Art of Participation

The Art of Participation at SF Moma is by far one of the best exhibits I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I say experiencing because for once i was actually engaged in the works of art, not merely a passive observer. Two artists that really struck me were John Cage with his piece 4:33, and Tom Marioni with The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest form of Art. I really enjoyed these pieces because in both cases they would be nothing with out people their to create them. In Cage's piece it is a composition of 4 minutes 33 seconds of silence. It was and still is a profound piece because while the artist has not composed a single note there is a great deal of ambient noise. It is the awkward silence that then gets broken by the shifting of the audience or a cough from the crowd, but it is at that point that one realizes that they are not witnessing a piece of art work but they are PART of the artwork. And while the composition of the piece remains constant throughout every performance, each in itself is completely unique and can never be recreated.

Similar to this is Tom Marioni's piece in which he holds a kind of salon where he invites the public (in this case) to come together and drink beer and share and swap ideas. One difference is that participants in this piece are aware before they even step into the room that they are going to be part of the work. It was great to see the different kinds of interactions that took place. Some people were content to just drink beer and observe while others took a more active role. One component that i particularly liked was the hands on activity of constructing cardboard furniture. There were tables and benches that had quite a difficult set of instructions to follow. it was great seeing people struggle both on their own as well at together. The best part for me was when some people took partially completed furniture and arranged them in new ways to create completely different pieces. Proving that ideas and creativity flow freely between groups of people, especially when social lubricant is involved.