Performance Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kfHNoCzvIE

For my performance art piece, I walked around downtown blindfolded with headphones on. This visually demonstrates the way many people withdrawal from the world with technology, whether they are always connected to music in inappropriate situations, or always looking down at their phones, etc. I had friends giving me commands how and where to walk, and tried to move as naturally as possible.
Let it be known that walking around a city without being able to see anything is actually terrifying.
It was nice not knowing how people were reacting, and interesting to find out when I watched the video later. I received many weird and confused looks, but no one approached me. I almost made a biker crash once, but other than that people were able to keep a relative distance. If someone had approached me, I would have ignored them completely as if I could not hear them.
Overall, it was an interesting project and I felt that I conveyed my point. I also value my eyesight more than ever.

What is the difference between advertisements and propaganda?

The goal of advertisement is to sell a product. The goal of propaganda is to sell an idea. Marketing and advertising are closely related business concepts, while propaganda is a more general communication term referring to falsehoods, untruths or exaggerated messages that individuals or groups convey in support of a given purpose or cause. In essence, propaganda is a broad umbrella of persuasive communication, and marketing and advertising are specific business applications. Truth-in-advertising and consumer-protection regulations try to deter businesses from including deceptive or misleading statements common to propaganda.

Flash Mobs/Eva & Adele

Vallès Symphony Orchestra Flashmob

This flashmob is particularly interesting because it involves instruments. I love the way there is one visible musician, and then all the others make their way out of the woodwork. Also, the camera work greatly adds to the overall visual effect of the flashmob. Seeing this in person must have been amazing, but this video itself is part of the art. I love looking at how people situate themselves to watch, like the little girl climbing the streetlight. Also, it's entertaining how people choose to interact with the performance, like various children pretending to conduct or people dancing to it. At the end, every single person has a smile on their face. This flashmob is unique and memorable.

Eva and Adele

Eva and Adele are an artistic couple, whose shtick is looking alike. They refuse to reveal their real names and ages. They have been in a relationship for 22 years, but are not married because they would prefer to marry as two women. They claim to be from the future. They are both sex performers and works of art.

Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys was a Fluxus performance artist. He was born in 1921 in Krefeld, a city in northwestern Germany near the Dutch border. During his youth he pursued dual interests in the natural sciences and art, and he chose a career in medicine. In 1940 he joined the military, volunteering in order to avoid the draft. He was trained as an aircraft radio operator and combat pilot, and during his years of active duty he was seriously wounded numerous times. During the early 1960s, Düsseldorf developed into an important center for contemporary art and Beuys became acquainted with the experimental work of artists such as Nam June Paik and the Fluxus group, whose public "concerts" brought a new fluidity to the boundaries between literature, music, visual art, performance, and everyday life. Their ideas were a catalyst for Beuys' own performances, which he called "actions," and his evolving ideas about how art could play a wider role in society. He began to publicly exhibit his large-scale sculptures, small objects, drawings, and room installations. He also created numerous actions and began making editioned objects and prints called multiples. His reputation in the international art world solidified after a 1979 retrospective at New York's Guggenheim Museum, and he lived the last years of his life at a hectic pace, participating in dozens of exhibitions and traveling widely on behalf of his organizations. Beuys died in 1986 in Düsseldorf. In the subsequent decade his students have carried on his campaign for change, and his ideas and artwork have continued to spark lively debate.