PERFORMANCE ART AS A POTENTIAL FORM OF BENJAMINIAN AURATIC EXPERIENCE
PERFORMANCE ART AS A POTENTIAL FORM OF BENJAMINIAN AURATIC EXPERIENCE

Summary/Abstract: The following paper aims to briefly analyze how Frankflurt School theorist Walter Benjamin’s concept of ‘aura’ from his unfinished essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ can be reactualized in the context of performance art, using as a case of study the works of two émigré artists in North America between 70s – 80s: Ana Mendieta and Tehching Hsieh. Benjamin discusses the work of art in the age of its technical reproductibility in which the artistic product loose its authenticity, its uniqueness given by its creative process and its tradition throughtout the centuries (historical object). The auratic experience can be represented in the performative moment when the human body becomes, perhaps, the most authentic artistic product because the performer leaves himself to the will of the audience. In many cases, a performance can be considered interactive art because the audiece becomes the participant, as can be seen in the case of Marina Abramović and Chris Burden’s works. Hence, performance art has a powerful militant dimension in which its cultural and social worth are being assessed.

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