Running for your life.
(From Shia Labeouf.)
He’s brandishing a knife.
(It’s Shia Labeouf.)
Lurking in the shadows
Hollywood superstar Shia Labeouf.
Living in the woods,
(Shia Labeouf.)
Killing for sport,
(Shia Labeouf.)
Eating all the bodies
Actual, cannibal Shia Labeouf.
(Robcantor, 2014)
Shia Labeouf, performance artist or self indulgent idiot clinging to his last shreds of fame? At the premier of his new movie Nymphomaniac, Shia Labeouf arrived on the red carpet wearing a paper bag over his head; he was dressed in usual red carpet premier attire all with the addition of a paper bag that simply read “I am not famous any more”. Since that faithful day Labeouf has collaborated with two artists Luke Turner and Nastja Rönkkö creating unique (and some not so unique) pieces of performance art.
Methodology: MetaModernist Manifesto
Labeouf’s methodology is based on his and Turner’s own manifesto which has been labeled as the Metamodernist Manifesto. Through it the aim of the work is to “recognise oscillation to be the natural order of the world” (Turner, 2011) to which the interpretation suggests a lateral movement forward and backward. The manifesto’s aim is to use it’s art in order to break away from the lateral movement that Labeouf and Turner see as the natural order. Their aim is to make art that is both exciting and ground breaking.
#IAMSORRY
This performance was born out of criticisms about a short film which Labeouf produced called Howard Cantour.com. Viewers remarked that Labeoufs work held similarities to comic writer Daniel Clowe’s Ghost World. The performance played on this plagiaristic mentality, with Labeouf’s performance seemingly borrowing concepts from Marina Ambramović and Yoko Ono. The Performance consisted of a participant coming in to the gallery and choosing an object on the table and then taking the object and a bowl of 100 paper segments bearing writing. They then sat in front of Labeouf. The participant can do whatever they want, most would read the writings on the paper which consisted of tweets about the actor. Some of the tweets criticised Labeouf and others praised him.“a third-rate imitation of the works of Abramović or Yoko Ono” (Jones, 2014) it was said that “#IAMSORRY [was] reminiscent of a more recent tradition of performance art that started in the early 1970s and replaces the sadism of the surrealists with a masochism in which the performer is a victim” (Ibid.)
It is alleged that one participant raped him during the performance although this is under speculation.
#INTRODUCTIONS
A performance based upon submissions from students at Central Saint Martins University in London. Labeouf, Turner & Rönkkö “requested that the students send a piece of text to introduce each of their works, to be presented during a live stream broadcast during the degree show opening. They stated that this text could be “as poetic, abstract or literal as you like – with the emphasis on expressing the feeling and tone of the work being introduced.” (Jones, 2015)
#ALLMYMOVIES
Labeouf rented out the Angelika Film Center, New York for a movie marathon. It consisted of 29 films over 3 days – the films only had one real similarity. They all starred Labeouf (obviously) with the main focus of the performance to live stream of Labeouf’s face during the whole endeavour.
Throughout the performance there was a herd mentality of emotion when watching the films with audience members sharing the same feelings and expressions that Labeouf shared towards his own movies when re-watching. The reactions were likened to an “experience of emotional empathy or, as Rönkkö puts it, ‘synching of emotions’ to contagious yawning” (Stansfield, 2015).
On the significance of their work:
“LaBeouf and his collaborators discuss the elitism of the art world. However, as LaBeouf asserts, it’s an attitude prevalent in the film industry too. The movie world is just as elitist. I get emails from people in the movie world, people telling me, ‘You gotta maintain mystery.’…but truth will always find its way out there. Sincerity is the new punk rock.
On his emotions following the performance:
“I walked out loving myself,” he says. “Not in some grandiose, you’re fucking awesome way, but in like, you’re a part of a community. You’re a part of this human thing. You’re in this human thing. I’ve always felt as though, ‘I’m just an animal in this human thing. And I’ll play the human game. I’ll wear the human mask.’ But coming out of there, it’s the first time I’ve actually felt part of this — it was very humanizing for me. (Stansfield, 2015)
What I learned from Shia Labeouf
Whilst researching the merits of Labeouf’s solo work I came to figure out (quite early on) that Labeouf’s works included himself as the pure centre even though he collaborates with two other artists. Now, when discussing this with other’s I found that the general population decided that Labeouf’s work was more of that of self indulgence rather than of any real art. This made me think about what art truly was. When compared to other performance artists and solo performers is Labeouf the lesser? or is he merely stigmatised because he was already famous before he began this endeavour? In accordance with most Solo performers autobiography can naturally come to the forefront of performance – Abramovic’s work explores the limitations of the body but at the same time it only explores the limitations of her own body as she cannot not possibly be a model for all human life.
In conclusion, Labeouf’s work has taught me that self indulgent performance art is no more damaging and no less educational that performance art that tries to steer itself away from an indulgent nature. I will be bearing this in mind when I go on to write the script for my performance and shone away any feelings of making my performance overly personal because when it is just you and the audience… it’s personal.
Works Cited:
Jones, C R. (2015) Shia LaBeouf is about to introduce your grad show. Dazed Digital. 26 May. Available from http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/24842/1/labeouf-ronkko-and-turner-are-introducing-the-csm-grad-show
Jones, J. (2014) Shia LaBeouf’s #IAM SORRY: art is often violent, but nothing can excuse rape. The Guardian. 1 December. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/01/alleged-rape-of-shia-labeouf-is-inexcusable-but-so-is-bad-art
Labeouf, S. (2015) #INTRODUCTIONS. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqHVMNjP0QA [Accessed March 1st 2016]
Labeouf, S. Rönkkö, N & Turner, L. (2016) The Campaign Book. [Online] Available from http://thecampaignbook.com/ [Accessed March 5th 2016]
Robcantor (2014) “Shia Labeouf” Live – Rob Cantor. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI [Accessed 23rd March 2016]
Turner, L. (2011) Metamodernist Manifesto. [Online] Available from http://www.metamodernism.org/ [Accessed March 5th 2016]
Stansfield, T. (2015) Shia LaBeouf speaks out about #ALLMYMOVIES. Dazed Digital. 17 November. Available from http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/28444/1/shia-labeouf-speaks-out-about-allmymovies