In my Acrylic class, Emily mentioned a German artist named Joseph Beuys who was an artist of many sorts, dabbling in performance art, sculpture, installations and graphic art, to name a few. She talked about a specific performance he did in 1974 titled "I Like America and America Likes Me." Beuys was transported to America (a country he wasn't very fond of) and brought a live coyote with him. He was transported by ambulance and carried on a gurney to a gallery in New York where he basically lived in a small room with this coyote for three days without food or water. To him, the coyote symbolized America as a scavenger and a beast. He would interact with the coyote and, ultimately have to fend it off with only a felt blanket and an umbrella handle (the coyote went without food or water, too). After three days, the coyote died, and Beuys was taken to the airport to leave America. He never set foot on American ground, and the performance itself was quite the "fuck you" to the country. This performance struck me as so intense. I'm pretty sure Beuys got into some pretty big trouble for allowing the coyote to die, but the piece wouldn't have been nearly as effected if it hadn't died the way it did.
Performance art always seems to be so shocking and intense. He was making a strong point was definitely effective in doing so. I'm sure today PETA would be livid with a performance like this. But I've heard of other performance art pieces that are just as shocking. I guess that's what performance art is known for: shocking behavior.
Here's a photo taken of Beuys while in the room with the coyote.
Hannah Scott
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