Cringe as Performance Art:
The Fine Line Between Discomfort and Commentary
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Cringe as Performance Art: The Fine Line Between Discomfort and Commentary
Introduction
When wielded with intent, cringe is more than just secondhand embarrassment—it is a powerful tool for artistic and social commentary. Cringe as performance art leverages discomfort, awkwardness, and social ineptitude to provoke introspection, critique societal norms, and engage audiences in unexpected ways. Unlike unintentional cringe, which results from a genuine lack of self-awareness, deliberate cringe operates as a meta-commentary on authenticity, performance, and the discomfort of public scrutiny.
The growing prevalence of cringe in contemporary media reflects society’s evolving relationship with embarrassment and self-consciousness. Social media, reality television, and viral content have all contributed to a landscape where staged awkwardness thrives as both entertainment and critique. The fine line between sincerity and irony in cringe performance makes it a potent form of expression, often compelling audiences to question whether they are laughing with or at the artist.
This article explores how deliberate cringe has been used as an art form, examining its historical roots, cultural significance, and key exemplars who have embraced cringe to challenge perceptions. By looking at a range of artists and media personalities who intentionally court discomfort, we can better understand the unique ways in which cringe serves as a medium for self-reflection, critique, and engagement with broader social dynamics.
The Evolution of Cringe in Performance Art
The roots of cringe as a performance tool can be traced to movements that sought to disrupt conventional aesthetics and provoke thought.
Dadaism (1910s-1920s): Artists like Marcel Duchamp and Hugo Ball embraced absurdity and irrationality, creating works that confused and unsettled audiences. They aimed to critique the pretensions of art and society by producing intentionally nonsensical pieces. These works laid the foundation for later art forms that would emphasize disruption and audience discomfort.
Surrealism (1920s-1950s): Salvador Dalí and others used surrealistic elements that evoked subconscious discomfort, making audiences question reality. This movement emphasized dream-like imagery and shocking juxtapositions, which often bordered on the unsettling. Surrealist films, such as Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Dalí, showcased imagery that provoked visceral reactions, a precursor to modern cringe performance.
Performance Art of the 1960s-1970s: Artists like Yoko Ono and Chris Burden introduced extreme forms of audience participation and endurance-based work that often made viewers uncomfortable. Ono’s "Cut Piece" invited spectators to remove pieces of her clothing, demonstrating vulnerability and social power dynamics, while Burden's performances pushed personal and audience boundaries through acts of self-inflicted pain and endurance. Another key figure, Vito Acconci, used his own body and personal actions to provoke discomfort, such as his 1971 piece Seedbed, in which he hid beneath a gallery floor and engaged in private, intimate acts while speaking to gallery visitors above.
As postmodernism emerged, artists began to experiment further with the deliberate use of awkwardness, irony, and self-aware discomfort. Performance art, which had already challenged traditional mediums, embraced "bad art" and purposeful ineptitude as methods of expression. The boundaries between sincerity and parody became increasingly blurred, making way for the rise of cringe in contemporary performance. Artists such as Paul McCarthy expanded on these ideas by creating grotesque, exaggerated performances that satirized mainstream media and consumer culture.
With the rise of digital culture and internet virality, cringe has found a new frontier. Today, performance artists, internet personalities, and comedians leverage intentional awkwardness to blur the lines between sincerity, irony, and critique. Reality television, vlogs, and social media content have further normalized this phenomenon, providing a widespread platform for artists to test the limits of discomfort in modern media. The accessibility of these platforms has democratized cringe performance, allowing a broad spectrum of creators to engage with discomfort in ways that resonate with contemporary audiences.
Exemplars of Cringe Performance Art
Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan
Heather Morgan, aka Razzlekhan, is a striking example of cringe as a deliberate performance art strategy. A self-proclaimed "Crocodile of Wall Street," Morgan combined tech entrepreneurship with an eccentric, offbeat rap persona. Her music videos, featuring stiff movements, disjointed lyrics, and chaotic energy, became viral for all the wrong reasons—yet her commitment to the act blurred the lines between self-parody and sincerity.
Morgan's performances drew comparisons to outsider art, where sincerity and lack of technical refinement create an unsettling and intriguing experience for viewers. Her rap alter ego was an unfiltered collision of corporate jargon, street persona, and self-help rhetoric, embodying an exaggerated version of tech hustle culture.
Beyond the music, Morgan's fashion choices—ranging from gaudy gold jackets to animal print ensembles—further cemented her brand of intentional awkwardness. Her performances seemed to oscillate between ironic detachment and genuine enthusiasm, forcing audiences to question whether they were witnessing an elaborate satire or an earnest, if miscalculated, attempt at reinvention.
