Long Suffering productively links avant-garde performance practices with religious histories in the United States; setting contemporary performances of endurance art within a broader context of prophetic religious discourse in the United States. Its focus is on the work of Ron Athey; Linda Montano; and John Duncan; American artists whose performances involve extended periods of suffering. These unsettling performances can disturb; shock; or frighten audiences; leaving them unsure how to respond. The book examines how these artists work at the limits of the personal and the interpersonal; inflicting suffering on themselves and others; transforming audiences into witnesses; straining social relations; and challenging definitions of art and of ethics. By performing the death of self at the heart of trauma; strategies of endurance signal artistsrsquo; attempts to visualize; legitimize; and testify to the persistent experience of being wounded. The artworks discussed find their foundations in artistsrsquo; early experiences of religion and connections with the work of reformers from Angelina Grimkeacute; to Rev. Martin Luther King; Jr.; who also used suffering as a strategy to highlight social injustice and call for ethical; social; and political renewal.
2016-08-04 2016-08-04File Name: B01M10DLBB
Review
