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How 1 Become 2
The image above is of the Famous Lauren Barri Holstein in performance work How 2 Become 1. This is shock value Live Art, you'll never seen anything like it. Oh wait, you will, because actually Ann Liv Young is the real deal.
Some might argue we're talking mere inspiration or appropriation, but I don't buy that. It's not right, Holstein passes off as her own a lot of the elements that constitute the 'graciously' subtle art of Ann Liv Young: fanny splits, out-of-tune pop music singing, live video feed of the performance projected onto a screen in the back, genitalia close-ups, peeing, mess, salacious talk, more mess, fluids, chaos. And what shocked me the most was the audacity of Holstein to also copy the shambolic dominatrix character of Young, bossing her obedient assistants around on stage and intimidating the audience, albeit in a less aggressive manner than Young's.
Of course each of those things have been done by others too, but this particular blend I believe is vintage Ann Liv Young and I feel confident in saying that although Holstein's narrative is different from the work of Young, How 2 Become 1 could be a blatant case of plagiarism. Would Young even mind? I don't know, still, I'm concerned about the supporting of this activity; How 2 Become 1 is part of SPILL coming up at the Barbican soon and was presented yesterday as part of FRESH AiR, a platform for emerging live artists. Holstein might have brought it with her over the Atlantic, but unfortunately she is no breath of fresh air to me.
Ann Liv Young
Ann Liv Young, Disturbia, The Bagwell in Me, Premiere, The Kitchen
Ann Liv Young on Vimeo
Comments
SPILL Stings 16... says:
[...] How 2 Become 1 is completely the opposite in its exaggerated vulgarity and trashiness. Other critics have accused her of copying Ann Liv Young – and in this performance, Holstein is herself quick to [...]
30 April, 2011 - 10:39
Apri Cot says:
Er... no. exactly. When I said gracious, I was being sarcastic. Plagiarism is using someone else's work without giving them credit. I found that Holstein was doing so, and I believe she has acknowledged this, because she's now changed (and added stuff to) the work accordingly.
28 May, 2011 - 15:55
natalie says:
ann liv young --i love her but um "gracious" can never describe her or her artwork
29 April, 2011 - 17:18
natalie says:
also i think plagiarism is the wrong word. this is not a theft of words. and ideas are often copied and shared in the art world. unless she does "snow white" or any other of Young's performances scene for scene or word for word it isn't plagiarism.
29 April, 2011 - 17:24
micah says:
"Language, thoughts, ideas, and expressions" are literary. Performance is not always and only in part a literary form. The "expression of [the ideas
]" that you mention is not fitting with the use of the word "expressions" in your Wikipedia definition. Rather, Holstein's verbal and physical expression of ideas in her performances represent exactly what can never be repeated, stolen, or plagiarized in a live performance form.
12 May, 2011 - 18:35
Milkman says:
It can be the right word I think. From the Wikipedia (ahem) definition:
20th century dictionaries define plagiarism as "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication," of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work
It seems that it isn't only the ideas Holstein copies but the expression of them also.
5 May, 2011 - 18:18
Bitch says:
Firstly, Holstein's work changes from performance to performance. Each performance is a reaction and response to the audience, so to accuse her of "changing" the work solely for the purpose of pleasing the "writer" of this shitty article is silly- she doesn't care enough about you or what you think.
Secondly, if you think Holstein's work is only calling on Ann Liv Young's previous work, you have some serious research to do. Her work references and copies many many many artists and non-artists and "artists." And, by the way, so does Ann Liv Young's work. Don't half-assedly write an "article" about contemporary feminist performance if you have absolutely no context for it- do some research if you want to call yourself a writer on performance.
9 November, 2011 - 12:54
Micah says:
Holstein and Ann Liv Young are not the only artists to poor food all over themselves. Or sing. Or rant. Bitch is right- mess, singing, and ranting are key to the history of feminist performance art.
9 November, 2011 - 12:57
Reasonable, nai... says:
I really like biscuits, I mean, I REALLY, like biscuits. That is all.
25 January, 2012 - 15:35
reasonable, nai... says:
....Oh, and I would be hugely interested to find out what sort of creative work Apri Cot produces herself, other than the badly researched critique of work done by others. LBH is quite something, intellectually, philosophically and professionally, and I know this from personal experience. Plagiarism is the last resort of people with no ideas of their own, which is the total antithesis of Miss LBH. This concludes my point, and if you're reading Lauren, Hi. I hope you're well.
25 January, 2012 - 15:39
LBH says:
Thanks, reasonable. I appreciate that. (reveal yourself!) and thanks, Bitch, and Micah, for backing me up. I've just posted my performed-response to this article from the SPILL performance just following this article. Go here for the video: http://vimeo.com/37949187 And go here to see photos of the scroll, now being held at the Live Art Development Agency Archives: http://laurenbarri.blogspot.com/2012/03/interior-scroll.html
5 March, 2012 - 13:30
Milkman says:
LBH: is it necessary that your audience is populated with people who have the same knowledge of the history of feminist performance as you? Why is this post not just publicity for you (all of which, they say, is good) but something offensive? If your work is created from vast plagiarism and is glorious in that and the blog post picked up on it, where is the problem? Is it that someone else isn't 'understanding' your work in the way you would like it to be understood? If this is the case then I guess your recorded response is a good way of going about changing how it could be viewed, although I found it surprisingly defensive. How is it that you would like your work to be viewed? What is the response you would like? I suppose you could have liked this one (blog) somehow.
Another related thing: At one of your shows there was a university professor taking photos of your vagina in front of me, he was all red-faced, working that zoom button and preparing the click seconds before you would appear directly in front of him so that he could get the perfect shot. He was doing this for bloody ages. Again I have the question - how would you most like people to respond to the work?
22 March, 2012 - 21:31
Ellie says:
I've been wondering the same as Milkman - If plagarism is not a bad thing (and I agree that acknowledged 'stealing' between artists can in fact be a great thing) then why the fuss that it has been noticed and commented on?
22 March, 2012 - 23:03
ha! says:
That response video by LBH is so Ann Liv Young.
20 March, 2012 - 21:09
ha! says:
Though ALY would have done it better, obvs.
20 March, 2012 - 21:12
Remaining reaso... says:
Hi Lauren. It's Chris, obviously. I suppose my final point would be; to anyone wishing to avoid the daily inevitability of the appropriation of the work of others, consider spending the rest of your life naked, giving up the power of speech, and never leaving the clammy suffocating confines of your bare and utterly featureless house again. Even this won't save you of course. I think I may well have plagiarised everything I have ever done. Ho hum. Life eh?
1 June, 2012 - 17:10
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