Art Performance | introduction page to performances by Walter Perdan

Performances

Performance as ascension

These are the performances I realized between the years 2007 and 2009. The aspect that distinguishes these performances is the theme of ascension. It's an idea that I've been cultivating since I was in high school, when I had an artistic vocation and since then it was clear to me what I wanted to do. I was not sure how I had to "express" this idea, so I started making paintings to make the dream of climbing higher and higher, beyond the sky, but more and more within ourselves. But I did not want to represent this state alone, I really wanted to do it. Ascension is a theme that is present in every human culture. Mircea Eliade one of the most important scholars of the "minor" religions has perfectly described this characteristic of the human race. The shaman is undoubtedly the figure who incarnates the theme of ascension par excellence. Because to all intents and purposes the shaman performs a real physical and spiritual ascension in another dimension. Of course, in our culture this is not present. But we can say that there is a true tendency in the psyche, there is a constant tension for ascension. In fact, we find these residues in Western society. In architecture, building higher and higher buildings, in sport, trying to get higher and higher, as in the practice of mountaineering and sport climbing, and in aeronautics, in aerospace engineering, and examples could go on very ... What is certain is that there is a polarity and an axis, the poles are the sky and the earth, the axis changes according to the medium. My artistic research therefore concerned these aspects of ascension, viewed from the point of view of contemporary art. Many artists have approached this theme from several points of view: Matthew Barney, Hamish Fulton, Anish Kapoor, Kazimir Malevic, Yves Klein, with whom I relate in a more or less explicit way.

I have made a total of three performances:

• "Art is ascent, Ascent is art"
• "L'artista e l'Utopia"
• "Quadrato nero"

In each article you can consult images, videos and a description of each performance.