Performance Artzzzzz

Martha Wilson defines Performance Art as the opposite of "the willful suspension of disbelief." Well, if put literally, that would make Performance art "the unwillful continuance of belief." And that makes sense with her later statements when she says when she says that performance art has spread confusion and that it "is happening now, in 'real' time." I guess she is saying that Performance art shold be shocking enough for you to try and disbelieve that it's happening, only to fail.
Well... I guess this picture proves it... I'd love to believe I've never seen this... but I know I will fail.
I think that my only gripe with the abundance of nudity in Performance art is that... after seeing a naked person doing something shocking for the 50th time... is it still shocking? Is that the only point of being naked in an artsy context? And, how is a painting of a nude beautiful... but a nude in real life shocking? *shrugs* Questions questions questions.
I disagree with Martha Wilson's statement that art has had little impact on society. According to wikipedia's entry on "Public Art", (which I understand isn't a reputable sorce, but a sorce nonetheless) "New York City has a law that requires that no less than 1% of the first twenty million dollars, plus no less than one half of 1% of the amount exceeding twenty million dollars be allocated for art work in any public building that is owned by the city." It seems kind of stupid to say that it hasn't had an effect politically or socially if there has been law enacted to help support it's creation. Reknowned artist Laurie Anderson's single "O Superman" climbed to the top of the UK pop music charts in the early '80s, definitely having a social effect. The Central Park Gates were a national phenomena. Every so often artwork comes along which permeates into the larger culture, definitely affecting the general population.

Here is a link to a pdf of the poem that she mentions as having a huge influence on Cubists. I think it is interesting even if you can't read French. The words are thrown upon the page without any structure, as Wilson explains, and it becomes an interesting visual idea in terms of a poem... I don't read much poetry, but I am familiar with the style of e.e.cummings, and I guess it's fairly apparent that he drew inspiration from that.