Many scholars mark Allan Kaprow’s happenings as the beginning of performance art. Others have named Ghandi as the first actual performance artist. Others still have identified the beginning of performance art in the Dada and Futurist movements.
Unfortunately these scholars are all dead wrong. The first performance art piece actually took place during the Renaissance and was commissioned by none other than Pope Clement VIII. The first performance art piece was a true masterpiece that still burns in our memories today. It was a real sacrifice on the part of the performer and the work deserves to be added to RoseLee Goldberg’s next anthology of performance art.
On February 17th, 1600, a crudely erected stage appeared in the middle of a main city square in Rome. A crowd gathered to view a performance they had seen advertised all around the city. General admission was charged for viewing, and the performance began to take shape.
Two assistants were busying themselves on the uneven wooden platform in Rome’s Campo di Fiori as they tried to make last minute adjustments to the performance area. Silence overtook the crowd as they began to realize that the event they were about to witness would never be repeated. Giordano Bruno ascended the stage and solemnly took his place in the center. His two assistants rapidly descended from the stage and left Bruno to begin his performance. Bruno waited calmly as a third assistant quietly lit a torch. The crowd watched in disbelief as the third artist assistant gracefully walked about the stage igniting it in various places. Flames quickly overtook the stage and Giordano Bruno was burned alive.
This might appear to be just a routine Inquisitional burning at first, but let’s examine the facts a little further. The stage name of the artist in question was Giordano Bruno, but his birth name was actually Filippo Bruno. Early in his artistic career, Bruno dabbled in other forms of expression, such as writing, rhetoric, and vagrancy. Unfortunately none of the art forms gave him much pleasure until he discovered the rewarding field of performance art. Once he found he desired path, he had no shortage of supporters, patrons, and disciples. He was later to become the darling of the Inquisition set and was invited to all their high society gatherings. It was in this enlightened environment that he gained the attention of the Pope who agreed to commission Bruno to burn himself alive before an audience.
Records from the era show the Pope’s skepticism regarding the public’s response, but the turnout proved his skepticism to be unfounded. Bruno’s performance piece remains the most lucrative artistic event in history, with gross earnings reaching upwards of 10,000 Florins, a sum that would be unimaginable today.
Created by Jeffrey Andreoni On 04/14/09 At 08:38 AM
