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'''The Framing Device and the Imagery of Reality in Performance Art by Danny Sillada'''

The PIPAF meeting and the 2-minute performance of members at the Kanlungan Ng Sining, July 30, 2005, Manila, Philippines .

One of the remarkable 2-minute performances after the meeting of PIPAF members at the Kanlungan ng Sining in Manila was Mor’O Ocampo’s “Four”. Here, Mor’O created a framing device in his performance by pouring out the bottled honey to form a circle on the ground. He gently dripped the honey on the ground to create a circular space with four crackers (skyflakes) as part of the line of the circle.

He then went inside the circle, ate the crackers, went outside the circle with a brush in his mouth, bent over to brush the honey toward the empty line to complete the circle. After completing the circle of honey, he spilled out the chewed crackers from his mouth toward circle.

The succeeding artists appropriated Mor’O’s circle of honey in their own pieces either as segue or as a framing device to do their own performance. Like for instance, Vim Nadera’s performance is like a continuation of Mor’O’s when he went inside the circle, gathered anything on the ground such as fallen leaves, broken twigs, tissue paper and even the spilled out crackers from Mor’O’s mouth.

He filled out the circle of honey with these elements until he got hold of the crumpled tissue paper, slowly unfolded it with his fingers and placed it on his face. As soon as the tissue paper was soaked with Vim Nadera’s sweat dripping from his forehead, it slowly transformed into a transparent element revealing his closed eyes for seconds and then he bowed to end the performance.

Another compelling appropriation of the circle was Wawi Navarroza’s performance with music box. She lay down on her side within the circle in a fetal position while the music box was playing; then she stood up and began dancing with two long ribbons attached to her right hand finger. The long ribbons created an undulating movement as Wawi playfully danced in a graceful and childlike manner.

The circle that was started by Mor’O became a stage as other artists like Arnel Ramiscal, Jesse Crisostomo, Mervin Espina and Mannet Villariba performed their own pieces.

What is a “framing device” and how it becomes an indispensable element of form in performance art? According to Mor’O Ocampo, an Asian performance artist, the framing device is a defining aspect of space where a particular piece of performance occurs and takes shape.

A space in the rice field, for instance, is a huge and undefined space. However, as soon as the farmer began plowing a single block of the field in preparation for sowing the seedlings, the farmer appropriated a particular space where he is going to plant the rice. And within that space he also created a timetable when to sow and uproot the sapling to be distributed to a wider space in the rice field.

In performance art, time and space must be defined by using a framing device wherein the form and content of a particular piece takes place. This process is also called “contextualization” where symbols and actions converge with the content of performance to form an imagery of reality. The imagery of reality is a dynamic and objective concept of form where the audience is being served to form an aesthetic judgment based on the message of the performance.

The final form and content, according to Mor’O Ocampo, is the completion of the performance because it is here where the "imagery of reality" can be understood in its full context by the audience. If the form is superficially or spectacularly presented to the extent of jeopardizing the content, the performance is doomed to fail and eventually confuse the witnesses of an aesthetic presentation.

In similar manner, if the content is inadequately appropriated with the form, the performance becomes a malnourish presentation because it cannot or it does not complete the structural elements of the imagery of reality. The performer cannot assume that the audience knows the symbolic presentation of a particular performance unless the framing device is defined and the imagery of reality is intelligently contextualized.

The final end of performance is the presentation of the imagery of reality. And this presentation must be grounded within the space and time of the performer and adequately addressed to the particular situation of the audience or witnesses to the performance for that matter. This grounding, according to a German philosopher Martin Heidegger, is the poetic foundation of truth within the real condition of human existence.

The concept of performance art, therefore, must objectively adhere to the form and content of aesthetic presentation in order to achieve a conciliatory connection between the witnesses and the performer’s imagery of reality. The material cause of the imagery of reality, aside from the form, is the space and time encapsulated within the duration of the performance.

© 2005 Danny Sillada, Ugnayan PIPAF Journal

Imagery of Reality and the Revelation of Truth in Performance Art
by Danny C. Sillada

"There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible.”-Gottfried Leibnitz, Monadology

In aesthetics, art is understood and presented as a revelation of truth. The word revelation comes from Latin “velum/revelare” which is, literally, to unveil or disclose something that is hidden. It means that, in the beginning, something is concealed or being kept secret until an appropriate time is ripened for its public disclosure.

