lee lozano

lee lozano is an artist that i was recommended to look into by a friend while considering a one-month-muslim-hijab-drag project. the reason for that - lozano is an artist who's most famous work consists of several performative projects in the public space in which she followed a set of instructions she gave to herself but told no one, and documented the outcome by writing - which became better-known and sold as art pieces in and of themselves.

my interest in this is two-fold: 1. experimentations on the self as a performance arts practice 2. writing as a form of art and its particular relationship to performance art.

key excerpts from the wikipedia link about lozano:

"Like many of her contemporaries, including Adrian Piper and Vito Acconci, Lozano began to pursue Conceptual projects starting in the mid-1960s. In February 1969 she commenced her General Strike Piece, in which she withdrew from the New York art world. Her instructions to herself were as follows: GRADUALLY BUT DETERMINEDLY AVOID BEING PRESENT AT OFFICIAL OR PUBLIC "UPTOWN" FUNCTIONS OR GATHERINGS RELATED TO THE "ART WORLD" IN ORDER TO PURSUE INVESTIGATIONS OF TOTAL PERSONAL AND PUBLIC REVOLUTION. EXHIBIT IN PUBLIC ONLY PIECES WHICH FURTHER SHARING OF IDEAS & INFORMATION RELATED TO TOTAL PERSONAL AND PUBLIC REVOLUTION."

"In August 1971, she began another notorious work of refusal, Decide to Boycott Women. What began as a one-month experiment intended to improve communication with women wound up as a twenty-seven year hiatus from speaking or otherwise relating to them. Her systematic rejection of all members of her own gender lasted for the remainder of her life. Lozano effectively cut off ties with friends, fellow artists, gallerists, and other women who had been long-time supporters of her art, including the feminist curator and art critic Lucy Lippard. Art historian and critic Helen Molesworth has noted that these two conceptual works signaled Lozano's simultaneous rejection of capitalism and patriarchy."

more on the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Lozano

samples of 2 pieces of writing from two of lozno's most famous pieces "grass piece" in which she documents her smoking grass every day, and "boycott women" about not talking to women:

Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer wrote a book about lozano's Dropout Piece, in which she decided to gradually remove herself from the art world, here is a brief description about it:
"Situating the work within the context of ‘Life-Art’ pieces such as Dialogue Piece, General Strike Piece, Grass Piece and Boycott Women, she demonstrates how Dropout Piece exhibits an extraordinary range of artistic intents. Drawing closely upon Lozano’s private notebooks, Lehrer-Graiwer argues that Dropout Piece still haunts the art world today as oral history, ephemera and fantasy, and reveals how Lozano’s practice advanced the relationship between language and performance and between private thought and urgent action."
more about the book here: http://www.afterall.org/books/one.work/lee-lozano-dropout-piece