"Perf-Art - Evidence of an Event."

Dominic and I are working on our creative idea that we need to pitch to the class. Well, it's Dom's idea. He's been thinking of it for a while now and for this task him and I are working in a pair, and so I am now thankfully in on it. I say thankfully because I think it's a fantastic idea.

To put it very basically, it's combining performance and art, and just being silly we combined the two words and came up with "Perf-Art". We really got a good little laugh out of that because of how it sounds when it's said out aloud. Perfart. A few puns have been made since!

The idea (I hope I can capture this well enough in words!) is...
A few cubicles, perhaps 3m by 3m each, and one artist/performer goes into each one completely alone, with absolutely no-one watching. Music, or a stimulus of choice, (or perhaps an assigned piece, so each performer or artist in their respective cubicle is listening to the same thing) is played and the artist with paintbrush in hand and paint accessable, moves/dances/performs allowing the paint to be splashed and painted and thrown and placed on the walls, roof, body and anywhere. The artist performs to evoke the emotion being experienced, and paints it to evoke a permanent emotion for all to see. The comparison between the different outcomes from each artist would be incredibly interesting.

We discussed the idea of filming the performance, so that whilst no-one is watching the performer (allowing them to express their emotion privately and in whatever way they see fit) there is a visual presentation of what took place in that room, so that when the viewers see the final outcome of that experience, there is evidence of that event.

Three negative aspects of the idea that we came up with during the Reverse Brainstorming is that;
- There could be too much going on, with the music, the performing, the painting, the filming. It could be too much for viewers/the audience to take in.
- Viewing accessibility could get complicated. Ideal viewing would mean one person in the room at a time, in order to completely take in what the performer was feeling and trying to express. If multiple people go in there could be noise and it's possible the music could be overcome.
- There would almost definitely be transportation issues. Several big, possibly glass, rooms.

But the positive things we thought of during good old traditional positive Brainstorming!
- It would be an experience for both the performer and the viewer, not one or the other.
- It is "Evidence of an event." As said by David.
- It gives an explanation for the final outcome. Unlike many artworks that cause us as viewers to ask many questions, it will explain what was done where, what the artist was listening to at the time something was done, how the artist looked while doing a part of the artwork. This will all be shown in the footage of the performance.

I'm very excited to continue working on this idea. I love it, and I know that this doesn't have to become a reality, but I really hope that one day it does.