Thought I missed class today, I took on the responsibility of watching the links posted on the syllabus. Some that really struck me as interesting were Gilbert & George's "Gordon Makes Us Drunk" Bob Flanagan's "Obituary" and "Super Cystic Fibrosis Song", and finally "The Body is Obsolete" by Stelarc.
Gilbert and George's piece was amusing to me because of the great deal of sarcasm. They have the piece designated for the queens viewing. It has classical music such as Pomp and Circumstance while the video shows the Gordon's bottle and two men drinking it. The voiceover says "Gordon's makes us drunk." "Gordon's makes us very very drunk." Sometimes pieces like this frustrate me, but this one made me chuckle.
The next pieces I watched were Bob Flanagans'. I really admire how he takes on a very blunt approach o his condition and makes it into a positive experience. He talks about how masochism keeps him going and that he could die at any moment, but he's living in the now. His "Obituary" piece was literally him reading his own death notice, a bold but creative idea. Though he is in a very deteriorating condition, he makes it benefit him in a way and I admire that.
Finally, I watched "The Body is Obsolete." Though I've seen people suspended before, I never understood any reasoning behind it. I had never seen the bionic machines before, and found those very interesting. I had seen things like them in movies, but the explanation that Stelarc gave was admirable. He talked about how the body was no longer an art piece in itself, but with technology, it's capabilities were so much more profound.
Overall, I saw some really interesting pieces. Performance artists have a way of thinking that is most definitely unique.
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