The Body and Identity

Where does the history of self portraiture fit into the search for identity? With the historical rise of the individual, identity has become a essential as a marker of place.

How does the tradition of plastic arts differ from performance?

Chuck Close

Lucian Freud


I find it interesting that the history of performance, via Kaprow and Happenings started with an interpretation of Pollock. In The Legacy of Jackson Pollock, Kaprow takes a Rosenbergian position by arguing for the performative value as opposed to the formal. He sees the Pollock's gesture as an extension beyond the picture frame, a move into common space. The indirect presence of the body in Pollock's work has become a spring board for performance and body related art.
Marina Abramovic


Chris Burden

Martin Kippenberger

Rineke Dijkstra


The Grotesque Body, how do we deal with the other? This passage recounts the history of horror shows, carnival encounters with cultural aberrations. The treatment of the other as spectacle. How do ethics account for the other? At what point do we move from spectacle to understanding and compassion?

Laura Kalman uses unconventional jewelry/performative wears to investigate our challenged relationship to the body. Aestheticizing skin disorders with gold and gems transforms our understanding. How do precious materials engage a new discussion of these disorders? What debt does she owe Hannah Wilke and Ann Hamilton? In what ways has she expanded that discussion? Is Kalman more focused on the transgressions of ornament or the body?