{photo via FFFound}I remember learning about Joseph Beuys in my contemporary art class in undergraduate. Beuys was a performance artist associated with the Fluxus movement in the 60's and 70's, and he did crazy stuff like locking himself in a room all day with a wild coyote, his only protection being a blanket and a wood cane. Sometimes the coyote would become aggressive...sometimes they just peacefully hung out. I remember thinking: OK, I can appreciate a lot of stuff, but this is just ridiculous...this is my limit of appreciation.
I have a degree in aesthetic studies now, and consider myself an art-lover with varied and broad tastes. But, I still cannot get past the idea of locking yourself in a room with a wild animal and expecting people to take you seriously. The one form of art I have never been able to come to terms with is performance art (*boo* *hiss* from the audience}. I just have this primitive, gut reaction to it: LAUGHTER. I had a colleague when I worked in New York that always tried to get me accompany her to performance art shows, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to make her feel bad or degrade what she liked by turning her down, but I also didn't want to go and mortify her by laughing so hard that I snorted the free wine up my nose. I'm quite glad I never went with her, because she told me on one occasion that a performer had stuck a light bulb up her hoo-ha. But, I digress.
My point is: Do you ever feel this about something -- that you're supposed to like it but you just can't? What do you do? Do you just laugh unapologetically, or do you try and force yourself into appreciation?? What are your limits?
