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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Closing thoughts on audience presentation
While many of the questions were good and relevant to the subject matter, some of them we a little too complex and/or redundant. In some cases the questions weren't dealing with the core issue as. I thought the closing question that Emily brought up, "What is the role and the responsibility of the artist today?" was the most pertinent question. And something that we should all consider.
I think it is a complex question that I'm trying to grapple with. Since art eludes concrete definition I think that it is difficult to have a concrete answer to that question. Of course there are things that I wish that artists could and would do but the definitions and roles vary depending on the individual artist and the setting in which they are working.
Summary of art and audience presentation
RESONS FOR GENEROSITY AND EXCHANGE IN ART
gift sculptures: The audience is a guest. . . The art object is a gift.
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Felix Gonzales-Torres
Claire Twomby (Victoria & Albert Museum)
democracy projects: privilege of distribution, performance of funding is redistributed. community authorship and collective action
The Chiapas photography project
confrontational/detournment:
questioning the politics of unequal distribution of wealth
The act of giving becomes a criticism of not giving,
Guy Overfelt (Free beer)
Michael Rokowitz (Parasite)
social aesthetics:artists work collaboratively within a community to create something that directly benefits that community
Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel (Mnemonics 1992) (p409 Art and Today)
Some blocks were left open to be filled by successive graduating classes.
PARTICIPATION AND COMMUNITY
Jaemen: Christos & Jeanne Claude
Jaemen: HAHA + Flood
Ruth: Francis Alys
Ruth: Agnes Denes
PARTICIPATION AND ACTIVISM
Jaemen: The Yes Men
Jaemen: Monument Against Fascism (Jochen Gerz & Esther Shalev Gerz)
Ruth: Wafaa Bilal
Jaemen/Ruth: Santiago Sierra
INTERACTIVE ART
Jaemen: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Ruth: Claire Twomey, Consciousness/Conscience
Ruth: Olafur Eliasson (Multiple shadow house)
Jaemen: Maurizio Cattelan (Dynamo Secession)
MISCELLANEOUS: MOTIVATING AUDIENCE
Jaemen: Improv Everywhere (no pants subway, human mirror)
Ruth: Harrell Fletcher (The Sound we Make Together)
QUESTIONS ON ART AND AUDIENCE
When artists make art about a particular issue (such as war or immigration) what difference are they making? In what way are they helping the situation? Should they try to be a part of the solution and make a practical contribution?
What is the difference between an artist that is helping a community and a social worker or non-profit organization? At what point is it art? At what point is it social work? Does there need to be a distinction?
What is the unique roll of the artist. . . What can artists contribute that social workers or non-profits aren’t already doing?
How is authorship effected when the audience is involved in creating the work?
When the limits and direction are still created by the artist, is it truly the participant/audience that make up the work, or are the participants given the illusion of control while being in a loose cage created by the artist?
How does the lack of control or orchestration on the part of the artist effect the visual format?
When the work leaves the artist hand and becomes a part of the community is it still art? How is it art? What makes it art?
What is an appropriate setting for work that is relationally based in which a material object is not produced? Are the established art institutions appropriate? How does a work that is socially focused change when placed in a gallery and a museum? Is it still valuable or interesting in this setting?
What are the reasons that people give away their work to the viewers?
Why do artists use this strategy? How effective is it?
Should artists be giving things away? Why or why not? What problems/issues does it create when artists give things away?
How do these types of artists survive? Is it wrong to make a living with your art?
What are some of the issues/challenges of making art that involves people?
Appropriateness, in what cases are artists using people?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Art and its institutions qustion
Are avante guard artists really free or are they reliant upon the wealthy and elite to support them? Is there a way to subvert this?
Art and institutions questions
1. Many artists who embrace audience participation and performance oriented works seem to be challenging the institution. Why is it that these artists are still within the museum? Does their work make sense within this context? I don't think so.
Question on globalism and art
What are the differences between the art world and the non-art world in relation to globalism?
