Posted: 03/11/07

Darwin-Inspired Performance Art Hits Rapid City!

When the hardy citizens of Rapid City, South Dakota showed up in pick-up trucks for a show at their community art center the other day, it is unlikely that they anticipated the art experience they received for their money. Lisou Prout and Jean-Louis Costes, two "performance artists" from France, were undoubtedly just as shocked when their "art" was not warmly received.

I'm not sure what they're teaching in the art department at the Sorbonne these days, but Lisou and Jean -Louis apparently represent something that Europeans consider to be artistic. That would include talents such as potato-chip spitting, stripping, and simulating sex acts with vegetables. Oh, I left out the part where they hurled fake excrement at each other and vomited. One only hopes that some of the ticket-holders returned the favor on the stage before leaving.

No, art isn't what it used to be and neither is South Dakota. The show promoter, Kevin Dorseman, remained defiant that the show was "well done as performance art." He added that it was much too extreme for Rapid City, South Dakota. Apparently, the social behavior of the clinically insane is viewed as an exciting art form in more sophisticated regions of the world. Playing with excrement and barfing--how cosmopolitan.

This is what happens when Darwin's theory of origins comes into full flower in Western culture. When humans are viewed as nothing but primates, it is little wonder that scatological themes prevail in the art galleries. The products of random chance acting on matter don't recognize the concept of "Great Masters" in art. The idea of classification of anything as good, bad, beautiful, ugly, etc. is considered the unfortunate leftover thinking of modernity. This is why a barely literate teenager can bang garbage can lids together in a garage band and be called a "musician", just like Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. It isn't tolerant to make distinctions, you see. So if you have the desire to cover a hotel room in melted cheddar cheese or repel nude off your local TV tower, you can be an artist, too! Just like Matisse and Renoir and Da Vinci. The Unmade Bed exhibit at a London Art museum several years ago opened up entirely new career opportunities for all of us who don't take time to spread up the sheets in the morning. The artist in that exhibit even added a used kleenex to the scene for a special touch of realism. Imagine, the world of art opened by simply leaving your bed unmade! When mankind is viewed as a cosmic accident, his art will start looking like it.

It is useless to spend energy in ranting about the obvious. Any town that wouldn't arrest the French artistes for public indecency on the spot deserves what it gets. Mentally and spiritually sick individuals are now our cultural icons. Inspiration for art no longer comes from above, it is found in the base and the vulgar-from the dirt below. God has been thrown out of our Western world and the result is nothing but despair and absurdity which echoes through the art galleries and the music halls and the movie theaters of our land. When man is seen as nothing but a cog in a machine, a cosmic accident with nothing but his own lusts for his guide, civilization crumbles. There is moral anarchy in the air and the rise in violent crime in America, reported this week, only confirms the violence already expressed in the art world against all that is true and meaningful and lasting. Art is a mirror and that mirror presents a horrific picture of what has become of our country. The lesson in all of this? First off, avoid art shows by Lisou Prout and Jean-Louis Costes and the next time you see an unmade bed at an art museum, thank Charles Darwin. 

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles