mat becker

Let me try to use a less well known artist group.

At the beginning of my freshman year, my friend Jacob and I decided to participate in Big Ma's Talent show, despite having any talent. We decided to go another direction. Our plan, which changed every time we discussed it, ended as such: I performed an interpretive dance to Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" with a balloon while Jacob read a printer manual in English and Spanish while dressed up in Sailor outfits with pull-away pants and short shorts. The next day in the Brown Daily Herald, we were the only two mentioned at the show next to the picture you see above.

So what was our purpose for doing so? Initially, it was to take advantage of contemporary art being so ridiculous that we could get away with having no talent at all. But, upon further inspection, I think we realized that our premise was actually very creative, and despite having no apparent skills, we showed the audience that performance art can be very enjoyable. So, I guess contemporary art is a way of moving past the quality of the execution and looking more into the emotions that follow, and I believe that is what happened for us.