Chris Burden "Shoot"

[desmoog]

Blah, Blah de Blah, it has more direct links to the 'Kent State massacre' in 70' & more to the point the interpersonal duty one person has to another & oneself & the precarious balance of said 'duties'?

[allyamv]

This is a statement. NOT art. Art can be a statement, but not every statement should be considered art.

[demelumeestermad]

agreed its not about the vietnam war. Seeing as it was performed a few miles from Hollywoods studios of make believe , Burdens real act can be seen to probe the distancing of effects of cinema with its overloaded violence. Pain and fear can be understood as the material of his work. It is also said that people in the gallery were implicated in his act due to their lack of intervention

[diazg1989]

Its not about the vietnam war. its about achieving a higher level of knowledge, criticizing modern "knowledge" which is seen and taken, rather than gained and experienced. you don't know what it is like to get shot unless you have your buddy shoot you.

[lilroses123]

I believe what everyone seems to be forgetting is that art is a statement. It's not always pretty, most artist make art to push something into your mind. It's their way of saying "look! stop being so caught up and look! this is important, this needs to be mulled over." Also art is controversial! Everyone that is hating is feeding into exactly what the artist wanted, not everyone is supposed to like it. It's supposed to cause a stir, but when are yall going to realize your opinions are just that?

[blackjack87NZ]

Should have gone for the head shot... Fucking retards. What kind of guy asks his mate to shoot him for "art", and what kind of guy agrees to shoot his mate. People like you should be sterilized for fear of contaminating the gene pool with your stupidity. Art??? I dont think so.

[windowmaker525]

@blackjack87NZ You don't understand the context of this. This was done during the Vietnam War when on pretty much every nightly news broadcast was video straight from the war. So by the time he did this, people were pretty desensitized to violence. So Burden organizes this grand performance art exhibition and gets many people to come. He then does what you just saw and everybody went shocked. His point in all of this was to point out how desensitized America had become to the atrocity of war...

[livebigly]

@windowmaker525 But it's actually not violent at all. And you don't get any sense of emotion from anyone involved, especially from Burden. Maybe it was different if you were actually there, but then why post this video? I can't possibly see how anyone would walk away from this little YouTube video with the insight you just described.

[windowmaker525]

@blackjack87NZ but be shocked by a controlled shot in the arm and the irony in that. One more thing, before you call me hippie I am just about to enlist in the Army so don't

[RDBeatnik]

@blackjack87NZ Because you don't like something, it shouldn't exist. Why are you even watching this, you dumb rube?

[blackjack87NZ]

@RDBeatnik Try calling me a dumb rube to my face and see where it gets you fucktard. Man up and quit hiding behind a PC.

[RDBeatnik]

@blackjack87NZ Go fuck sheep, kiwi.

[blackjack87NZ]

@RDBeatnik Beats being a dipshit bankrupt yank. Shouldn't you be looking for your imaginary WMDs up your own arse. Besides, if you got your facts straight you would realise that only the South Islanders fuck sheep. Again I implore you to man up.

[Juggernaut48]

the fact that this sparks controversy in the art world solidifies its place as an important piece. of course it is art, you asking that question combined with the frame the artist put it in makes the piece itself and the viewer's reaction to it art.

any haters can suck it.

[thecrazythingsido]

I want to be as amazing as you chris!!!!!

[thecrazythingsido]

I want to be as good as you chris!!!!!!!!!‹

[salazarifbb]

Recently, it was revealed that the US government spent public funds to buy Jackson Pollack's art. It was part of the cultural war with the USSR. This is what happened to fine art in the 20th Century. It become nothing but people in power spending obscene amounts of money on new and novel nonsense.

[thecrazythingsido]

Hey Chris. I still love you! I am going to do a reenactment at Oberlin College! I am going to be famous and great like you! I love you! I love you! Please Chris give me some attention!

[Genedancingmachine]

In my next video i will hit myself on the head with a hammer, its something most people are afraid to do, it hurts a lot, so people generally don't do it, but i'm going against the mass mentality and i'm going to do it and not only am i just doing that i'm also going to call it art aswell "do the opposite....instant art" stung by a bee on purpose? Art! any pain thing at all? Art! Most people are afraid to die so i'm going to be shocking opposite boy and kill myself...art! Bollocks!