There are three essential elements in unveiling the truth: the knower, the object to be known and the tangible existence between the knower and the object to be known. Here, it is assumed that the first two elements of knowing the truth exist, otherwise, the presentation or disclosure of the unknown will never be revealed. In this case, the “object to be known” and the “knower” must exist and occupy space and time to complete the revelation.

Art as a revelation of truth discloses something that has not yet been revealed before, but it is also something that has already been happening as factual realities within the context of human experience. When an aesthetic piece or action is unveiled, it is something that has never been presented before or yet to be proven because the very work or act itself, as an exclusive reality, refutes the precedence as it also becomes the precedent of what is yet to happen.

In a philosophical sense, art is a revelatory work or act toward the founding of truth. In this manner, art becomes the beginning and the completion of revealed truth that addresses concrete realities of human existence. When the truth is known, however, it ceases its discursive function as the object of quest in the human intellect because it is already verified, encountered and experienced.

In performance art, the very nature of the imagery of reality is poetry and poetry, according to Martin Heidegger, is the founding of truth. Performance art presents the imagery of reality as a woven imagery of symbols in the same manner as poetry uses symbols to present realities through the structural form and content of words. The very act of performing in front of the witnesses to the art performance becomes the poetic revelations of truth.

Imagery of reality, per se, in performance art is defined as the symbolic structure of reality and the product of a performative act based on the form and content of live performance. It has the material (device or props), efficient (the performative action) and formal (imagery of reality) causes of aesthetic presentation with a unifying series of action within the created space and time of the performance. The series of performative acts integrated within framing device of form and content become a shared aesthetic encounter and experience between the performer and the audience.

One common element in presenting an imagery of reality is what Yuan Mor’O Ocampo called “the appropriation of form and content” in performance art. Like for instance, one of the powerful imageries of reality presented during the Ugnayan meeting at the Kanlungan Ng Sining last August 13, 2005 is a two-minute performance done by Bogie Tence Ruiz who appropriated his body as the direct form and framing device of his performance. Clad in a yellow long jacket, he confronted the audience by asking: “Do you want to see the real dick?”

The question immediately aroused or grabbed the imagination of the audience. He proceeded to unveil the ‘real dick’ by opening his yellow jacket. Instead of underwear, Ruiz wore a picture of Bush covering his private parts with a caption, “I am the real dick!” The audience laughed! As if it was not enough to satisfy the curiosity of the audience, Ruiz pulled out the picture of Bush while the audience anticipated whether he was going to reveal his private parts. But to everyone’s astonishment, it revealed other imagery – a caption that says “This ad space for rent”.

Ruiz’s unity of actions from the beginning of his performance created a series of symbols and then converged toward his last action to form a powerful imagery of reality using human body to attract attention working as advertisement. In similar manner, it can also become a powerful medium to inform, protest, advertise and even literally sell the flesh as commodity.

When a performer creates a framing device for a particular performance, the performer encapsulates the form and content within the created space and time to present the imagery of reality that addresses concrete realities, and in a way comprehensible, in presenting the truth through the eyes and mind of an audience. This revelation of realities is disclosed through the woven symbols of actions and devices which the performer uses to create imagery of reality.

In the process of performance, the artist is no longer limited in his role as an artist but as a visionary poet or a shaman exorcising and conjuring up the unknown through poignant imagery of an aesthetic presentation. Similar to poetry, performance art uses metaphors and allegories to unveil the tangible realities for the audience to decipher and form an aesthetic judgment based on the message or content of the performance.

The two-minute performance done by Buddy Ching, presents himself wearing a black ski mask while holding a white face mask from the plaster of Paris. He walks around the wooden pole carrying the white mask on his side arm, then, place it around the wooden pole. He turns around again and this time, he replaces the white mask on the pole with the black ski mask and put the latter on the same pole, as he wears the white mask and once again, walks around the three feet wooden pole.

Here, the artist evokes an archetypal personality in his presentation of the imagery of reality. In real life, different masks are worn as defenses to cope with social pressures and the sense of belongingness to a particular culture and society. One can wear different masks and assume different roles at different places and social gatherings without losing one’s identity. However, a mask can also hide repressed desires, woundedness and even personality disorders.

The performance of Buddy Ching appeals to the audience’s psyche because it arouses a common experience encountered by everyone - the compelling symbol of mask to one’s personality. The imagery of reality is clearly established as the unity of actions and the symbolic presentation of the performance appeal and reconcile with the audience’s personal experience.