When Morgan was arrested for laundering billions in stolen Bitcoin, the surreal collision of her art and real-life crime only deepened her legend as a cringe performance figure. The absurdity of her artistic persona, juxtaposed with the high-stakes financial crime, made her a subject of fascination. Was Razzlekhan a methodical act of self-parody, or did her art unintentionally mirror the hyperbolic absurdity of the tech world she inhabited? Regardless of intent, Morgan remains a unique case study in how cringe can function as both an aesthetic and an unintentional narrative arc.
Marina Abramović
Performance artist Marina Abramović has long experimented with discomfort as a tool for audience engagement. In her infamous piece Rhythm 0 (1974), she placed 72 objects—including a loaded gun—on a table and invited the audience to use them on her as they wished. The result was an escalating experiment in human nature, as audience members initially hesitated but later pushed the boundaries of physical harm. Abramović's work underscores how discomfort forces deeper reflection on power, control, and societal restraint.
Beyond Rhythm 0, Abramović continued to explore the power of endurance and vulnerability in her performances. In The Artist Is Present (2010), she sat silently across from museum visitors for hours at a time, locking eyes with each participant. This piece generated emotional reactions ranging from tears to laughter, demonstrating the profound impact of nonverbal connection and the discomfort of prolonged exposure to another’s gaze.
Another significant work, Balkan Baroque (1997), involved Abramović scrubbing blood-covered cow bones for days while recounting stories of her childhood and the Yugoslav Wars. This piece combined physical labor, historical trauma, and personal narrative to create an experience of collective discomfort and reflection.
Through her art, Abramović challenges audiences to confront discomfort, endurance, and emotional vulnerability. Her performances transcend mere shock value, forcing engagement with broader themes of suffering, control, and the human condition.
Christine Wang
Christine Wang incorporates cringe into visual art, using internet memes and culturally uncomfortable moments to highlight the absurdity of modern media. Her paintings turn viral, embarrassing moments into high art, elevating instances of cringe into curated critique. By blending fine art with internet culture, Wang challenges the ephemeral nature of digital embarrassment and repurposes it as a lasting visual statement.
Her work often reflects on how quickly public figures and ordinary individuals can become internet sensations for reasons beyond their control. By immortalizing these moments in a traditional artistic medium, Wang draws attention to society's obsession with fleeting online phenomena and recontextualizes their impact. She also critiques the ways in which digital culture commodifies humiliation, transforming personal awkwardness into consumable entertainment.
Additionally, Wang’s work engages with themes of identity and collective experience. By selecting images that many viewers recognize from viral moments, she creates an intimate yet uncomfortable familiarity, forcing audiences to confront their own participation in internet cringe culture. Through this lens, her paintings serve as both documentation and commentary on the evolving role of public shame in the digital age.
Soda Jerk
The Australian artist duo Soda Jerk uses found footage and media remixing to expose the cultural and political awkwardness of recent history. Their film Hello Dankness (2023) repurposes infamous cringeworthy moments, such as Kendall Jenner's 2017 Pepsi ad, to satirize corporate activism and media commodification of social movements. By juxtaposing these widely ridiculed moments with historical and pop culture references, they craft an absurdist critique that underscores the dissonance between corporate messaging and public reception.
Beyond Hello Dankness, Soda Jerk has consistently used their remixing techniques to challenge mainstream narratives. Their 2018 film Terror Nullius deconstructs Australian cinema and political history by weaving together scenes from beloved national films with contemporary political satire, exposing underlying themes of colonialism, misogyny, and nationalism. This technique not only highlights the power of media in shaping public consciousness but also forces viewers to reconsider their own relationship with popular culture.
Soda Jerk’s work operates at the intersection of satire, cultural critique, and remix culture. Their ability to take familiar media and reconfigure it into unsettling yet thought-provoking narratives challenges audiences to confront the constructed nature of historical and political discourse. By leveraging cringe as both an aesthetic and a critical tool, they ensure their work remains relevant in an era dominated by viral content and media contextualization.
Cringe Comedy and Pop Culture
Beyond fine art, cringe thrives in contemporary comedy and music:
Cringe Comedy: Shows like The Office and Nathan for You generate humor through unbearable awkwardness and social dysfunction. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson takes this concept further by crafting skits centered around characters who refuse to acknowledge their own embarrassing behavior, often escalating the discomfort to absurd levels. Curb Your Enthusiasm similarly thrives on cringe humor, with Larry David constantly finding himself in excruciating social situations that highlight the awkwardness of modern etiquette.
Cringe Pop: Viral musicians like Rebecca Black (Friday) and William Hung (She Bangs) became cultural phenomena not because of musical excellence but because their sincerity was undercut by perceived amateurism. The appeal of cringe pop often stems from its unintended humor and earnestness. Other artists, such as Tay Zonday (Chocolate Rain), inadvertently captured audiences through their unconventional performances, which became internet sensations. The rise of TikTok has further fueled the phenomenon, where creators embrace amateurish production values and exaggerated awkwardness to cultivate viral fame.
