Opposing views: It's not art, it's sex

Performance art is nothing new. Artists like Marina Abramovic have built their careers by performing in front of audiences and eliciting human reaction for decades.

Nudity in art is nothing new, either. Just ask the ancient Greeks or even modern photographers like Spencer Tunick, who has photographed thousands of people at his mass nude installations around the world.

So, it’s safe to say pushing the envelope in the art world isn’t new. What is new, however, seems to be the misuse of shock tactics in hopes of passing it off as art, especially by sexually fetishizing it.

In what could also easily be labeled a brazen attempt at creepy self-promotion, a 19-year-old art student in London plans to lose his virginity to another man in front of a live audience. According to the student, his performance aims to challenge the notion of virginity in society.

He has addressed his detractors by asserting his performance will be nothing like a live sex show. Except that’s exactly what it seems like.

Though we can slap on meaning to just about anything — like say a flasher committing indecent exposure in the name of challenging authority and exploring human sexuality — that doesn’t actually change what it fundamentally is.

Yes, art is subjective and beauty may be in eye of the beholder. But at some point, we have to draw a line in the sand on what can really be called art. People have always and will always color outside those lines and challenge preconceived notions of art. That is, after all, how modern art and many other genres came to be.

But the British student’s low-minded attempt at it shouldn’t be lauded. Because, if anything, it is likely cultural erosion spurred in part by the narcissism of the selfie generation and a primal — and somewhat lowbrow — fascination with public sex masquerading as performance art by a 19-year-old.

Another major point to keep in mind is the context of it all.

Because this performance is taking place across the pond, cultural attitudes might be a huge factor. Europe has historically been more liberal in its culture than our country. And even though our own culture is rapidly shifting to embrace ideas like sex positivity, many in the United States still believe in privacy and keeping intimacy, well, intimate.

If the student wants to go ahead with his performance, it’s his prerogative.

But he shouldn’t expect a pat on the back for arguably cheapening both art and intimacy for the sake of his 15 minutes in the spotlight.

edsalas@indiana.edu