[MrPaladan]

as someone stated earlier, jackass does it better...it's funny that people think this crap is "art"

go to a museum and you'll see real art.

[pinto89100]

@MrPaladan Unfortunately, museums are now full with BS like this that needs a wall of text to explain why it's "art". Honestly, people wouldn't think this was supposed to be "art" unless they were told.

[nvcreations]

jackass does this shit better

[labelspunk]

art is troll

[thecrazythingsido]

OMG YOU ARE SOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER THAN RYAN TRECARTIN ! YOU HAVE 20,000 MORE HITS. I CAN'T BELIEVING I HAVE NOT BEEN ASKING YOU TO MAKE ME FAMOUS! MAKE ME FAMOUS PALEASE, I WOULD DO ANYTHING!

[LILJUGGIEBABBIE]

you're an idiot for thinking this isn't art. he started new genres, that is: when you've decided on a conceptual idea, such as studying time and sound in video, then you choose the medium. in this case, he chose film

[imdeceptacon]

my art history teacher interviewed him to help him get his master's B)

[peterinfamilyguy]

This isnt art. This is stupidity.

[GhostofDanDan]

can someone please explain what this has to do with guns?

[crmoats]

a lot more nonchalant than i thought he'd be

[TheEgg185]

im gonna start posting a lot of shit videos that waste everyones time and call it TheEgg's Art Channel.

[piersremus]

ummm....ok then if this is art then we have progressed well !!!! just look at "Break" & "Failblog" see what I mean?!?! no I am gonna shoot my cat!

[talatsmum]

art is definately subjective, if enough people think something's art and it was created to be art, then it get's put in galleries, or bought for a lot of money as art, which persuades more people that it must be art. There's dispute over this because it's not in a gallery and because it's not a form of art which has been considered art, put in galleries and bought as art for centuries, like paintings.

*assumes*

[MrAllysonsledge]

Asian marriage **busizz4me.info**

[gabrielishappy]

you, chiefen123, clearly don't know all to much of the history of art, it is embedded in the persistent tradition or rules and redefinition

eternal0evanescence is right / i'm a major in fine art / tiffwilly also, good points

[pipoelaguila]

tu mai

!!!!

[pipoelaguila]

tu madre..!! :D

[dgffdhfdh]

Over 4 Million members  benaughtyman.info

[ayalaSAS]

Fucking asshole

who want a bullet in his arm? xd

[th3rads]

Place it in the era...Vietnam..violence and war were put on air for the first time for the public to view. The gore and reality of it in previous generation's war had been absent. It's art in that it's creatively reflecting what was going on in during the time and trying to communicate creatively.

Also, if shock can't be art, I feel bad for John Waters. He certainly crosses the line.

[tiffwilly]

if you read up information on chris burden you will actually find out that he actually was shot in the arm, it was all consensual and after this piece was made authorities thought he was insane and wanted to get him treated. his other works are really quite similar in terms of shock value. "art is anything you can get away with" famous quote by andy warhol.

[benjaminpeter147]

google 'marcel duchamp' and go from there

[MrJhammill]

I dont understand how you guys came across this without understanding how it is not art. It is a sculpture performance piece. So first of all that makes it art. It was made in 1971 so a lot of people saw it as a statement about the war in Vietnam and the American right to bear arms. his intention behind it is far different than that of johnny knoxville in jackass. It is your choice to think it is bad art or good art, but you can not say it is not art.

[SonnyJoD]

lmao, this is stupid shit...

[autographs]

jackass!

[johnpopes]

i already saw this tv show once. it's jackass. bleh..

Art is something and everything that touches you, this is crap. Stop supporting untalented douches.

[SirisTalent]

btw, does anybody know who it was that shot him? Was it that 'Bruce' person? Its always said, it was a friend and a college pal but what's his name? I wondered how he felt about the piece and couldn't find out a lot.

[anAwkwardAli]

there's a fine line between shock art, and just shock.

With the audio included, and the extremely short video where you can't even be certain he was shot, this is definitely art.

