Body art

Body art uses the human body as its main artistic material. It grew out of Conceptual Art in the 1970s and can include performance. Artists explore the body through painting, casting, photography, film, and video. More extreme forms involve mutilation or testing the body's limits. Recently, the body has been discussed more broadly, with topics like implants, the body merging with new technology, and virtual avatars.

In popular culture, body art now covers tattoos, piercings, scarification, and body painting. Photographer Spencer Tunick is known for arranging large groups of naked people at public sites worldwide.

Body art often explores gender and personal identity, especially the link between body and mind. Its forerunners were avant-garde artists. In 1913, Russian Futurists painted their faces and walked through Moscow streets, then published a manifesto titled "Why do we paint ourselves?" The Vienna Action Group formed in 1965, with members performing body art actions. In the United States, Carolee Schneemann, Chris Burden, and Vito Acconci were active. Acconci documented his daily routine of stepping on and off a chair for months, and also followed random strangers in New York for his *Following Piece*. In France, body art was called *art corporel*, practiced by Michel Journiac, Orlan, and Gina Pane. In 1980s Italy, Ketty La Rocca was a notable artist. Artists like Rebecca Horn, Youri Messen-Jaschin, Javier Perez, and Jana Sterbak developed more personal mythologies. Body art can also be expressed through writing.

Extreme body art can let audiences use the nude body as a canvas for manipulation. Artists may use effects to dramatize or distort the body, or evoke disgust to show abuse and objectification. Some test their own physical limits. Dennis Oppenheim once lay in sunlight with a book on his chest until his uncovered skin was badly sunburned. It can also involve arranging preserved bodies, as in the *Body Worlds* exhibition. In 1974, Marina Abramović performed *Rhythm 0*, where the audience used 72 objects—knives, feathers, a loaded pistol—on her body. They cut her, pressed thorns into her belly, applied lipstick, removed her clothes, and held the pistol to her head. Accounts differ on how it ended: some say a scuffle broke out; Abramović says it simply ended after six hours, and when she stood and walked toward the audience, they fled. Another of her works involved dancing until she collapsed. Chris Burden performed *Shoot* in 1971, having a friend shoot him in the arm with a rifle. In *Through the Night Softly*, he shuffled on his stomach through broken glass with his hands bound. In *Trans-Fixed*, he was crucified to a Volkswagen. French artist Orlan modified her body through plastic surgery to match Western beauty standards.

Some body art focuses on silhouettes and shadows rather than the physical form. Scientific research, such as Stelarc's, can be considered in this vein. A special case is the absence of the body, performed by artists like Davor Džalto, Antony Gormley, and Andy Warhol.

Performance body art can display the teaching and symbolism of the human body and sexuality. It may present the body as flawless or deliberately mutilate it into a repulsive position, aiming to engage the viewer's reaction. It can also symbolize sexualization and violation, as in Yoko Ono's *Cut Piece* (1964). Performers Karen Finley and Laurie Anderson evoke obscurity and controversy, challenging norms about women's power in Western culture. Finley used psychological sensory elements to provoke disgust.