Posted by Teen Guide Council Leader Tasnim Rahman
Last week, TGC visited Naked A Living Installation at the Baryshnikov Arts Center by performance artists Eiko and Koma. The slow progression of Eiko’s and Koma’s movements, the fragility of their pale bodies streaked with soil, and the intimacy between us all, evoked many different responses in us. I felt as if we were watching two birds thrown from their nest, struggling to find each other. There were moments when I stood frozen, eyes wide in anticipation to fully see where they would nearly touch to only slide past each other. Check out this NY Times article on the installation as well as this video which captures parts of their performance.
Looking back, it seems difficult to tool the experience into mere clumsy words. It reminded me of how Arielle Irizarry, a leader in TGC said that expressing yourself through words is like trying to shove golf balls through small straws. For me, this amusing analogy is indicative of how language is not universal. In language, we imbue symbols with meaning. But in art, the meaning comes from the world around us and from the commonalities in each of our individual experiences. Lately, TGC has been discussing how one of the reasons art is necessary is that it allows for universal communication. The ability of art to evoke emotions across societies separated by time and space is magical. It’s a form of a visual dialogue that, unlike language, has no barriers for understanding. It is echoed throughout our histories, our lives, and our psyches.
What is it about art that makes it such a direct form of communication? From the very beginning, art has been used to connect individuals in tightly knit communities. Just as people were historically connected to ancient cave paintings, we relate to the primal movements of Eiko and Koma today because it deals with the most primitive thing of allour emotions. Our advisor, Teen and College Program Coordinator Pauline Noyes shared that the Eiko and Koma installation increased her personal feelings and depth of empathy toward the tsunami in Japan. Arthur Miller once commented on arts ability to put the whole world on the stage and distill it into a concentrated experience that one could relate to in deeper ways than ways we process information in everyday life. As TGC keeps reaching out and learning about social issues through art, they seem more related to my life and the world seems a little bit smaller.