Performance art has always been interesting to me, because I enjoy art which uses human beings as part of the experience. An artist friend of mine created a sculpture once that utilized a clear gas which, when lit on fire, burned clear as well. He'd have viewers of the piece run their hand quickly over the invisible flame, and when they were startled by the heat....drew their hands back quickly, perhaps gasped or laughed...THAT, he said, was the art.
That resonated with me. Human emotion, basic physical response, as art. It's not much different from what Chris Burden does.
But the part that has always fascinated me is that I have felt that same human emotion...the chills, the startle response, pure physical joy...viewing static works that require nothing on my part other than standing before them.
What I enjoy about the idea of the Flash Mob is that instant when the crowd starts to figure out there is something going on. Something different. Something that shakes them out of the doldrums of their daily life, buying a newspaper and walking mindlessly through the train station without seeing it. Realizing that people have frozen in place. THAT moment. The basic moment of comprehension that life doesn't have to be dull. That's the art.
I hope the Flash Mob isn't becoming too omnipresent. The more of these events they stage, the less prevalent is that MOMENT. When you realize immediately what's happening, the power of the moment is lost. Too much saturation can dilute the art. It becomes a gimmick, or a stunt.
The difficulty with performance art, I think, is that the longer humanity exists, the more it takes to shock us. To give us that moment of startle, that takes us beyond ourselves. That's why contemporary art is so important, and why I admire artists who are constantly pushing the envelope, in search of that MOMENT.
