On October 20th, I attended the performace "Silver&Gold" by Nao Bustamante at RPI's Empac Studio. This type of performance was the most bizarre thing I think I've ever witnessed. Nao Bustamante is an internationally known artist who specializes in performace art, video installation, visual art, filmmaking and writing. The show I went to see I am not even sure how to describe in words it was so outrageous. This production incorporated film and live performance (filmformance). Bustamante uses filmmaker Jack Smith story of movie star, Maria Montez. This show began with a film, where Bustamante representing Montez, is picking and gathering lilacs and putting them into piles. In the forrest she is journeying through, she comes across a sculpture dressed in a sequin dress, where she transform into a new role as the costume is put on. With this new role and costume also came the surprise of acquring a penis. This part of the performance was extremely weird and awkward. After the transformation she realizes she is being chased by a pack of penises,also extremely awkward and just simply confusing. In the life performance there is a scene where Bustamante commits suicide on accident by drinking the posion she intended to give to her husband after they both engaged in what seemed like an arabian, egyptian dance. When she wakes up, she states she is in purgatory and uses a "machine" to sell off to the audience silver and gold, which was a pillow with silver and gold chains hanging from it. (rpi.edu) She incorporates the audience by taking some of the hands in the audience and sticking it up the "machine" to see if silver or gold fit them better. Honestly, I was extremely confused throughout the whole performance and basically in shock. I felt as though the audience knew something I did not as they were laughing most of the time and I was in utter shock and confusion.
The performance overall was strange and very foreign to me. What exactly was the point of having a bunch of penises chase after her? It didn't make any sense to me and I felt myself laughing at the production because I was so clueless to the whole performance. The man to the left came into the performance during the arabian and intricate dance. I was so thrown off my the costume he was wearing, I couldn't understand what he was trying to represent. I only found out he was her husband when Bustamante kept trying to get him to drink the posion, saying, "No, you first my husband". That was another thing that confused me, why was she trying to kill her husband? He than left the stage for the rest of the performance after Bustamante drank the drink with the poison in it. He simply carried her over to a decorative couch and left the stage for the rest of the performance. After the performance, Bustamante came back out to thank all who helped her make her performance happen, it was weird because throughout the whole show she played a character with a very heavy accent, when in reality she had no accent at all! I was a little surprised to find out that was not her real voice since the accent she used sounded so real. I guess was so shocked because I didn't expect any of the events that actually occured never crossed my mind! Although Professor Blum did warn us Bustamante's work is usally very shocking and unique.(Posted by Kaitlyn)
No comments:
Post a Comment