When a particular act or symbolic tool is revealed in the process of performance, it establishes an aesthetic dialogue, which is inherent in communication, but the dialogue becomes a subjective quest on the part of the audience. It becomes an encounter so unique that it also discloses the realities of the witnesses to the performance.

In the end, an effective imagery of reality entrances the audience and creates an awe-inspiring encounter in relation to one’s concrete realities and human experience. The aesthetic experience becomes a meaningful encounter and the encounter becomes an esteemed experience to reckon with for both the artist and the audience. On the other hand, the performer, this time, is finally liberated from the aleatory process of art making hidden from the depths of the artist’s soul and subconscious and thereby completing the revelation of truth.

Wrapped with masking tapes around his eyes, mouth, feet and fingers, Rommel Espinosa painstakingly untangled the masking tapes one by one, slowly and steadily until he is finally freed from all those entanglements. He stood up calmly and quietly and, in an almost inaudible voice, he uttered: “Ako nga pala si Rommel!” (By the way, I am Rommel).

© Danny C. Sillada, [UGNAYAN PIPAF Journal]http://ugnayan.motime.com/post/484170#comment, August 17, 2005.

Imagery of Reality and the Revelation of Truth in Performance Art
by Danny C. Sillada

"There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible.”-Gottfried Leibnitz, Monadology

In aesthetics, art is understood and presented as a revelation of truth. The word revelation comes from Latin “velum/revelare” which is, literally, to unveil or disclose something that is hidden. It means that, in the beginning, something is concealed or being kept secret until an appropriate time is ripened for its public disclosure.

There are three essential elements in unveiling the truth: the knower, the object to be known and the tangible existence between the knower and the object to be known. Here, it is assumed that the first two elements of knowing the truth exist, otherwise, the presentation or disclosure of the unknown will never be revealed. In this case, the “object to be known” and the “knower” must exist and occupy space and time to complete the revelation.

Art as a revelation of truth discloses something that has not yet been revealed before, but it is also something that has already been happening as factual realities within the context of human experience. When an aesthetic piece or action is unveiled, it is something that has never been presented before or yet to be proven because the very work or act itself, as an exclusive reality, refutes the precedence as it also becomes the precedent of what is yet to happen.

In a philosophical sense, art is a revelatory work or act toward the founding of truth. In this manner, art becomes the beginning and the completion of revealed truth that addresses concrete realities of human existence. When the truth is known, however, it ceases its discursive function as the object of quest in the human intellect because it is already verified, encountered and experienced.

In performance art, the very nature of the imagery of reality is poetry and poetry, according to Martin Heidegger, is the founding of truth. Performance art presents the imagery of reality as a woven imagery of symbols in the same manner as poetry uses symbols to present realities through the structural form and content of words. The very act of performing in front of the witnesses to the art performance becomes the poetic revelations of truth.

Imagery of reality, per se, in performance art is defined as the symbolic structure of reality and the product of a performative act based on the form and content of live performance. It has the material (device or props), efficient (the performative action) and formal (imagery of reality) causes of aesthetic presentation with a unifying series of action within the created space and time of the performance. The series of performative acts integrated within framing device of form and content become a shared aesthetic encounter and experience between the performer and the audience.

One common element in presenting an imagery of reality is what Yuan Mor’O Ocampo called “the appropriation of form and content” in performance art. Like for instance, one of the powerful imageries of reality presented during the Ugnayan meeting at the Kanlungan Ng Sining last August 13, 2005 is a two-minute performance done by Bogie Tence Ruiz who appropriated his body as the direct form and framing device of his performance. Clad in a yellow long jacket, he confronted the audience by asking: “Do you want to see the real dick?”

The question immediately aroused or grabbed the imagination of the audience. He proceeded to unveil the ‘real dick’ by opening his yellow jacket. Instead of underwear, Ruiz wore a picture of Bush covering his private parts with a caption, “I am the real dick!” The audience laughed! As if it was not enough to satisfy the curiosity of the audience, Ruiz pulled out the picture of Bush while the audience anticipated whether he was going to reveal his private parts. But to everyone’s astonishment, it revealed other imagery – a caption that says “This ad space for rent”.

Ruiz’s unity of actions from the beginning of his performance created a series of symbols and then converged toward his last action to form a powerful imagery of reality using human body to attract attention working as advertisement. In similar manner, it can also become a powerful medium to inform, protest, advertise and even literally sell the flesh as commodity.

