An Introspective Reflection: FAST FORWARD FUTURE & Performance Art at the BMA “PARTY OF
THE CENTURY”
Written by: Nicola Norman
The Baltimore Museum of
Art (BMA): Saturday, November 15, 2014 circa November 2114
For the 100th year
anniversary of the Baltimore Museum of Art I showcased my first performance art
piece, in support of Fast forward Future, an exhibit curated by Labbodies.
Labbodies is a performance art platform and artist collective for experimental and
interpretive performance artistry(http://labbodies.com/). My piece was an intersection of aesthetic , a
boundless sort of intercultural education, and an “origin of humanity” theme.
There were various parts to the larger piece in which my piece was part, yet
everyone brought their unique expression, and message through each individual
performance. The theme of the night explored the question, “what will the museum
experience look like 100 years from now?” We envisioned the museum as a living cultural
nucleus which interacts with the viewer. We featured living, breathing bodies- ART
MANIFEST. At this time art no longer “imitates life” but IS living. This living
museum ultimately, in its presentation, consumption, and purpose can definitely
vary in meaning depending on who is viewing - but with an accompanying central
theme.
As a living work of art, I was the original
divine feminine archetype, a futuristic “first mother” or Auset “Eve”. I personified
a living scroll of creation stories interacting with her environment. She was of
course accompanied by her original divine male counterpart, Ausar or “Adam.” The
performance was a relationship of this primordial futurism in gestural
conversation, reaction, and coexistence. She tempted with her silver apple,
maybe like the technology which had since taken God like form, or maybe like
the forbidden fruit that Eve tempted Adam with in the Garden of Eden. An
attention grabbing fruit although it was, an alluring prop with which she was
engaged, observed, photographed- or a combination of these things.
I wore a circle around my neck, which I’m
interpreting as a sort of “crown”. Hung from it
were long colorful drapings, in coincidental likeness to an extinct bird that used to be commonly seen in
Maryland. The bird (which maybe you can name) , became extinct after years of
being hunted for sport. In a lime green bodysuit the piece was further brought
to life- moving like a transformative
contortionist ballerina serpent fairy on
the dance floor in greetings to her people- I galavanted in our final dance!
My biggest challenge as living art: how to interact with my
audience?
This was a question I sort of was trying to gauge throughout
the night. Being as though I am an actual person as well as a “work of art”,
there was this underlying feeling that people were expecting “something” from
me. People sometimes came up to me to ask questions, unsure of whether they
should even be interacting with me- or unsure of what I actually was. The apple
was my biggest giveaway.
In a sense I felt a bit of a spectacle (without negative
connotation) with all the oohs and ahhs of passersby. At various points my
partner and I were fed drinks and fruit- which attracted crowds and flashing
cameras from different directions. Other
times I felt (merely?) like an object standing on the wall, melting
into my surroundings in various postures. “Adam” was quite the attention
grabber, dazzling the attention of his female counterparts, but scattering at
one point when I offered him a piece of my apple.
Interesting articles written on the historic event:
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