Vita Kari: Performance Artist or Stunt Queen; you decide!
Breaking News: this viral performance artist's latest endurance artwork, titled "ON THE WALL" was really all a facade. https://t.co/UgxiEayzP1
- Artnet (@artnet) September 6, 2024
Performance art is having a moment on TikTok, as many artists are attracted to that medium and post a variety of "works" (some interesting, some strange) regularly. One of the more popular offerings is L.A. based artist Vita Kari (known for such stunts as crashing Art Basel Miami with an unsanctioned performance and getting the law called) whose latest work is creating a lot of talk in the art circles lately; and it's not always good.
Since launching their social media-based practice in 2022, Kari has drawn from the Net Art movement of the 1990s and the Post Internet Art of the 21st century to amass many millions of views for their fake-outs. Most of Kari’s posts are part of their “The Thing About Being Creative…” series. In it, Kari opens each clip musing on creativity, only to rug viewers by revealing some element of the scene-like their eyelid, or a cocktail-is printed out. Kari sometimes stages more intricate performances, such as a wedding to themself gone awry, or last December’s “trapped in a can” antic, but these short clips, optimized for the algorithm, are their bread and butter.
The performance "ON THE WALL" saw Kari taped to a facade bearing an ad for their practice at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. A release said the spectacle “delves into the contentiousness of public space, perception, and identity.”
Image from Vita Kari
The “endurance performance” was supposed to last from August 31 through September 4. But, according to a post across Kari’s social media channels, authorities cut it short on Labor Day. Neighborhood looky-loos and the usual suspects milled about giving soundbites to the press; a reporter remarks that “residents are reaching a breaking point after three days of disturbances.”
Kari included a poll on Instagram beneath the LA5 footage asking fans if they saw ON THE WALL in person. One-third of respondents said “it got shut down before I could see it,” while more than half wanted her to do it again. Six percent said “I just watched this on tv” while a mere two percent said they saw it in person. And that would have been the end of it, except...
...the three-day stunt never happened.
That’s right. LA5 doesn’t even exist. Kari staged the spectacle in just four hours, using makeup to create the illusion of a three-day sunburn. Jackie Breihan shot the fake broadcast (which even misgendered Kari for authenticity), Tim Barry directed, and Preston Geer did the voiceover. The good sis goes on about "exploring virality as a form" and goes more into detail about their process in the source. And even though they roped in friends an family to play bystanders there were plenty of real neighbors (who were understandably concerned). Right now, the arguments amongst performance artists and fans of that genre are splitting into two groups:
Team "You must suffer for art" tend to be purists who believe the whole part of performance is to act out a specific scenario, and to say that you "endured" something that you actually did not is akin to lying to the audience.
Team "Get coins, gurl" said no, it was the appearance that they had suffered for three days was what was important. Whether or not they actually did it was besides the point.
Needless to say, both sides have gotten messy. What do you think, ONTD?
Sources:
Artnet
Vita Kari's Instagram