When a performer creates a framing device for a particular performance, the performer encapsulates the form and content within the created space and time to present the imagery of reality that addresses concrete realities, and in a way comprehensible, in presenting the truth through the eyes and mind of an audience. This revelation of realities is disclosed through the woven symbols of actions and devices which the performer uses to create imagery of reality.

In the process of performance, the artist is no longer limited in his role as an artist but as a visionary poet or a shaman exorcising and conjuring up the unknown through poignant imagery of an aesthetic presentation. Similar to poetry, performance art uses metaphors and allegories to unveil the tangible realities for the audience to decipher and form an aesthetic judgment based on the message or content of the performance.

The two-minute performance done by Buddy Ching, presents himself wearing a black ski mask while holding a white face mask from the plaster of Paris. He walks around the wooden pole carrying the white mask on his side arm, then, place it around the wooden pole. He turns around again and this time, he replaces the white mask on the pole with the black ski mask and put the latter on the same pole, as he wears the white mask and once again, walks around the three feet wooden pole.

Here, the artist evokes an archetypal personality in his presentation of the imagery of reality. In real life, different masks are worn as defenses to cope with social pressures and the sense of belongingness to a particular culture and society. One can wear different masks and assume different roles at different places and social gatherings without losing one’s identity. However, a mask can also hide repressed desires, woundedness and even personality disorders.

The performance of Buddy Ching appeals to the audience’s psyche because it arouses a common experience encountered by everyone - the compelling symbol of mask to one’s personality. The imagery of reality is clearly established as the unity of actions and the symbolic presentation of the performance appeal and reconcile with the audience’s personal experience.

When a particular act or symbolic tool is revealed in the process of performance, it establishes an aesthetic dialogue, which is inherent in communication, but the dialogue becomes a subjective quest on the part of the audience. It becomes an encounter so unique that it also discloses the realities of the witnesses to the performance.

In the end, an effective imagery of reality entrances the audience and creates an awe-inspiring encounter in relation to one’s concrete realities and human experience. The aesthetic experience becomes a meaningful encounter and the encounter becomes an esteemed experience to reckon with for both the artist and the audience. On the other hand, the performer, this time, is finally liberated from the aleatory process of art making hidden from the depths of the artist’s soul and subconscious and thereby completing the revelation of truth.

Wrapped with masking tapes around his eyes, mouth, feet and fingers, Rommel Espinosa painstakingly untangled the masking tapes one by one, slowly and steadily until he is finally freed from all those entanglements. He stood up calmly and quietly and, in an almost inaudible voice, he uttered: “Ako nga pala si Rommel!” (By the way, I am Rommel).

© Danny C. Sillada, [UGNAYAN PIPAF Journal]http://ugnayan.motime.com/post/484170#comment, August 17, 2005.

Imagery of Reality and the Revelation of Truth in Performance Art
by Danny C. Sillada

"There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible.”-Gottfried Leibnitz, Monadology

In aesthetics, art is understood and presented as a revelation of truth. The word revelation comes from Latin “velum/revelare” which is, literally, to unveil or disclose something that is hidden. It means that, in the beginning, something is concealed or being kept secret until an appropriate time is ripened for its public disclosure.

There are three essential elements in unveiling the truth: the knower, the object to be known and the tangible existence between the knower and the object to be known. Here, it is assumed that the first two elements of knowing the truth exist, otherwise, the presentation or disclosure of the unknown will never be revealed. In this case, the “object to be known” and the “knower” must exist and occupy space and time to complete the revelation.

Art as a revelation of truth discloses something that has not yet been revealed before, but it is also something that has already been happening as factual realities within the context of human experience. When an aesthetic piece or action is unveiled, it is something that has never been presented before or yet to be proven because the very work or act itself, as an exclusive reality, refutes the precedence as it also becomes the precedent of what is yet to happen.

In a philosophical sense, art is a revelatory work or act toward the founding of truth. In this manner, art becomes the beginning and the completion of revealed truth that addresses concrete realities of human existence. When the truth is known, however, it ceases its discursive function as the object of quest in the human intellect because it is already verified, encountered and experienced.

In performance art, the very nature of the imagery of reality is poetry and poetry, according to Martin Heidegger, is the founding of truth. Performance art presents the imagery of reality as a woven imagery of symbols in the same manner as poetry uses symbols to present realities through the structural form and content of words. The very act of performing in front of the witnesses to the art performance becomes the poetic revelations of truth.

