Body art

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Body art. A type of art in which the artist uses his or her own body as the medium; it is closely related to Conceptual art and Performance art, and flourished mainly at the same time that these forms of expression were at their peak—the late 1960s and 1970s (there was something of a revival in the 1990s). Sometimes works of Body art are carried out in private and communicated by means of photographs or films; sometimes the execution of the ‘piece’ is public. The performance may be pre-choreographed or extemporaneous. Spectator participation is not usually invited. Body art is often playful in spirit, but several leading exponents have been concerned with self-inflicted pain or ritualistic acts of endurance. For example, in ‘Seedbed’ (1972) the American Body artist Vito Acconci (1940– ) spent several hours daily masturbating under a gallery-wide ramp while the sounds of his activity were relayed via loudspeakers to visitors overhead. Even more extreme is another American, Chris Burden (1946– ): ‘In 1974 his roster of activities included one in which the spectators were invited to push pins into his body, one in which he had himself crucified to the roof of a Volkswagen, and one in which he was kicked down two flights of concrete stairs. In the name of art, Burden has also had himself shot, and has had his body splashed with burning alcohol’ ( Edward Lucie-Smith, Art of the Seventies, 1980). Other artists who have put themselves through unpleasant and potentially harmful experiences include Rudolf Schwarzkogler and the French artist Orlan (1947– ), whose means of expression consists of having her face and body reshaped by plastic surgery to give her features based on Renaissance masterpieces, such as the chin from a Botticelli Venus. The philosophy behind such works is obscure.

Body art A type of art in which the artist uses his or her own body as the medium: it is closely related to Conceptual art and Performance art, and flourished mainly at the same time that these forms of expression were at their peak—the late 1960s and 1970s (there was something of a revival in the 1990s). Sometimes works of Body art are carried out in private and communicated by means of photographs or films; sometimes the execution of the ‘piece’ is public. The performance may be pre-choreographed or extemporaneous. Spectator participation is not usually invited. Body art is often playful in spirit, but several leading exponents have been concerned with self-inflicted pain or ritualistic acts of endurance. For example, in ‘Seedbed’ (1972) the American Body artist Vito Acconci (1940– ) spent several hours daily masturbating under a gallery-wide ramp while the sounds of his activity were relayed via loudspeakers to visitors overhead. The philosophy behind such works is obscure.