並列摘要
This research focuses on Italian-American performance artist Vanessa Beecroft's work series, whereas each work is titled with a sequential number after her initials VB in time order. First, an investigation of the development of female performance artists in the west after World War II is conducted, providing context for the analysis of the intrinsic role female nudity plays under the hegemony of middle class Caucasian male discourse of art history and visual culture. It continues to review the environment of production under contemporary Capitalism society for female artists, how they strike to tackle Bourgeois ideology whilst female bodies are microscopically gazed. Then, it chronicles the changes in VB series by inspecting three works-VB11 (1995), VB46 (2001), and VB70 (2011), respectively-that are representative of changes in Beecroft's personal production notes and method. By examining the secularization and commercialization of cultural production, this research discovers that Beecroft is taking advantages of her versatile status in art, fashion and entertainment business to ensure claim on the autonomy of female body while exploiting its beauty and vulnerabilities, which continually help establish Beecroft's name as an internationally prominent artist.