Performative Images

The posted image is a piece of artwork by Gary Hill.

In his theatre, Antonin Artaud did not want the world to be represented in performance, but LIVED. This concept can be seen in the works of artist Gary Hill who tries to create powerful instillations that interact with the viewer in a performative manner. Hill admits to trying to achieve a performative status in his work, claiming that he focuses on the effect that his work has on the audience as much as on the work itself. Ultimately, whether an image is performative or not depends largely on the receiver of the image. This may explain Barbara Bolt's argument that, in non-Western cultures, images seem to serve a more performative function. In Art Beyond Representation Barbara Bolt highlights the performative relation between imaging and reality. Images should contain the reality of what the represent. She claims that "when life gets into the matter of the image, the image produces reality and thus casts its effects back onto the world". Only when this occurs, is the power of images to produce ontological effects realised.

Bolt claims that that works of art that exist as products well thought out in advance of their production adds to their potential performativity. This is true of Van Gogh's self-portrait in Annabel's post. Drawing on the cultural practices of indigenous Australian artists, Bolt argues for the material performativity of the work of art, especially of visual art. This work is performative rather than "merely representational". In many cultures, an image is thought to embody its object rather than by simply signifying it, a good example of this being the Catholic belief that during Mass the bread IS the body of Christ, in comparison to Protestants who believe that it is wholly representational.

Loxley, in his book "Performativity", states that something, language/an utterance/an image is performative if, in some way, it "intervenes" in the world rather than just describing it. An image can become performative if it does "something in the world" such as "pursuading or amusing or alarming an audience". The image below of a starving child being pursued by a vulture during the famine in Sudan shocked the world. It is now used frequently in the Western world to provoke people to donate to charity to eliminate poverty worldwide because of its ability to evoke feelings of guilt and shame. Loxley comments that performative images are usually "requests, orders, declarations" (2007: 2) This is certainly the case with regard to this image being used to request people to give generously to a charity.

Performative image

Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother

"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. " - Lange

This photograph has become an 'iconic' image that represents America's depression of the 1930's for many. It is not the specific context of the picture itself that causes this association, as Lange did not actually know the woman's name, or her exact history. What makes this photographic 'iconic' is the way it performs the wider social and economical context surrounding it. It shows the need of the migrant workers not through the woman's individual struggle, but through the way she 'performs' a whole situation.

This image of Tiananmen Square is, in my opinion, a performative image. The image rouses so much emotion and socio-historic importance that is has moved away from the realms of simple representation. The picture has an almost spiritual power as it “produces ontological effects”. The image itself represents an entire struggle of the people of China against an oppressive state. The individual struggle has transcended what the “the unknown rebel” was doing and is now an international symbol for resistance. Barbara Bolt says that a performative image occurs “when life gets into the matter of the image, the image produces reality and thus casts its effects back onto the world.” ‘Life’ has definitely entered this image as the rebel is willing to sacrifice his life to show the world and his oppressors the reality and pain of his situation. This performative image has definitely cast its effects back onto the world and symbolises our desire for justice and freedom.

This links in with what Pashers says about creating a dialogue between the image and the user and how the Tiananmen Square image has transcended its status as merely a sign. There is oppression through out our world and this image unites and represents those resisting. In the similar tone to what Annabel says about war propaganda provoking people and therefore being performative. This image is so perfect for what it is representing that it could have been manufactured for propaganda. But the fact that it is real makes the spiritual power and significance worth so much more.

Performative Image: Hindu deities/murtis.

After struggling for a while to think of something which can be considered a 'performative image', I thought about religion and the many symbols and signs used in each for different purposes.

In the Hindu religion, there are millions of murtis - beings that are aspects of the supreme Brahman or those that are supreme or spiritual in their own right - which are the embodiment of varying personalities and iconographies. Unlike the Christian religion which forbids the worship of an "idol... whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:2-4), Hindus consider images and sculptures of murtis worthy of worship after they have been invoked with the divine, as it provides a point of focus for puja (worship) and meditation. 

By becoming the actual embodiment of the the divine rather than a representation of it, images of murtis become performative in the sense that they have a purpose; the spiritual connection between worshipper and the worshipped.

