Article:
Die Kunst des Handelns und des Leidens – Schmerz als Bild in der Performance Art

Author(s): Meyer, Helge

Abstract

Feeling pain is a personal physical experience, but according to Elaine Scarry, hearing about pain can be treated as synonymous with doubt. The experience of physical pain itself cannot be communicated to the outside world. Although the wounds as signs of pain are visible to the observer, they cannot convey the phenomenon, the sensation of pain, per se. In this thesis I will claim that by using performance as an art form it is possible to develop images of pain, both physical and psychological, and to communicate these images to an observer. Physical pain is often not only accepted as part of a performance but an integral, challenging component of it. Painful actions are used to produce images as well as to induce borderline states of ecstasy in the performers and to some degree in the audience. Christian Keysers’ mirror cell theory claims that there are areas of the brain that can trigger empathy when painful, gruesome images are observed. According to Keysers, the observer’s empathic feelings directly match those of the physical victim. In my work I investigate different artistic approaches that deal with images of pain such as temporally long performances (Alastair MacLennan, Marina Abramovic, et al.) as well as short and sharp images of self-inflicted wounds (Jamie McMurry, Zbiegniew Warpechowski, et al.). By analyzing the images produced by these performers and by connecting their works to theories from diverse fields such as philosophy, psychology, and medicine, I will back up my main thesis: The immediate production of images in front of a live audience enables performance art to generate a believable representation of physical and emotional pain.

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BibTex
Meyer, Helge: Die Kunst des Handelns und des Leidens – Schmerz als Bild in der Performance Art. In: IMAGE. Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft, Jg. 1 (2005), Nr. 2, S. 34-41. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/16702.
@ARTICLE{Meyer2005,
 author = {Meyer, Helge},
 title = {Die Kunst des Handelns und des Leidens – Schmerz als Bild in der Performance Art},
 year = 2005,
 doi = "\url{http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/16702}",
 volume = 1,
 address = {Köln},
 journal = {IMAGE. Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft},
 number = 2,
 pages = {34--41},
}
Keywords
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The item has been published with the following license: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz