Shia LaBeouf: Small Screen Performance (An Academic Presentation).

Shia LaBeouf has spent several years involved in theatrical performing arts that have as a result been remediated through the small screen.

This was an early academic poster presentation that is no longer accessible in any format except here on this online exhibition. The image quality is unfortunately self limiting, but you are welcome to use the information that is viewable here.

Harvard reference if accessing item for use:

Taylor, S. (2018). Shia LaBeouf: Small Screen Performance (An Academic Presentation). [Online]. Available from: www.fairfaxcuratorart.co.uk [Accessed Date].

Dramatic Methods & Techniques

Beginning his career as an underage comedian on the American comedy circuit, Labeouf began engagement in collaborative performance art installations around 2010, officially becoming LaBeouf, Ronkko & Turner in 2014.

These pieces usually appear relatively random, are often linked to others either earlier or about to be enacted, and always make an appearance on the small screen.

Reminiscent of Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty (1958) and with the suggested influence of such 'victim art' Abromovic's The Artist is Present (Beisanbach, 2017), LaBeouf's small screen appearances are often tinged with LaBeouf's own victimisation and always contain elements of the digital world within the piece. LaBeouf, Ronkko & Turner (2017) produce "participatory projects and performances utilise emotion and social interaction to foster new forms of communality across digital and physical networks". The original performance is usually annotated and remediated by LaBeouf's audience through the use of smartphones and tablets through video clips, memes, additional footage, montages and whole new works, which are again produced through platforms such as YouTube.

These pieces include the following works, which are accompanied by LaBeouf's Twitter feed @thecampaignbook:

#IAMSORRY

#INTERVIEW

#ALLMYMOVIES

This academic poster presentation examines possible links between these performances and the wider socio-digital arena.

​In the words of Nelson (2007, p137), "viewers have increasingly become constructed as self-aware participants”, with the audiences of LaBeouf's performances becoming a means of remediatising an original work of art into a whole new set of artistic productions using means provided by virtual reality and digital cultures.

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REFERENCES

​Artaud, A. (1958) The Theater and Its Double.  Canada: Grove Press Inc.

Beisanbach, K. (2017) Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. New York: MoMA [Online]. Available from: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/964?locale=en [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Cliff, A. (2014) How one Dazed journalist became Shia LaBeouf’s pen-pal – and stared deep into the eyes of the metamodernist movie star. London: Dazed 100 Magazine [Online]. Available from: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/22732/1/shia-labeouf-the-interview [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Daily Mail (2014) ‘His eyes were red and puffy like he’d been crying for days’: Inside Shia LaBeouf’s bizarre art installation complete with Transformers toy, whip, and pink ukulele. London: Daily Mail [Online]. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2557895/His-eyes-red-puffy-like-hed-crying-days-Inside-Shia-LaBeoufs-bizarre-art-installation-complete-Transformers-toy-whip-pink-ukulele.html [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Gutelle, S. (2013) Six reasons why YouTube’s ‘big live comedy show’ didn’t work. Los Angeles: Tubefilter [Online]. Available from: http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/05/20/youtube-big-live-comedy-show-fail/ [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Hawkes, R. (2017) Shia LaBeouf: Where did it all go wrong? London: The Telegraph [Online]. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10936223/Shia-LaBeouf-where-did-it-all-go-wrong.html [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Krotoski, A. (2016) Digital Human: Lol (Series 10, Episode 6). BBC Radio 4. [Podcast].  Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n7094/episodes/downloads [Accessed 04 June 2017].

McAlone, N. (2017) These are the 18 most popular YouTube stars in the world – and some are making millions. London: UK Business Insider [Online].  Available from: http://uk.businessinsider.com/most-popular-youtuber-stars-salaries-2017/#no-17-dantdm-144-million-subscribers-2 [Accessed 20 June 2017].

Nelson, R. (2007) New Small Screen Spaces: A Performative Phenomenon. In: Chapple & Kattenbelt (eds.). Intermediality in Theatre and Performance. New York: Rodopi.

​Rich, K. (2015) All His Movies: Shia LaBeouf’s movie marathon was such a success it changed his Starbucks name. New York: Vanity Fair (Conde Nast Publications) [Online].  Available from: http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/11/shia-labeouf-movie-marathon-feelings [Accessed 25 June 2017].

Siegel J. & Hamilton C. (2011) YouTube Official Blog: YouTube is going LIVE.  California: Google [Online].  Available from: https://youtube.googleblog.com/2011/04/youtube-is-going-live.html [Accessed 04 June 2017].

Spiotta, D. (2017) Innocents and Others. UK: Picador.

Steinman, L. (1995) The Knowing Body: The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance (2nd Ed.). Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books.

Taylor, S. (2017a) Resting Theatre. [Image 1: Background Poster Image].  Digital art piece based on a BBC photograph of The Old Vic (Bristol) taken by Philip Vile.

Taylor, S. (2017b) Shia LaBeouf. [Image from Item 2: Shia LaBeouf Aurasma Image].  Digital Prisma Photograph Art based on Wikipedia (2017) online image.

Taylor, S. (2017c) Self Portrait. [Image from Item 6: Self Portrait Aurasma Image].  Digital Prisma Photograph Art based on a private image.

Wikipedia (2017a) Shia LaBeouf. California: Wikipedia [Online]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_LaBeouf [Accessed 06 May 2017].

Wikipedia (2017b) Twitch.tv. California: Wikipedia [Online]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitch.tv [Accessed 06 May 2017].