In the same way that Bolt suggests a 'dynamic relation between artist and materials' and the 'art coming into being', in can be percieved that the Shilpa Shastra's (traditional texts that describe the standards of construction for religious sculptures) and the Prana Pratishta (or 'establishing of life' ceremony) are how the images make this transition from representational to performative. Furthermore, these ceremonies which turn images and statues from their once representationalmode of Hindu deitys to their actual being the divine spirit, can be an example of what Bolt describes as the 'transmutation' between 'imaging' and 'reality'. This can be highlighted more by Bantinaki who suggests that the

image 'becomes in some way the thing that it

(that is, the image) is about'.

Performative images

When creating his "documents" Artaud placed great emphasis in bringing the real into the representation. His aim was not to merely present an image, but also to reveal the creative process and communicate his every thought and emotion to others; it is therefore the pain in creating the image that makes it performative.

Therefore I believe that an image that holds great performativity is a piece of sheet music. Music is a recognised language in itself and the composer can effectively weave his thoughts and emotions into the notes. With sheet music not only can you see the thought process, but the image can be converted into a performative act, therefore fulfilling Artaud's views of the subjectile becoming what it represents.

In relation to more conventional art, artist who use oils work with a very performative style. The appliance and texture of the strokes suggest the type of care and effort that has gone into the creation of the art. Whereas a print would just be a frozen image, the process and effort that has gone into that piece of art will be visible forever thanks to the enthusiasm of the artist. This is similar to Artaud's use of perferations on his 1947 Self Portrait where he did not only want people to view his work, but understand the pain that went into its creation and that he was feeling at the time. This Self Portrait by Van Gogh is similar in that it was created during a turbulent period in his life, coincidentally after he had left an asylum. The rhythmic brush strokes in the painting cover is haggard face before bursting out into the surroundings symbolising his inner torment. Van Gogh has repeated this technique in other performative art works such as starry night.

However, with reference to "Pashers'" comment I agree that images with an aim to have an effect can be viewed as performative as they evoke emotion, eg. Cigarette packets and guilt. In particular I believe that propaganda is a good example of this. The use of propaganda, particularly War propaganda, almost creates a sense of melodrama around a situation; that it has been created for a very pointed reason with an aim to sway the ideas of a whole nation. Because it is drawing attention, rousing morale, or even the fact that certain images have been created, not just as a representation, but as a manipulative tool to inspire or provoke people, I believe it is performative.

Performative Image: health warnings/a crucifix?

Having read Katerina Bantinaki's review of Barbara Bolt's book Art Beyond Representation: The Performative Power of the Image and a couple of chapters from the book itself, I am finding it hard to think of any secular images which could be considered to have performative elements.

Initially, when I was thinking of 'performative' as a term which simply meant 'which has an effect', in that a performative utterance is something which effects a change of some kind, I questioned whether or not the images on cigarette packets nowadays could be described as performative. To an extent, I think this is possible as the image has an intended effect of dissuading people from smoking. Bantinaki writes, '... the image is thought to embody its object rather than merely signify it; it is thought to assume a degree of reality that allows it to transcend its status as a sign, thereby gaining the power to affect the user ... in a more direct and powerful manner.' (215) Though the image is perhaps made more powerful by a projection, from the viewer onto the image, about the life of the person depicted, probably identifying the person depicted with themselves as a fellow smoker, it does not invite a dialogue between the image and the user.

The efficacy of the image may be questioned but does an image have to fulfil its function to be considered performative or just need to have a desired function? If it's the former, how would it be possible for performative images to be thought to exist in a secular, technocratic society? If the image has to fulfil its function, surely Artaud's images aren't performative either. Did his spells ever work?

The cigarette packet images have one serious set back in that they are highly representative, the documentary style of photography hardly enabling 'the dynamic relation between artist and materials' (214) which Bolt's theory suggests.

So what could be a performative image? Within the Christian faith, I wonder if the crucifix could be considered one. The action of prayer in front of a crucifix suggests its power within the faith. It could be argued that the depiction of Christ on the cross 'transcends its status as a sign' and hold some spiritual presence, what Bantinaki refers to generally as 'life': 'When life gets into the matter of the image, the image produces reality and thus casts its effects back onto the world.' (215) A believer supposedly having a prayer answered could be an example of this or, in folkloric tradition rather than scriptural evidence, the belief that the crucifix can ward off evil spirits, hence its use in exorcisms and vampire novels.

Cited work:
Bantinaki, Katerina. Review of 'Art Beyond Representation: The Performative Power of the Image' by Barabara Bolt, British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 46, 2006. 213-216.