Destroy and Create
During my brainstorming for this project, I contemplated many different possibilities for what I wanted my piece to symbolize. This is my first performance art piece, and therefore I really felt clueless as to how I wanted to go about it. However when considering the different possible themes to explore, I realized one aspect of art that I have always had a specific interest in is the fragility of everything I create. I have always been fascinated by the idea that what is so painstakingly created can be so easily destroyed. It is true that in our world destruction greatly outweighs creation.
Upon further exploration of this idea, I came across the Canadian artist Heather Benning. Although she is not technically recognized as a performance artist, there was one piece, The Dollhouse, that stood out to me as incredibly effective in its message. For this project, Benning undertook an 8 year remodel of an abandoned farmhouse, reconstructing it into a life sized doll house. She herself spent 18 months re-shingling the roof and replacing one side of the house entirely with plexi-glass. The house then stood as a sculpture for 6 years, at which time Benning intentionally burned it to the ground.
Why would she do this? Yes, she stated that after those years the house had begun to show its age, but why not repair it? Why, the viewer is forced to ask, so quickly destroy what you’ve worked so hard to create? By so quickly destroying what she had spent so much time and energy creating, Benning thrusts the idea of impermanence in the viewers face. This beautiful creation, that she had labored over for years, was destroyed in a matter of hours. It simply goes to show that in the world we live in, creation is heavily outweighed by destruction.
I chose to play off this point with a work of my own, in a performance with the instruction, “Destroy and Create”. As an artist, I find myself heavily attached to each piece of work I create. Whether or not I deem it “good”, I see all my work in terms of the time and energy I put into creating them, and I find myself immensely mentally distressed at the idea of destroying them. Which, obviously, is why I have decided to do just that. I intend to bring in to class one of my previous works that I have devoted my time and energy to. I will begin the performance by carefully hanging it on the wall. I will then take a mixture of ink and water and haphazardly apply it to the drawing, obscuring the image already present. Taking it a step further, I will then rip the paper into pieces, and finally reassemble the work on the ground.
By performing these actions, I intend to give the audience a deep sense of unease and even anxiety. I believe that regardless of the fact that it is not their own work, they will still feel some sense of loss, as as humans we innately value art and are off put by its destruction. And finally, in the eventual reconstruction of the "destroyed" work, it will end the performance with just a hint of hope, as even though it has been defaced and ruined, in the end it is still reassembled into something new.
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