Alicia Eler gave a lecture titled “Internet Ruined the Video Star” on Wednesday that was advertised as an examination of “how the internet has changed art production, consumption and criticism.” Beginning with famed performance artist Marina Abramovi?’s “The Artist Is Present” and ending with a popular Tumblr about white, privileged teenage girls, Oberlin alumna Alicia Eler’s talk analyzed the idea of performance and how that concept has shifted over time, breaking the barrier between art and the everyday.

Eler, OC ‘06 former writer for the Review, now contributes to Artforum.com and is a staff writer for the increasingly popular art “blogazine” Hyperallergic. Her recent article on Marina Abramovi?, titled “The Artist Is Not Present But the Brand Sure Is,” explored the moral and aesthetic integrity of one of the world’s most well-known performance artists. The article was shared 1,800 times on Facebook, a point that was relevant to the lecture. Whereas the idea of a performance used to be reserved for professionals with specific goals and direction, today the definition is being broken down by social media and the ability to present constructed identities.

Read the full story on the Oberlin Review: http://oberlinreview.org/article/Alicia_Eler/