I went to go see the open MFA studios in the Sharp Building. I probably saw about 20 individual studios, and then the one big Viscom studio. Needless to say, I was not all that impressed. There were a few students' work that stood out in my mind, but the rest who participated either just pushed aside their curtain so people could come in, and set up nothing, or laid out a few pieces willy-nilly.
There was this one student though that did a performance piece where she did a head-stand for about thirty minutes, while balancing a lit birthday cake on her feet. You could hear her moaning in pain from down the hall, and the doorway to her studio was jammed with people. As a voyeur to this piece, I was actually uncomfortable watching her go through this pain. It was as if she was a performing monkey, especially since there were all these people standing around, laughing, pointing, and taking pictures of her. I couldn't find anything to read about that piece, but perhaps she was making a commentary on the MFA event itself?
On another note, I found it interesting how the owners of each studio either were nowhere to be found in the space, or stood in the space observing you, observe their work. I experienced the latter quite a few times, and wow did it make me uncomfortable. It made me think of what Yood says about an artist's relationship with auctions and galleries. I wonder if collectors ever get nervous meticulously looking over a piece of art, while the artist stands nearby in silence?
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