Look but Don't Touch

The New York Times article about the performance art piece at MOMA was very interesting. It's truly an example of how simplistic the artist's concept can be and how the reactions and involvement of the viewers can contribute greatly to the art itself. The naked man and woman stood facing each other while visitors walked through the narrow passage way between them. I found it shocking that despite the warnings about improper contact and touching, people still violated the performers. It seems that the art piece proved to be very telling of human nature and allowed not only the audience to be participants, but it allowed the performers to be spectators of the audience members. It seems that the performers would need to very comfortable with their bodies and being violated in unexpected ways. It's especially interesting for me because the participants were regular performers outside of the performance art piece: dancers, choreographers etc. and it stretched them as performers to have this experience because the audience reaction is quite different than that of a regular performance; they are part of it and the performers learn something about the nature of the spectators.