Rodriguez, Sasha (Extra Credit - Armed Manifesto)

     Performance art was taken to a new platform when the world went completely virtual. While other types of artists could showcase their work through photos and social media the challenge of performing faced new obstacles. Connecting to people over a screen, sharing their work over clips, and coordinating over the dreaded zoom. Though making their art zoom friendly was not a problem for the Armed Manifesto because even though their whole life went digital it didn't stop them from creating and sharing art. In fact, they used this new method to their advantage and created a piece that worked well over zoom using props and their homes as scenery. The main tool each used was a knife and cutting board letting those sounds echo in the zoom call and then each taking turn to share a part of the message they are wanting to display. The main focus was women in control and taking charge. It highlighted to me that you spread your message in any way and no matter how it seems whether virtual or in-person that does not diminish or make the performance less impactful at all. 

    After watching the video there was time to ask the artists about their work and their journey as an artist. Through this webinar, I learned a lot of new things. That zoom gave a wider range in artists who can collaborate together because my first impression was each one of them knew each other and were friends but in fact, some have not met in person and only could talk through zoom. They were in different countries but begin online meant that distance was no longer an issue at all either. It was interesting to learn that and also the struggle of how being an artist from a different country can impact your work. Such that when focusing on artists that are from the United States we tend to forget the visa struggle people go through. Some artists on the panel talked about how that is an issue and can prevent them from lots of opportunities because they weren’t sure whether they can commit to shows or galleries when they don’t know if they will be allowed in the country. These were just some of the topics mentioned during the event and gave a lot of awareness.