Performance Art - Haircut

This was a performance art piece I did for an assignment with the objective of creating a spectacle. I did this in Pioneer Square in Portland, right across from the Nordstrom. I didn't get it all shaved off but since I only had a beard trimmer I think I got pretty far.

EDIT 12/20/07: Wow I've had a lot of attention from this piece. I thought I would supply a bit more information since I've had a lot of questions come in about it.

To clarify the project, this was an assignment for an alternative art class I was taking. It was the first in a series of performance projects we had to complete. I suspect the idea of creating a spectacle is the easiest and hardest thing to do for someone who is not a performer, which I am not. Because it was a test, I tried to think of the most uncomfortable thing I could do in public, and save for standing around naked, this was what I came up with.

I think the idea of a spectacle as art is that even if it has no message, it breaks up the daily routines of other people. To paraphrase the artist David Eckard, the most exciting thing about performance art is thinking about what gets said at the dinner table by those who saw it.

What people were saying...
*The couple in black asked me if I was supporting a cause, and wanted to know what it was. When I told them there was no reason they said they would stand with me if I had.
*The woman walking by at 2:58 complimented me on my skirt.
*The young man who approaches me on the left asked me if I was an artist, to which I responded no. He said he thought what I was doing was art anyway, and gave me a CD he was distributing for a friend's band.
*The group of three, who you can hear a little in the video, asked me why I was cutting my hair. I told them no reason (the woman saying "for fun" is my professor) The girl asked me how long it used to me and I told her not as long as hers.

Regarding the reactions of people...

There were several people who were out of the cameras view because they stood almost directly in front of me. They would watch very calmly and say nothing for 2-5 minutes before heading off on their way. I liked them the best. They seemed so polite.

Most of the people who gawked at me I did not notice while I cut my hair, and I only saw them after I watched the video.

On a final note, the aftermath of shaving my head has been great. Every week my hair grows out and looks cooler than it did the previous week. It's way more comfortable to have short hair!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• hair
• cut
• shaved
• head
• performance
• art
• pioneer
• square

[LittleErnieWise]

i like toast...

[SquidHatProductions]

I like toast too.

[thebikingtechie]

I wish there were more people like you, brave enough to do something completely out of peoples "norm". I think there's a lot to be said for performance art in this day and age, when everyone is so engrossed in their technology, etc.

[justbyluck13]

well from a fellow performance artist, you got balls! it definately made people think, which is the real reason behind performance art. it busted out of the ordinary, and it really takes dedication to go this far!

[Captainofsomepirates]

I've seen several vids of perfm art. It seems to me that if it deviates from the social norm and begs the audience to question the act itself as suppose to it's "meaning," it's "art." Give me a break. Art, in all it's facets, requires skill and an ability to convey a message. This art only leaves it's audience confused.

[redsoul2]

omg

[DanBlabbers]

You're great

[ntoro62611]

Inspiring!!

[malvavisco10]

All people realize that hair grows back, but only about half an inch per month. One's image defines at least a part of who we are. It's in our nature.

[P22earl]

i really like this one. I watched it about a year ago and now seeing it again puts a smile on my face.

Another exciting haircut performance i once saw was two people blindfolded in the middle of a room, surrounded by people watching nervously as the couple cut one another's hair. They did a tidy job of it as well.

See the Domestic Light Orchestra (Fluxus inspired) on my youtubular page

[cujoluv]

You having to shave your hair as art and the slightly obese lady riding her bicycle no one could have scripted a more succulent dripping better piece of irony better than this.Thanks for the insight and the laughs into what mankind has in store for slightly off individuals.Thanks again.

[hardcoretrilogy]

stfu

why don't you take a class like this and see what you come up with...which is what I'm trying to do RIGHT NOW

[deserta6aeternus]

vaya!

[TrollStoleMyBike]

ART? I DON'T THINK SO...