Rehearsal for Maria Hassabi’s "PLASTIC" (2015), The Museum of Modern Art, October 30, 2015. Photograph © 2015 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

Programmed Bodies: Contemporary Performance Between Aesthetics and Technological Embodiment

If one tries to access the website www.liminal.contact today, what appears on the blank page of our display is an error message. In my case, for example, it reads: “Safari can’t find the server,” followed by the standard browser language: “Safari can’t open the page ‘https://www.liminal.contact’ because it can’t find the server ‘www.liminal.contact’.” I remember that for a long time, that domain remained active: the link provided access to an online exhibition that redefined the perception of a traditionally physical space, transposed into a digital threshold. The exhibition consisted of three rooms, or perhaps, more accurately, sections, structured to virtually recreate the environments of Villa Massimo’s Gallery in Rome, which now took on the connotation of liminal spaces accessible exclusively via the web. The website www.liminal.contact was conceived as a platform hosting a specific event: the exhibition Liminal, created in 2020 following a residency by Russian artist Rachel Monosov, in collaboration with Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo and curated by Julia Trolp.

What we saw was fundamentally a digital infrastructure designed to support a time-limited experience, destined to cease with the deactivation of the site. At the same time, perhaps, it also represented a recalibration of the traditional White Cube, a closed and aseptic space now mediated by the presence of a physical body, whose image, between performative action and digital documentation, renegotiated its boundaries and function. This is why, when I recall one of the most vivid images of this action, and, although we are speaking of performative language, the choice of the term “image” is not accidental, as will be seen, I think of a human silhouette enclosed in an impersonal and neutral space.

A woman lies precariously on the floor, with one part of her body heavy and still on the surface, which is defined by a grayness that suggests a vague possibility of dematerialization or, in any case, problematizes its very materiality, while the rest of her legs rest against the wall. In contrast, at the extreme margins of the figure, the head and feet, digitally generated images are inserted and placed in post-production, acting as media interfaces that interrupt the apparent continuity of the space, suggesting openings into other dimensions. Rachel Monosov’s performance, in which the action is delegated to third parties, is not an isolated case. It fits into a strand of performative practices that are redefining the nature of certain contemporary performances. These actions seem designed to exist within aseptic architectures, in the most literal sense: “germ-free” spaces, purified of any sensory interference. The hyper-aestheticization of these works brings the white cube closer to environments such as Apple Stores: minimal, sleek designs dominated by a perfectly codified technological aesthetic. In these low-tech capsules, performers blend with technological language, assuming the characteristics of the devices we use daily. Slowed movements, controlled postures, functional clothing: every element of the body seems to align with the minimalist design logic of the space, in a process of technological embodiment. An example that amplifies this reflection is Hustle Harder by Adam Linder, which radicalizes the concept of the service-body within a rigidly codified environment.

The performance-device annihilates the organism, transforming it into a functional cog in a mechanical entity perfectly aligned with the exhibition space. The performers move according to a sequence of measured and repetitive gestures, executed with an almost algorithmic precision. Their bodies are no longer autonomous entities but extensions of the exhibition machine, subjected to an obsessive and technical discipline. The environment itself emphasizes this fusion between body and technology. Illuminated by cold, uniform lighting, the scene recalls the aesthetic described by Michael Sanchez, where galleries “employ a large number of high-wattage fluorescent-light fixtures, as opposed to more traditional spot lighting, making their walls pulsate like a white IPS screen.” In this aseptic setting, bodies seem to lose all traces of humanity to conform to a hyper-controlled, almost digital aesthetic. The result is an allegory of a body increasingly subjected to the logic of technological efficiency, no longer biological but almost synthetic, reduced to function and design. In a meticulous work of aesthetic construction, Hustle Harder highlights a crucial aspect that is increasingly emerging in contemporary performance.

