December 9, 2008
Art Form: Live Performance
December 2, 2008
Live Performance means “Live” – in person, on site. When live performance is taped, filmed, recorded, adapted, edited, processed, it changes and is no longer itself. It is possible that a performance can be enhanced in an altered form, the mistakes edited out, it can be colorized and shined. My performances, when recorded, suffer in translation. Some critical element is missing, making it impossible to promote. The worst of what I do, stripped of meaning and beauty, is then pasted on the website or CD, DVD, grant application, audition tape. It is ugly. It is mundane. I have to explain myself but how? I do not exist as a serious candidate. In a world of recorded art, I am invisible. Each moment of my performance dies as quickly as it is born- filtered, absorbed or forgotten, most naturally, by an audience. They are my editors, my celluloid, my resume, my mission statement; strangers who watch, and applaud, and leave. It’s live, like theater, but without a respectable text, stage, or communal collaboration. It is only legitimate to me if it continues without those conditions. It is good to know who I am.
