Performance Art 1 (Madrid)

Performance Art 1 (Madrid), originally uploaded by Sapient Iguana.

I was in Madrid at the weekend and saw some performance art in Lavapies. In this particular performance the artist laid out a big plastic sheet, poured herself a glass of wine and set it down, took off some clothes and fetched a hessian sack out of a pile of dirt. After putting on the sack she lay face down in the dirt and spun about for a bit moaning and struggling, then got up and invited the audience to spin plates on the floor, most of which broke.

The description in the flyer (admitedly translated not particularly well from the Spanish) sums it up: "Where would rhythm, space, tension, time and the fact that it is present would remain if you just want to sit and look? Whatever you wish to happen may happen or may be happens what you do not want to happen."

And I think there's something in that for all of us.