Often, the museum display, in its structure and aesthetics, not only shapes the perception of the artwork but actively conditions the behavior of the audience. In Linder’s performance, the inclusion of various mobile partitions referencing the museum infrastructure highlights the relationship between architecture and performers, now reduced to human interfaces programmed to respond to their surrounding environment. The white cube, once conceived as a sacred and enclosed space, now appears to be an aesthetic device actively involved in the construction of experience. In particular, everything seems to be functional to the great “camera” for which the entire setting is designed to be documented and photographed. And it is precisely by referring to Michael Sanchez that the American critic Claire Bishop speaks of a shift from the white cube to the blank page of the web, returning to the aforementioned example: “Today, the white cube may seem less a space for hosting physical visitors than a stage for taking photographs that circulate digitally on the clean white interfaces of Instagram, Twitter (now X), or the gallery’s website.”

The original space of performance is radically renegotiated: the digital ecosystem, the white web page, absorbs and transforms this language, revealing itself as a context designed for posthumous existence. While in the past there was much debate about the possibility of documenting an action and, if so, what its ontological nature was, today the ephemerality of the performative event is replaced by its transformation into post-produced content, designed from the outset to be shared and consumed through the filter of digital media. The documentation of the action and its subsequent online distribution become essential elements. On one hand, we have a “vernacular” documentation, produced directly by spectators with their mobile devices, whose photos and videos become an integral part of the performative phenomenon. It is interesting to note how, in many of the performances I have attended, I have witnessed scenes that could almost be described as digital choreographies: groups of spectators, armed with their iPhones, moving in sync, searching for the perfect angle to capture the moment, as if the very act of documenting had become part of the performance.

These contents are then disseminated through digital platforms like Instagram and TikTok, contributing to the construction of a parallel version of the experience, which expands far beyond the boundaries of the physical space, giving rise to virtual communities. Shared images become spaces of interaction among spectators, where comments, reactions, and shares contribute to reinterpreting and amplifying the original experience. However, this mode of documentation also entails an ontological and material restructuring of the performance itself, as its fruition increasingly takes place in the virtual realm. This documentation process leads to a redefinition of both the ontological and material aspects of the performance, which is now predominantly experienced through the digital filter. Alongside the “vernacular” documentation produced by spectators, there is the work of professional photographers, who seek to capture images that convey a highly curated aesthetic and visual dimension. The stillness and almost sculptural posture that characterize many contemporary performances seem to privilege the pursuit of the photographic image over the ephemeral nature of live action. Moreover, the adoption of technical garments or collaborations with fashion and lifestyle brands highlights the integration of performance into a broader aesthetic system that unfolds through digital media. Photographic documentation, subjected to a meticulous post-production process, increasingly aligns with the visual codes of fashion and advertising, transforming the performative event into a sophisticated visual object designed for global consumption and dissemination. A prime example of this phenomenon is Anne Imhof, who continues to embody it with her recent performance DOOM, particularly with her presentation of Faust at the German Pavilion during the 2017 Venice Biennale. The obsessive attention to visual composition resulted in a performance with an extremely codified aesthetic, one that became iconic not only for its live execution but also for its documentation.

The performers’ bodies, dressed in technical clothing and streetwear, moved with calculated slowness within a pavilion transformed into an aseptic, hyper-controlled architectural space, dominated by glass panels that amplified the visual perception of the environment. The entire stage setup seemed designed to be filmed, photographed, and shared. In fact, even during its execution, images of Faust began circulating virally across social networks, helping to construct a visual memory of the performance that, paradoxically, ended up replacing its live experience. More than any other case, this demonstrates how, in contemporary performance, documentation is no longer just an accessory element but an essential component of its conception and dissemination. This process is redefining some of the most established parameters of performative language, reinforcing the need to trace its boundaries while simultaneously pushing performance toward an increasing contamination with contemporary reality.

– Giulia Moscheni

Authors/Fakewhale/featured/Giulia Moscheni

Programmed Bodies: Contemporary Performance Between Aesthetics and Technological Embodiment

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