[aolivez]

@anAwkwardAli Is it important whether he was *actually* shot?

[ueltzhoeffer1]

It fits, great video, but too intelligent for that time...were we live in.

[TheNinjaWallaby]

this is art ppl get wit it

[TakeItEasyC6]

What is it with "artists" and a blatant disregard for firearm safety?

[baronofhawkland]

@TakeItEasyC6

I lol your comment and I second it....

Good day...

[WNxNokturnal]

"It brings up questions not only about what we can call art, but human nature in a broader sense."

[luckylyle]

Should have aimed a little higher and to the left...lol

[jckstnly]

i love this

[siouxday]

what kinda pictures dose he paint????

[ClaireMossArt]

This questions the viewers involvement not only in this piece, but in all art. There were people here watching and yet they took no steps to stop what was happening - the artist even asked them after why they did not intervene. It was because they were in the institutional space of the gallery space that they took this as an art performance, and not just the pure action of a man being shot. It beings up questions not only about what we can call art, but human nature in a broader sense.

[averagesketch]

thank you so much. Burden has been a curious fascination for me for a couple years now, ever sense i first learned about him in an modern art history class. the idea wasn't that he was just being shot just for the hell of being shot. just like in all of his other works, what is on the surface is being obliterated by the dangerous situations he intentionally creates. nothing stirs emotive qualities then reality itself. its shock art in the truest sense of the meaning.

[themaskedpinapple]

I lol'd

This is fucking cool!

[PrettyNicca]

Pretentious art bullshit

[bashe82]

idiot.

[yellowmeansgo]

this is not about what is art and what is not, its about making the public apart of the performance, to cause them to reflect. to quote chris burden, "the most important part of my performances is that they are disseminated as thought."

[jacketology]

I agree 100% with you.

[yellowmeansgo]

you're failing to look at this as conceptual, he didnt do this for the personal experience. its because of what was happening in the times. look at the date, 1971- the vietnam war. this was a call for people to realize a difference between their reactions to real soldiers getting shot in vietnam and fictional characters being shot on television. it was his contempt for the desensitizing of american public and the broadcast industry that supported it.

[Kailstar]

He said it himself, there is no other context supposed to be read in the performance - he simply wanted to know what if feels like to be shot. pathological.

[helliott123]

and we wonder why health insurance is so high.

.

[Chappuh]

You're right. Blue Cross, Blue Shield should screen all American art from now on.

[XYZandTime]

What an immense trust he must have had in his assistant!

[benbo21]

He did this for the personal experience, not to say hey look at me, I'm weird and get shot intentionally. Many of his works were oriented towards the experience, not for popularity.

[terrorbytepresents]

Chris Burden ROCKS! Take a look at the lame market driven crap called art these days

[Digiman901]

If someone calls this ART ... he must have fucked up in his head O_o

[chiefen123]

And you're the one who defines art? I didn't realize you are God.

People who themselves want to make up the rules for art are fucked up in the head.

[Digiman901]

Well I dont want to determine what is art because it can take many different forms but i just think that this guy only wanted to bring attension of other people. I don't see anything deep or creative in this video. Also didn;t want to insult you...

[Nickfromglasgow]

Have a look at his films on UbuWeb...you might get an idea of where he is coming from...extraordinary artist

[jordserr]

@chiefen123 god can't define art, because he doesn't exist.

[eternal0evanescence]

@chiefen123 Ah, but without people trying to make up new rules for art, we would all be stuck in the dark ages of art. There would only be one art form, and no variation would exist in the art world.

Coming from an art history minor--I am not supporting Burden's work. I think this form of art is about as fake as they come. But without people coming up with new ideas and rules about art, art would never evolve, never have a variety of styles, concepts. We'd all still be painting cave buffalo.

[Konversekid]

@chiefen123 Art is purely subjective and thus requires an interpretation from the observer. Your thought is overwhelmingly underdeveloped. There are no absolute rules for art, it is a man-made manner of expressing reality.

[Verschrankung]

@Konversekid Yes! I completely agree. Thank you for refuting this asshole's comment more eloquently than I could! Sadly, in my opinion, Chris Burden failed to express his artistic message clearly, so (at least to me and probably most people) he failed as an artist.

