on YouTube, where blindfolded individuals hugged a lineup of strangers, with one loved one hidden among them. Many could identify the person dear to them, showing how touch, as well as scent and texture, are deeply personalized. These unconscious habits often go unnoticed by the person themselves but are clearly recognized by those who know them well. Heitman believes that everyone has at least one gesture uniquely their own, highlighting her belief that “no two bodies move the same way.” One challenge she encountered in capturing this authenticity was during formal interviews, where participants became overly self-aware. As a result, their movements appeared filtered and polite, losing the candidness Heitman sought to document.
2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?
Two movements described in the article that stood out to me were Tjan’s unconscious habit of making himself appear smaller in public and Arab’s constant knuckle-cracking. I admired how, after becoming aware of this tendency, Tjan chose to challenge it by buying the brightest jacket he could find, intentionally making his presence louder and impossible to overlook. Similarly, I found it powerful that Arab gained a new understanding of his so-called “anxiety hands.” What may have once seemed like a negative, his habitual knuckle-cracking is now something he views differently, something personal and uniquely his, a gesture he can take ownership of rather than feel ashamed about.
3. Describe the habitual movements/unconscious gestures, tics etc. of 3 people you know well. How do individual body parts move, and how does the whole body interact? What about facial expressions, and emotional valence of the movement? How does body type inform the movement? What do these examples of small movements mean and imply?
One habitual movement my little sister does is twirl her hair into a tight twist, then thread the end through the center and pull it until it snaps with a loud pop. It honestly drives me crazy—I’m always telling her to stop, but she never realizes she’s doing it! It usually happens when we’re deep in conversation and she’s fully focused. Her fingers and hair move in a repetitive rhythm, almost like a little dance.
One habitual gesture my mom does is unconsciously bites her pointer fingernail when she’s thinking hard or feeling slightly nervous. I don’t think she’s aware of it, but for me, it’s a clear sign that she’s overthinking or feeling uneasy.
My best friend has her own set of stress signals. She cracks her knuckles on both hands when she’s overwhelmed, moving quickly from finger to finger and returning to any that didn’t crack the first time. Sometimes her face even flushes slightly while she does it—another subtle sign that she’s under pressure.
Field Trip Reflection
Create a FIELD TRIP blog post illustrating, describing and responding to two artworks. How are these works relevant to your own research interests and practice? What did you notice, learn, or take away from the experience of the works in the gallery?
