Shia LaBouf decided to become Marina Abramovich
Olya insurance
It is time for miraculous transformations. At first, Matthew McConaughey became cool, now Shia LaBeouf suddenly found himself in the category "controversial" - although nothing seemed to foretell. In recent months, the life of an actor has turned into a chain of absurd acts, launched by one awkward movement - the short film Howard Cantour.com, suspiciously similar to the comic of Daniel Clowse, shot by him. This was followed by a plagiarized apology for plagiarism, the pretentious twitter-action "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE", extravagant behavior at the press conference "Nymphomaniac" in Berlin and the refusal to communicate with journalists in general. Now a real performance has been added to this list - at least this is what the room in gallery space makes it. Is this the man who hugged Bumblebee or walked in the footsteps of Indiana Jones? Have we ever had an intention to understand him? Hardly.
Today, Shia LaBouf presented his interactive performance "#IAMSORRY", which will last a week: the actor "will receive visitors from 11 am to 6 pm daily" in one of the Los Angeles galleries. For obvious reasons, a number of journalists became the first visitors - and the world press is already filled with heartbreaking reports. The action consisted of two parts: in the first room, a young American artist of Finnish origin Nastja Säde Rönkkö offered a choice of several items, from pink ukulele to plastic Optimus Prime and printed angry tweets, and then allowed to contact with a star. LaBouf met the visitor at the table in an image already familiar to us - in a paper bag on his head with slits for the eyes, and in deathly silence. In fact, LaBouf has inverted the very concept of an interview, offering instead of answering questions only dumb visual contact.
And here in this place the problems begin - a suspicious audience turns out to be opposite to whether it has played actor, or a confused person, or a thoughtful character, or if it is not at all clear to anyone - because anyone can be under the package. What is it? Another idiotic plagiarism in the chain of idiotic plagiarism (show at least one person who, after reading the description of the action, did not say to himself: "Marina Abramovich")? Not an especially clever attempt to get out of an awkward position, presenting your fails as part of an art project? The desire to institutionalize yourself as an artist, not just a young film star with uneven filmography? Kopipast with James Franco and Joaquin Phoenix? Both were considered primarily sexy and then smart, both tried to change the balance, turning their lives into performances: Franco - exposing tons of their self-portraits, filming Faulkner and reconstructing the gay porn scene from "Wanted" Friedkin, Phoenix - almost ruining his career and surrounded by a beard for a mokumentar about how he allegedly decided to become a rap star. In both cases, the key word was “sincerity” - all of us were primarily concerned with its presence or absence. Sincerity can make touching even the worst joke with a beard and installation. The sincerity of LaBafa is incredibly difficult to believe: when you read the story of a journalist about how, at the end of his gallery audience, LaBafa tears flowed out of your eyes, your eyes mechanically moisturize. When after this you read five more exactly the same stories in other newspapers, I want to say “pfff”.
Amazingly, two reporters had a very simple idea. Andrew Romano from Daily Beast asked the man in the paper bag the question: “Are you really Shia LaBeouf?”, To which he took the package. And yes, it really was Shia LaBeouf, and he looked genuinely exhausted. Vulture Kyle Buchanan asked if he could take a man in a package by the hand, and received a long handshake. Both admit that at these moments they felt something genuine and shrill.
THE PHOTO: Andrew Romano / The Daily Beast