Performance Artist Comparison

Marina Abramovic, Charlotte Moorman, and the Guerrilla Girls are all very different, but fundamentally have something big in common that make them my favorite performance artists. They all are women who are pushing people's expectations of female artists, and allowing other women to break into the field. I love how much each of them contributed to this movement but in their own unique way. The Guerrilla Girls brought up the facts and directed them at their audience through posters, appearances, and other forms of advertisement, while Marina and Charlotte were representing women as the artists. Eventually the Guerrilla Girls' forms of activism were presented as art works in galleries and they contributed in the same way that Abramovic and Moorman's art had. Marina Abramovic's work has broken attendance records at Moma and revolutionized a male dominated field. Her focus wasn't on her gender, but her work as a female artist has helped to define woman's imprint on performance art. Charlotte Moorman used her nudity as an artist to oppose typical nude art that is produced by men and taken more lightly. This freedom of expression for women and contradiction of traditional art really caught on, and therefore brought more and more attention to female artists.

Technology is relevant in all of their work and I would say in most cases very essential. Charlotte Moorman's performance art often makes comments on technology and humanizing it. An example would be when she attached TV screens to her body in the making of TV Bra for Living Sculpture. Technology was a large focus on her commentary, but also without it perhaps, her artwork would not have been as successful. For all Abramovic, Moorman, and the Guerrilla Girls, technology is what helps to distribute the work that they make and pass it on to their audiences. With paintings, they can be shown in a gallery to be seen for years, but maybe their performance only happens once. If they want their message to be received and rewatched, technology is the best medium for longevity.

The future of performance art could be anything, but what I think is to be done would utilize virtual reality. Becoming immersed in a performance curated by an artist that is actually interactive with the viewer to make a statement could be so powerful and could be accessed anywhere. I think performance artists have been able to connect to audiences on every emotional level, so if they are looking to do something that has never been done, using the farthest extent that technology can immerse people, would be a viable option. Something like that can induce true fear and emotion, in any way that the artist desires.