CHRIS BURDEN
'Trans-Fixed'
1974
Chris Burden laid faced up, shirtless, on the back of a Volkswagen, and had nails hammered through the palm of his hands by a friend, 'crucifying' himself. The car was pushed out of the garage onto the road, obstructing the traffic. The engine was revved at full speed for precisely 2 minutes, photographs were taken and the car was then pushed back into the garage.
This act was seen by a small group of people who were across the street and by road users at the time.
Key Concepts:
- Controversial Performance: personal danger as artistic expression
- Shock quality, disturbing, surprised and expressive
- Sending a message
'Shoot'
1971
Perhaps Chris Burden's best known performance. He had a friend shot him with a .22 rifle from a distance of approximately 5 meters. Burden wanted the bullet to graze his bicep, but he flinched when the rifle was fired and the bullet went right into his arm. Interpretations of this performance often relates to the Vietnam war, the political assassinations of the 1960s: the frightening realization that anyone could be shot at anytime - even by a familiar person, in this case, his friend.
BILL VIOLA
'An Ocean Without A Shore'
2007
Key Concepts:
- Human consciousness and experience
- Dualism: the idea that you cannot understand what you're looking at unless you know its opposite
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