1. Pop/Art: The Pervasiveness of Performance Art in Popular Culture
Kurt Suchman
Ramapo College of New Jersey
Framework: Though pop music is often assumed to have little artistic integrity due to its commerciality, pop music has been imbued with aspects of performance art that has introduced
ingenuity to Top 40 pop
● Artists such as Kate Bush and Bjork have successfully infiltrated the Top 40 machine and have brought their music into the physical world through their use of performance and other
creative endeavours
● Due to this phenomena, underground music scenes have adopted performance art values as a way to shape their identity outside of a commercial context
Kate Bush: “A
Completely Audio
Visual Artist.”
After her debut single “Wuthering
Heights” hit number one on the UK
charts in 1978, British pop star Kate
Bush spawned a legendary yet elusive
career of public performances and
appearances.
Bush’s subsequent 1979 live tour
“Tour of Life” cemented her reputation
for decades until her only other live
tour “Before the Dawn” in 2014. Her
live shows combined aspects of dance,
mime, theater, and magic under the
teachings of Lindsay Kemp, an English
choreographer that worked with fellow
pop provocateur David Bowie.
Referred to as “a completely audio
visual artist” by Bob Mercer of EMI
records, it is interesting to note the
visual nature of Bush’s career when
she has so rarely ventured into live
performances. Nonetheless, her live
shows have become rarities of
spectacle as Bush acts as a pivotal
part in the intersection of pop music
and performance art.
Bjork brings performance
to the individual audience
Icelandic electronic artist Bjork made a name for
herself throughout her 20+ year solo career with her
outlandish outfits and esoteric music videos, but
has not fully come into her full potential until her
modern endeavors following the release of the 2011
album Biophilia.
In 2012, Bjork release the app version of her
album, making for an individual experience for users
with custom instruments and visuals. The first of
her kind in many ways, her app and career were
immortalized in a 2015 self-titled exhibition by the
MoMA. Taylor Ho Bynum of the New York Times
surmised Bjork’s visuals, stating, “(her) music
videos and spectacular costumes sometimes get the
most attention, but they are just physical
manifestations of her ever-evolving sound world.”
Performance as a reclamation of identity
Performance values became political at the time of the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s. The third wave of feminism combined feminist
ideology with DIY punk aesthetics in order to amplify the voices of women who were silenced by gendered violence. Riot Grrrl’s bold and brash style of
punk music was scary to some, but acted as a calling card to unite all women who have been silenced due to violence against women.
In addition to the piercing music, Riot Grrrl adopted a specific style and performance practice in order to personify the issues they sang about and
reappropriate terms and labels to ones that they felt comfortable with. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie Ruin became a notable face
to the movement, frequently performing in her underwear with words such as “slut” and “incest” brandished on her body, words that permeated much
of what Riot Grrrl was fighting against. Hanna’s visceral live performances brought urgency and a personified meaning of the topics that were cast aside
before. The practice has continued into the modern era with bands such as the punk band PWR BTTM. Influenced by the queercore subgenre of Riot Grrrl,
PWR BTTM is comprised of two individuals who use their stage personas to claim their identities outside of the assumed gender norms. PWR BTTM’s
live shows include healthy amounts of glitter and drag costume to blur the lines between gender and exemplify gender identities outside of the binary.
PWR BTTM has prioritized making their live shows safe spaces for all, mandating gender neutral bathrooms at their live performances.
Conclusion
● Performance art is not an artform reserved for
the educated and the cultured, and has gone as
far as to carve out a niche of its own in popular
music.
● Performance art is continuing to be adapted into
some of the highest profile musicians, such as
Sia’s use of interpretive dance in her rare live
performances.
● Furthermore, aspects of performance art have
been adopted to connect performers to their
audiences, allowing fans to personally identify
with the artists they are listening to.
● Performance has become an integral part of
popular music and has allowed music to expand
as an artistic expression