In a grueling marathon of a performance given by artist Marina Abramovic over the last month at the MOMA the artist sat across from any voluntary viewer daring to look her squarely in the face. Jerry Saltz explains the viewers experience in his NY Magazine review, In the end, it was all about you, [http://nymag.com/arts/art/
There is something powerful about our humanity, made alive by the breath of God. Looking into another person's eyes, and being seen (as James Cameron might remind us) is something we long for - to gain a sense of belonging, acceptance, sometimes approval. I found Abramovic's performance "The Artist Is Present" to be incredibly poignant within my "world view" because she offered something that we should be offering to people as Christians as a commonplace display of observing the worth of others who are made in the image of God. To gaze on others - anyone who comes across our path - to acknowledge their humanity without judgment, but only in love and affirming their ontological worth.
Perhaps Marina didn't anticipate all that to come out of her sitting in one place, fasting and abstaining from reliving herself for many museum viewing hours in a row, but she put it out there for interpretation and I think it is good for us to think about how the body is used and displayed in public as well as how it has power to move us on a verity of levels.
I acknowledge that the cannon of performance art has been riddled with works that cause us to squirm a bit. (I just recently watched a DVD of the notorious "Vagina Monologues" expecting to be totally turned-off, but that is a conversation for another time. Sufficed to say that it was actually a moving and lovely experience for me as a woman.) Two perfect examples for THIS conversation were also cited in Jerry's review... First Pawel Althamer's reenactment of A (not necessarily The) crucifixion (currently at the NEW Museum down town), and other works of Marina's being performed by nude surrogates in other parts of the MOMA's exhibit. However, I would love to see more performative work that invoke a sense of the divine nature of the body, causing us to be moved in awe by our humanity that reminds of of our creator.
On a similar note - last night I went to a musical performance by Andrew Rose Gregory and his Red Band who performed, for the first time, a selection from his Song of Solomon project. Andrew attempted to stay true to the obscure romance found in the old testament poetry through mixed meter, attempting not to turn it into pop music, rather exemplifying the wooing passion of the texts.As a fellow artist, Zach Klein, once said to me "God is not afraid of sexual imagery". What does it actually look like and sound like to celebrate our bodies in a Godly way? To acknowledge the physicality of a person, and to praise it's beauty and specialness? I am not completely sure. I think that this is one of those areas in which there should be some restraint but not out of prudish shock but out of awe and amazement and reverence!
As I have said many times - experiencing art is a voluntary thing. I choose to look at many things in order to be better discerning, but I do not think we all need to view or indulge in the same way. I only hope that you will consider how God made you, physical, psychological, emotive... Sometimes I think that though we have no fear of death, we feel the need to fear life - as if we could do something to mess up God's grace!? Perhaps it will sound like a stretch to some, however I truly believe that ALL is permissible, and we should be living boldly and victorious - not afraid of "worldliness" - including that which pertains to our earthly bodies.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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