LESSON 15-

IMPROVISATION ART
 IMPROVISATION
• Doing something without prior
preparation
• Within the present context, it has
become an integral part of the arts.
• It is a reaction against the stiffness
in the arts in the 20th century.
 IMPROVISATION
• There is a call for liberation from
monotony that aims to rekindle
the creative spirits of people in
the arts.
• Infusing spontaneity and
improvisation adds up to the
totality of the work of art.
 IMPROVISATION
• During the 1960s, art improvisation has taken
forms in the galleries around New York City.
• Performance arts, dance, and visual arts
were combined to create new forms of
artworks using a new medium.
• These performances were known as the
“Happenings” which later on paved the way
for modern body art and performance art.
 IMPROVISATION

• Allows for a certain extent of freedom for

the artist to improvise and allow the
subject to perform and embody the
artwork itself
• Improvisation may have been a
revolutionary concept when it comes to
art because it blurs the line of reality and
that of imagination.
 IMPROVISATION

Georges Mathieu, French painter (1921 – 2012)

He started action painting wherein the process is seen real-time.
In this scenario, the process is more important than the finished product.
PERFORMANCE ART
Marta Minujin Performance Art
Reading the News (1965). Minujin got into Rio De Plata covered in
newspapers.
Medium: Photographic documentation of happening
Mona Hatoum
Performance Still 1985, 1995
Tate
© Mona Hatoum
(https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/performance-art)
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/performance-art
Ushio Shinohara - Boxing Painting Performance
at the Dallas Museum of Art
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiNKab5RaZQ)