Reality TV and Social Media: Shows like American Idol auditions, Love Island, and Too Hot to Handle have produced countless moments of cringe, as contestants navigate the fine line between confidence and self-delusion in highly scrutinized environments. Meanwhile, platforms like TikTok and YouTube foster content where influencers and everyday users experiment with cringe as a deliberate tool for engagement, whether through exaggerated personalities, awkward challenges, or over-the-top confessions.
Internet Challenges and Meme Culture: Viral trends such as the "Cringe TikTok Compilation" format have turned the aesthetic of awkwardness into a curated experience for audiences. Users embrace staged embarrassment to elicit strong audience reactions, fueling an endless cycle of ironic appreciation and secondhand discomfort. Beyond fine art, cringe thrives in contemporary comedy and music:
Cringe Comedy: Shows like The Office and Nathan for You generate humor through unbearable awkwardness and social dysfunction.
Cringe Pop: Viral musicians like Rebecca Black (Friday) and William Hung (She Bangs) became cultural phenomena not because of musical excellence but because their sincerity was undercut by perceived amateurism.
Audience Reception and Impact
Cringe performance art provokes a spectrum of reactions—from laughter to visceral discomfort. Its effectiveness hinges on various factors that shape audience reception and engagement:
Emotional Responses: Discomfort, secondhand embarrassment, and the "so-bad-it's-good" appeal. Cringe art often taps into the viewer's discomfort, triggering both amusement and unease. Some audiences embrace cringe as a form of catharsis, finding humor in the exaggerated awkwardness, while others reject it, feeling a sense of social anxiety or embarrassment by proxy.
Social Commentary: How cringe highlights artificiality, social structures, and power dynamics. Cringe performance art serves as an indirect critique of societal expectations, consumer culture, and the curated authenticity of digital personas. By making the audience squirm, cringe art forces them to recognize the discomfort embedded in cultural norms and confront the performative nature of modern interactions.
Virality and Digital Culture: The internet's role in amplifying and recontextualizing cringe performances. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter fuel the rapid spread of cringe content, transforming it into meme-worthy material. The digital ecosystem not only amplifies cringe performances but also invites audiences to remix, react to, and reinterpret them. This endless loop of engagement ensures that cringe remains relevant and continues evolving as an artistic and cultural phenomenon.
Cultural Differences: How different societies interpret and react to cringe varies significantly. In some cultures, public embarrassment is seen as a severe social transgression, whereas in others, it is embraced as an integral part of humor and entertainment. These variations influence the extent to which cringe art is accepted, analyzed, or rejected.
Long-Term Impact on Artists and Participants: Some cringe performances, especially those that go viral, have lasting consequences for the artists involved. While some individuals capitalize on their notoriety and transform it into a career, others struggle with the unintended consequences of becoming an internet spectacle. This unpredictability adds another layer of complexity to cringe as an art form, raising ethical questions about consent, agency, and the long-term effects of public embarrassment in the digital age
Conclusion
Cringe, when executed with intention, transcends mere awkwardness to become a compelling artistic tool. Whether through avant-garde performance art, satirical media remixing, or viral internet personas, cringe forces audiences to confront their discomfort and examine the social norms that define taste, authenticity, and artistic legitimacy. This artistic strategy exposes the fragility of social etiquette, challenges rigid aesthetic conventions, and encourages dialogue about the subjective nature of value in art and entertainment.
The digital age has further cemented cringe as a dominant cultural phenomenon, with viral moments spreading rapidly across online platforms. Unlike traditional performance art, which relies on physical spaces and curated audiences, cringe now thrives in an environment where content is endlessly shared, remixed, and scrutinized by millions. This constant exposure amplifies the impact of cringe, turning once-ephemeral moments into lasting cultural artifacts that continue to shape artistic and comedic trends.
Furthermore, as the boundaries between sincerity and irony blur, cringe performance art remains an evolving medium that will likely integrate emerging technologies such as virtual reality, deepfake media, and AI-generated performance. These innovations will open new frontiers for artists who seek to explore discomfort, self-awareness, and audience engagement in novel and immersive ways. Ultimately, cringe, in all its forms, serves as both a mirror and a magnifying glass, reflecting societal anxieties while pushing the boundaries of what is considered meaningful, humorous, or artistically significant.
References
"How Cringe Culture Is Appearing in Contemporary Art," Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-cringe-culture-appearing-contemporary-art
"Extreme Performance Art," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_performance_art
"Cringe Comedy," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cringe_comedy
"The 10 Most Shocking Performance Artworks Ever," The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/11/scrotum-top-10-shocking-performance-art
"From Borat to Eric Andre: Reviewing the History of Performance Art," The Queen's Journal, https://www.queensjournal.ca/from-borat-to-eric-andre-reviewing-the-history-of-performance-art/
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I loved this article, Conrad. It made me think of art I've seen that caused those reactions. I recently read Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," and it fit into the fine line between discomfort and commentary.