So...I’m not exactly sure what it is I’ve just watched.
As Marina repeatedly tears at and digs in to her scalp, I ask myself exactly what it is that she’s trying to accomplish. Maybe this form of art evades me, but I really wonder: is she trying to make herself/her art beautiful or is she actually trying to accomplish the opposite? Does she equate pain with beauty? Because, personally, she freaks me out.
By definition, masochism is “the enjoyment of what appears to be painful or tiresome.” I would say going to town on your hair with a brush and a comb for anywhere over ten minutes qualifies as both painful and tiresome, and at around 3:45, Marina appears to enjoy it. But why exactly is she deriving pleasure from this act? Is it because she’s creating art? Is it because she’s finding new, innovative ways to tease her hair?...okay, that second one probably isn’t it, but I really am at a loss here.
She does not appear to be wearing any makeup, something that suggests she is still in the process of making her art beautiful and/or is striving to achieve the opposite of her adopted mantra. However, I must note that the lighting of the piece actually accentuates her facial structure in a way that does in fact make her appear beautiful—with emphasized cheek bones and jaw line.
And then we have Mr. Ron Athey, a man with a bunch of...tribal tattoos? Blood? Well anyway, the most important thing is that he too has unruly hair and a brush! He proceeds to brush/style/force (?) his blonde wig around his face until it appears to be suffocating him, and then lies down. Masochistic? Maybe. Weird? Definitely.
Both Marina and Ron are naked. Is this to reinforce the idea of pain? It works to show just how vulnerable they are as they torture themselves and I also think that it works to show a universality of sorts—to show that we are all equally capable of experiencing pain and falling victim to the same wounds they now inflict upon themselves.
In the end, I’m still left wondering. Wondering what I’ve just seen and how on earth I’ll be able to sleep tonight. Oh, and if I’ll be able to bring myself to brush my hair tomorrow morning.
I really liked how you pointed out the lighting. You pointed out a lot of things and close read them, but I think you should consider that all this means in the end. What does it tell us about the self?
ReplyDeleteI would reconsider Ambramovic's idea of beauty: are makeup and more typical aesthetics likely her eventual goal when she clearly derives her pleasure from unconventional things? I think that beauty relates to the self in her clip in that it is a subjective and fluid quality (like gender) that an individual possesses. It is defined externally and internally, and definitely varies from person to person. Maybe consider that concept of beauty, rather than a stricter, more conventional one.
ReplyDeleteI too finished both of those videos with more questions than I had at the beginning. What's the point? Despite this, however, I think I can respond to (or at least try) your question about Marina's incessant mantra of "art must beautiful, artist must be beautiful." If Marina is trying to create art by inflicting pain upon her scalp, then the art she is creating is not beautiful. This sets up a contradiction. Perhaps this contradiction can also be applied to masochism, because some people think pleasure must always be pleasurable. For a masochist, however, pain is pleasure. The clip with Marina draws a comparison between art, beauty, and pain.
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