Written By: Hannah Nasaluchacz, Staff Writer
ART: People from all over the world exhibit their art to strangers on the street.
Picture this: you are walking down a bustling street when all of a sudden you hear commotion in front of you. You walk closer to see the action. There is a person dancing on the street and people watching them. That is the essence of performance street art. The creation of a show through the act of movement on the street. Usually, the performance is applicable no matter which country you come from because typically, verbal speech is not included.
The Postman
The performance, The Postman, consists of a man with a bag walking throughout the streets. Using the people around him, he creates random situations that include things such as getting married to strangers, coping the way a person walks, and holding up a baby to the song “Circle of Life ” from The Lion King. The music changes from his bag depending on the situation he creates. His performance almost always ends in a handstand and applause from the crowd of people that stopped to watch him.
In the beginning of the man’s performance, he wanders around in character looking for a good group of people to play off of. By the end, people usually flock to him interested in what he is doing. The audience laugh and clap at his jokes and at the end they tip him with cash. They sometimes request autographs from him too.
The person behind the character is Korean performer, Youngjoo Kim. On his Youtube channel called, On The Stage, he uploads clips of his performances. Kim is trained as a magician and performs all over the world with different productions.
Paradox of Praxis 1
The performance, Paradox of Praxis 1, consists of a man pushing a block of ice around the streets until the ice has completely melted. He walks down stairs, crosses the streets and even pushes the block over stone. It takes around 9 hours for the block to completely melt and by the end, he is kicking the block as it reaches baseball size.
While pushing the ice through the streets of Mexico City, he is met with stares from the public or people purposefully ignoring him as he walks down the street.
The purpose of this was to express that “Sometimes making something leads to nothing”. The artist, Francis Allÿs, originally from Belgium wanted to reinforce the importance of ice for street venders in a tropic climate. Originally only traveling to help rebuild Mexico City from the earthquake in 1985, he decided to distance himself from Belgium. This let’s focus on his art.
Breakdancing
The dancers from Tanzania can be seen flipping, dancing, and holding complex handstands to the beat of drums set up outside of the dance circle. The other members of the group are clapping and cheering each other on as they perform individual tricks. Eventually a group of dancers step into the circle and perform a routine involving all of them throwing guys in the sky and letting them land back in the dirt. This goes on for over thirty minutes.
Their audience consisted of school aged children and people passing by that wanted to see what the commotion was. They joined the ring of people watching and added to the spirited crowd. Every time a dancer did a trick they cheered, screamed and clapped for them. Some had a shocked look on their faces when they did something especially impressive.