Performance art at its most self-indulgent
In this piece, entitled "Because I Can't Be Beethoven", Parris Patton froze an old piano in a huge block of ice, brought it to downtown LA, and then spent several hours attempting to smash the ice with hammers and picks to reveal the piano, which he hoped to set on fire.
Giant block of ice:
Not much damage after an hour of smashing the ice with sledgehammers and picks:
Blowtorches were used for another hour to try and melt the ice:
By the time I left, only a tiny bit of the front of the piano was revealed:
I don't know whether he successfully destroyed all the ice or ignited the piano, but he certainly wasn't very close to that goal by 10pm, when I left and when the performance was set to end. The great irony is that this performance piece meant to show that because he's not Beethoven, he doesn't have the talent to create truly enduring works of art; instead, he has to resort to putting on a mundane spectacle of destruction. Sadly, he was not even capable enough to do that. The failure to be able to complete the task of showing yourself to be a failure is truly a self-referential success. Brilliant!
More on this project.
Giant block of ice:
Not much damage after an hour of smashing the ice with sledgehammers and picks:
Blowtorches were used for another hour to try and melt the ice:
By the time I left, only a tiny bit of the front of the piano was revealed:
I don't know whether he successfully destroyed all the ice or ignited the piano, but he certainly wasn't very close to that goal by 10pm, when I left and when the performance was set to end. The great irony is that this performance piece meant to show that because he's not Beethoven, he doesn't have the talent to create truly enduring works of art; instead, he has to resort to putting on a mundane spectacle of destruction. Sadly, he was not even capable enough to do that. The failure to be able to complete the task of showing yourself to be a failure is truly a self-referential success. Brilliant!
More on this project.