Mediated Performances

When I first walked up to see this piece, one thing that I could not stop focusing on was the flawless use of color. That aspect alone, I found to be completely engaging. However, that aspect is not one that composes the whole piece, not even close actually. Other formal elements that make this so easy to keep watching are the vast variety of objects, the documentation of how the objects are arranged and collaged together and why. The cuts are choppy, yet smooth flowing and each different clip is like just watching someone make a mess that turns out to be beautiful in the end. Also on that note, aside from being a beautiful mess, we watch something in the making. The viewer is forced to watch as these things get pieced together and become their own unique, finite creation. Finite in how it is limited in it’s own existence as we continue to watch, only to see these creations be destroyed. This directly relates to the idea of performance art in the way that it happened just then, just once and it will never happen in the same way again and that experience of doing this for the artist is genuinely one of a kind. However, as it has been documented via video, the viewer is able to experience this viewing of someone elses experience more than once.

 Something else I took from watching this is the utilization of experimentation. While watching this I was reminded of my pre-college days when I was obsessed with the idea of making art with ANY objects I wanted. The idea of using objects that had been intended to fulfill a purpose other than creativity, for the sake of just that has always been really interesting and innovative to me. This whole experimentation then becomes also, a performance, therefore experimentation as a performance. This comes back to the idea of this act being a one-time thing. Because when an experiment takes place, it is really only for the instant that it happens. Using the word play is actually a great way to describe it because with an actual experimentation, one follows very specific steps to acquire a very specific result that they hope to achieve. In this, Hubbard just flows with his actions and seems to instinctively place the objects and move his hands to pour the paint in a way that does not require that specific result. The result is what it is and is what it becomes as a result of him just doing what he’s doing with the materials he has. I’m sure he does have an idea of what he wants the end result to look like. It shows again, in his great use of color as well as the objects and materials he uses and how well they all seem to work with eachother.