Jaap Blonk, Namesake of the blonkorgan, performer, sound poet. AaaaaAAAøøøøøøøøøAEEEeeeiiiIIIIIiiiüüüüüüüüüüieeeeooooOUUUUUooooooo. [more inside]
posted by idiopath on Nov 23, 2009 - 26 comments

The smell of Scarlet Johansson is art.[slyt]
posted by geos on Mar 29, 2009 - 114 comments

Are lice art? "Seven young artists from Berlin are trying to stretch the boundaries of art by living in an Israeli museum for three weeks with lice in their hair." Video.
posted by fleetmouse on May 2, 2008 - 141 comments

A site for artist Bas Jan Ader (wikipedia) who was last seen in 1975 when he took off in what would have been the smallest sailboat ever to cross the Atlantic. Site includes his most famous piece, I'm Too Sad to Tell You.
posted by dobbs on Dec 23, 2007 - 15 comments

Art Crimes is a fascinating site about the history of vandalism in the fine arts, recently revived by a Frenchwoman who left a lipstick imprint on a 2 million dollar painting by Cy Twombly. Other examples include a British suffragist attacking a Velazquez with a knife, an installation vandalized by the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, two Chinese performance artists who urinated into Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, and a Canadian art student who vomited blue gelatin on a Mondrian. Oddly enough, the artwork that has weathered the most attacks is Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which has survived two knife attacks (one by an unemployed teacher with a butter knife) and an attack by a mental patient who had a compulsion to fling sulfuric acid at fine artworks. Other art vandalism methods, including glass cutters, hammers, scissors, guns, and ink, are discussed here.
posted by jonp72 on Jul 26, 2007 - 38 comments

"He spent three days in a room with a coyote. After flying into New York, he was swathed in felt and loaded into an ambulance, then driven to the gallery where the Action took place, without having once touched American soil. As [he] later explained: ‘I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see nothing of America other than the coyote.’" ( documentary yt clip)
posted by bardic on Jul 3, 2007 - 88 comments

The Knitting Machine is a performance art piece/sculpture by Providence artist Dave Cole. Cole's other works include a Memorial Flag made out of toy soldiers and a size 8 dress made entirely out of money.
posted by grapefruitmoon on Mar 5, 2007 - 3 comments

Beijing artist Li Wei switched from oil painting to performance art in 1999; in 2000 he used mirrors to create a ... detached collection. Then he began falling into things.
posted by Terminal Verbosity on Jan 29, 2007 - 17 comments

We need more artists in politics! In 1969, Canadian performance artist Vincent Trasov constructed a human-sized peanut costume and took on the familiar identity of Planters mascot Mr. Peanut. Five years later, Trasov took his performance art persona to the next level as he entered Mr. Peanut into the 1974 Vancouver mayoral election, running on a platform of "Performance, Elegance, Art, Nonsense, Uniqueness, and Talent." Trasov posed a "visual question" to his opponents at the debates via tap dance, received at least one celebrity endorsement during his campaign, and in the end, garnered 3.4% of the vote. Recently, Trasov (and fellow artist Michael Morris) launched the Morris/Trasov Archive, where you can find a nice collection of photos from the campaign trail online (Performance -> My Five Years in a Nutshell).

Mr. Peanut remains a central part of Trasov's art; his "Histories" place Mr. Peanut in the Bamyian Valley of Afghanistan, the Marx-Engels monument at Berlin, and at the entrance to Thebes, playing the role of Oedipus opposite the Sphinx.
posted by duffell on Dec 10, 2006 - 11 comments

James Patten creates interactive works in diverse media with themes including performance and social commentary. Projects include Tactile Photography and, most impressive to me, The Audio Pad.
posted by dobbs on Aug 1, 2006 - 4 comments

GX Jupitter-Larsen - noise maker, video artist [some NSFW] and inventor of the TNU.
posted by tellurian on Aug 1, 2006 - 9 comments

kama3d ~ Made by an anonymous French artist, this series of sculptures of kama sutra positions was supposedly exhibited at the Chambéry Modern Art Museum (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire) recently. Now you can virtually walk around them. Reminscent of that sculpture of Britney giving birth on a bearskin. But are they real? *NSFW* (Note: FLASH)
posted by crunchland on Jul 13, 2006 - 36 comments

The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984 features, among many compelling pieces, works by Tehching Hsieh. Hsieh may be best known for his 1983-84 collaborative piece with Linda Montano, in which the two artists were tethered together at the waist with an eight foot rope -- for an entire year. [Previously mentioned here.]
posted by milquetoast on Feb 13, 2006 - 3 comments

On Friday, September 2nd, artist Mary Coble will subject herself to a marathon tattoo session that could make a career Marine wince. Beginning at 6 p.m. and likely continuing until dawn the next day, a tattoo artist will etch 400 names of victims of the nation's gay, bisexual and transgender hate crimes into the artist's back, legs and arms. And we're all invited to watch. More (WashPo [reg.rqd])
posted by crunchland on Sep 1, 2005 - 18 comments

After Walker Evans Alternatively, After Sherrie Levine. In 1936, Walker Evans famously photographed a family of sharecroppers. In 1979, Sherrie Levine rephotographed Evans' work. Performance artist Michael Mandiberg has reproduced Levine's work online, made them available for printing, and assembled texts and wrote plays to give the site's conceptual art concept - and Levine's work - meaning, and a punchline.
posted by livii on Mar 20, 2005 - 16 comments

Chris Barr is available on Thursday for the next two months. So what you ask? You can schedule things for Chris to do and view things he's done in the past. I especially enjoyed the "ask strange women to hold a sign saying I Like Spike" and "ask a bunch of random folks what is on their iPod." Can wait to see what he has to do next.
posted by mathowie on Mar 11, 2005 - 31 comments

The Center for Tactical Magic: a fusion force summoned from the ways of the artist, the magician, the ninja, and the private investigator.
posted by moonbird on Feb 3, 2005 - 8 comments

9 beet stretch is the act of using digital tools to slow down Beethoven's 9th symphony to the point where the piece takes 24 hours to complete. Next week, a 9 beet stretch will be taking place in San Francisco, at 964 Natoma, from Friday April 23rd to Saturday April 24. Sleepover!
posted by mathowie on Apr 15, 2004 - 29 comments

Democratic Torture - "By touching a hotspot on their screens the Global audience can shock my exhausted face...". Yesterday his face "was sewn into a bind" today in around 3 hours time viewers may "contribute an electric shock direct to Mike Parr by interacting directly with the webcast"
A SMH article and an Artist's Biography provide some context.
posted by atom71 on May 2, 2003 - 2 comments

Online Art - strange delights.
posted by paladin on Mar 16, 2001 - 1 comment

Shop Mandiberg!! eCommerce or performance art?
posted by aladfar on Jan 26, 2001 - 7 comments

Is nudity art? Or is this USF student just a flake?
posted by baylink on May 25, 2000 - 13 comments