Imagery of reality, per se, in performance art is defined as the symbolic structure of reality and the product of a performative act based on the form and content of live performance. It has the material (device or props), efficient (the performative action) and formal (imagery of reality) causes of aesthetic presentation with a unifying series of action within the created space and time of the performance. The series of performative acts integrated within framing device of form and content become a shared aesthetic encounter and experience between the performer and the audience.

One common element in presenting an imagery of reality is what Yuan Mor’O Ocampo called “the appropriation of form and content” in performance art. Like for instance, one of the powerful imageries of reality presented during the Ugnayan meeting at the Kanlungan Ng Sining last August 13, 2005 is a two-minute performance done by Bogie Tence Ruiz who appropriated his body as the direct form and framing device of his performance. Clad in a yellow long jacket, he confronted the audience by asking: “Do you want to see the real dick?”

The question immediately aroused or grabbed the imagination of the audience. He proceeded to unveil the ‘real dick’ by opening his yellow jacket. Instead of underwear, Ruiz wore a picture of Bush covering his private parts with a caption, “I am the real dick!” The audience laughed! As if it was not enough to satisfy the curiosity of the audience, Ruiz pulled out the picture of Bush while the audience anticipated whether he was going to reveal his private parts. But to everyone’s astonishment, it revealed other imagery – a caption that says “This ad space for rent”.

Ruiz’s unity of actions from the beginning of his performance created a series of symbols and then converged toward his last action to form a powerful imagery of reality using human body to attract attention working as advertisement. In similar manner, it can also become a powerful medium to inform, protest, advertise and even literally sell the flesh as commodity.

When a performer creates a framing device for a particular performance, the performer encapsulates the form and content within the created space and time to present the imagery of reality that addresses concrete realities, and in a way comprehensible, in presenting the truth through the eyes and mind of an audience. This revelation of realities is disclosed through the woven symbols of actions and devices which the performer uses to create imagery of reality.

In the process of performance, the artist is no longer limited in his role as an artist but as a visionary poet or a shaman exorcising and conjuring up the unknown through poignant imagery of an aesthetic presentation. Similar to poetry, performance art uses metaphors and allegories to unveil the tangible realities for the audience to decipher and form an aesthetic judgment based on the message or content of the performance.

The two-minute performance done by Buddy Ching, presents himself wearing a black ski mask while holding a white face mask from the plaster of Paris. He walks around the wooden pole carrying the white mask on his side arm, then, place it around the wooden pole. He turns around again and this time, he replaces the white mask on the pole with the black ski mask and put the latter on the same pole, as he wears the white mask and once again, walks around the three feet wooden pole.

Here, the artist evokes an archetypal personality in his presentation of the imagery of reality. In real life, different masks are worn as defenses to cope with social pressures and the sense of belongingness to a particular culture and society. One can wear different masks and assume different roles at different places and social gatherings without losing one’s identity. However, a mask can also hide repressed desires, woundedness and even personality disorders.

The performance of Buddy Ching appeals to the audience’s psyche because it arouses a common experience encountered by everyone - the compelling symbol of mask to one’s personality. The imagery of reality is clearly established as the unity of actions and the symbolic presentation of the performance appeal and reconcile with the audience’s personal experience.

When a particular act or symbolic tool is revealed in the process of performance, it establishes an aesthetic dialogue, which is inherent in communication, but the dialogue becomes a subjective quest on the part of the audience. It becomes an encounter so unique that it also discloses the realities of the witnesses to the performance.

In the end, an effective imagery of reality entrances the audience and creates an awe-inspiring encounter in relation to one’s concrete realities and human experience. The aesthetic experience becomes a meaningful encounter and the encounter becomes an esteemed experience to reckon with for both the artist and the audience. On the other hand, the performer, this time, is finally liberated from the aleatory process of art making hidden from the depths of the artist’s soul and subconscious and thereby completing the revelation of truth.

Wrapped with masking tapes around his eyes, mouth, feet and fingers, Rommel Espinosa painstakingly untangled the masking tapes one by one, slowly and steadily until he is finally freed from all those entanglements. He stood up calmly and quietly and, in an almost inaudible voice, he uttered: “Ako nga pala si Rommel!” (By the way, I am Rommel).

© Danny C. Sillada, [UGNAYAN PIPAF Journal]http://ugnayan.motime.com/post/484170#comment, August 17, 2005.