[GhostofDanDan]

@chiefen123 everyone has the right to decide whether or not something is art for themselves chief, everyone has their own rules for what they consider to be or not to be art. fuck your own head

[GhostofDanDan]

@chiefen123 everyone has the right to decide whether or not something is art for themselves chief, everyone has their own rules for what they consider to be or not to be art. fuck your own head.

[tommycuccia]

@GhostofDanDan

Well said.

[TheSONNYjai]

@chiefen123 maybe your just a pussy ole sly guy following guidelines pfffft

[TheSONNYjai]

@chiefen123 maybe your just a pussy ole sly guy following guidelines pfffft look how many comments his got you maggots

[libettxschaap]

@chiefen123 God? People make art.

[vihku]

wtf lol

[gnarkillkicksass]

Use a .308 next time.

[FraterO]

Need a more powerful rifle

[bleeddna]

he didn't look like or acted like he was in alot of pain. Was he really shot by the gun? or was it all about.....the thought or the act, that he was going to be shot??????? This could be interpreted in a couple of different ways... What was his intent?

[tracerace66]

Yes, he was shot, and he ended up in the hospital. The shot was supposed to graze him, but it took a chunk of tricep.

But what makes this less artistic than what many movie makers call art? Kill Bill for instance. Violence for the sake of dollars - just because it isn't real, does that make a movie Art? Does fact that Burden is shot for REAL make it unartistic?

[Ebuverthebicepcurler]

yes, art as a rule is recreating reality or entirely false. Its in the dictionary, no mystery whatsoever.

[jimsottile]

If you ever wondered about who influenced jackass, your looking at the genuine article kids. It's art because I say so.

[rrattlehead84]

Artists can do anything they want and call it art. Does not mean that it is not degenerate art, such as this. Burden should have used a .30-06 instead of a .22LR...

[Jimothyp]

"Art is a free spot in society, where you can do anything." Burden's own words, take whatever you want from that

[sarahjeanne18]

Can someone please explain what this has to do with art?

[blundirensu]

that's just the question Art has been trying to explore since ever. directly, oblique, or whatever you wanna call it.

[sushiplaza]

This is what you call Contemporary Performance/Art.

If you research some of the contemporary artists, such as Marina Abromovic or Stelarc, you'll find it that these people are much weirder than Chris Burden.

[chomedey]

@sarahjeanne18 In short, the body as the medium. Now fuck you.

[sarahjeanne18]

@chomedey Such intelligent replies leave me speechless.

[djamygdala]

@sarahjeanne18 I recommend this reading that I'm now going through for a class called 'Risk as the Practice of Thought' it's about this kind of body involved art work. It would really help you to better organize the insanity. But either way high art especially when dealing with metaphysics like this piece by Burden can be over the top for a lot of people. Good Luck!

[Aika24]

@sarahjeanne18 back in the 1970s, people thought a lot of retarded shit was "art"

See, to the discriminating eye, this was just a pointless waste of time.

Unless the intent of the artist was to waste everyone's time and be a piece of shit, he failed.

[gangsterchoad1]

@sarahjeanne18 Its performance art, relating to the vietnam war. A large crowd gathered and watched him get shot in person.  The purpose was to show you what really happens when someone gets shot and how it happens all the time in vietnam, and then later it makes you think of the underlying question, why didn't i do something. In this case the something would be stopping the guy from shooting chris, but the real cause is why dont i do something to stop vietnam... I think thats what it is

[TheMoksanim]

@gangsterchoad1 Thanks - that's the best reply in 2 years. It makes a lot more sense now.

[Gourmay]

@gangsterchoad1 I studied performance art and as resistant as I was to some stuff being art, I did eventually find it had artistic merit, can we please bump gangsterchoad1's explanation in the top comments...

[sebias2]

@sarahjeanne18 I believe the concept is the embodiment of his friends being in Vietnam at the time being shot etc. He is an amassing Performance artist, i mean his pieces do have concept behind them

[BlackBile13]

@sarahjeanne18 Can you please explain what it doesn't?

[parkdale420]

All in the name of art huh?True art would have been a better shot..In the face..LOL

[NurezBumbez]

Wow...