Thoughts on art and globalism
I was at the Hanging Fire Exhibition at the Asia Society several months ago. During the panel discussing with artists from the show there was quite a bit of discussion on the topic of art and globalism. And audience member asked the question: “Is there a difference, or do you notice a difference in your work than that of other countries. How is your work different or do you see it as different?. One of the artists responded that “we are all part of a similar negotiation. We are all urban. As artists in an urban environment there is a greater connection in the work between an artist from Pakistan and the United States than there is within the same country between the urban artists and the isolated village crafts person.” She went on to say that with technological advancement they are exposed to the same TV shows, news and internet that Western artists are and that in the university art programs they are trained in contemporary art history. The rural craftsperson however approaches making things with a very different mindset, being more isolated from current issues and focused on tradition and craftmanship rather than concept. This separation exists within every nation. She went on to say that this question of difference between East and West is something she thinks is no longer relevant.
thoughts on Globalism
In his book The Radicant Nicholas Bourriad poses this question, “Why should Patagonian, Chinese, or Iranian artists be required to produce their cultural difference in their works, while American or German artists find themselves judged on their critiques of patterns of thought, or on their resistance to authority and the dictates of convention?” (Bourriard, 28)
A viewer cannot be passive but must be educated and actively investigating in order to understand what they are looking at. This is true wether the work is American or Pakistani. In order to view contemporary Western art there must be an understanding of art history and the ideologies and dialogues of the 20th Century. Even with this knowledge the viewer must work to understand the unique visual symbols presented by the artist which often complex, sometimes personal and take some deciphering. In this age of highly conceptualized art, viewing should be an active endeavor. And isn’t this need for discovery part of what makes art interesting and engaging? Only those who take the time to investigate, think and look closely are rewarded with understanding. With a little work and some willingness we can overcome barriers and take part in global dialogue expanding our vision of the world.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Claire Twomey (art and its institutions)
Clare Twomey Exhibitions
Trophy: Victoria & Albert Museum, London. September 2006
Installation at V&A comprising 4000 birds made from Wedgwood Jasper Blue clay which flooded the Cast Courts over a temporary period and could be taken away by audiences.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
questions on art and technology
1. transhumanism: enhancing human condition through reason. This seems like it could be dangerous. Why would we want to be more than human? What is so wrong with being human?
2. enlightenment: desire to be liberated by faith. a worldview validated by science. romanticism: response against enlightenment. . . a fear of people playing God. What are the potential dangers of people playing God?
Questions on abstraction
1. What is abstract art for? What is the purpose of it? . . . For conveying experiences outside of language. . . things that words cannot express?
2.trying to find ultimate truth by removing everything human in an attempt to attain the essence of things, the truth of things. Why is it that these artist believe that removing humanity from art is more truthful?
3.Is abstraction in reality more universal? . . . or is it possible that it is less?
Drink Pee (Art and Nature)
The DrinkPeeDrinkPeeDrinkPee installation at the Eyebeam Feedback exhibition in March 2008.
Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee looks at the very personal environmental issues caused by flushing our pee down the toilet: harmful algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems and pee-derived pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. How do we deal with the fact that our planet’s water cycles through a closed system? How do we take control of fact that what's in our pee ends up in the water we drink?
The installation invites visitors to sit on the toilet while facing the water fountain, as if to drink while peeing. Standing in the center provides a visceral human-sized experience of the invisible water and life cycles we often unwittingly take part in. One path of tubing diverts urine from the toilet into the first aquarium causing toxic conditions similar to those created in waterways by our existing sewage treatment infrastructure. Another path diverts urine through a handmade treatment process, covered in scribbled personal notes, that extracts nutrients for use in a house plant and liquids for use in a healthy aquarium and water fountain.
The Urine to Fertilizer DIY Kit is a handmade kit that creates a personal experience of participating in a
Criteria for Criticism: Whitney Biennial and Armory
Asking a question
I began by posing a specific question to be answered. In this way viewing the exhibition becomes a form of investigation. I was looking for works that answer my question.
At the Whitney Biennial my questions were: “Is post modernism over? and “If it is over, what does today’s art look like as presented by this exhibition?”
At the Armory show my questions were: “What is the difference between modern and postmodern? Is there something new developing? What is contemporary as presented by the galleries at the armory show? How much influence does postmodernism still have on contemporary work? What artists are working in a new way, an “altermodern” way?”
A theory to be proved
The question took the form of a theory to be proved or disproved. My focus was biased in that I was looking for something specific.
Individual examples
I chose to focus on a select number of specific works to answer my questions and support my theories. While I did get an overview of the exhibitions so that I had a larger context for my writing I found that with the massive scale of the exhibitions it was helpful to find individual works to focus on to support my ideas. By describing and analyzing their work in relation to the ideas I was presenting I was able to give specific reasons that answered my questions or supported my arguments.
Historic and theoretic context
I tried to place my ideas within the historical context of 20th and 21st century art, briefly describing and defining the movements I was referring to. I used those definition to support my claims.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Art and Identity
1. Is art specific to its time? . . . I believe it is. Could the identity art of the 70s, such as feminist art fly today? Why or why not?
2. how is otherness defined?
why have there not been any great women artists?
"The problem lies not so much with some feminists' concept of what femininity is, but rather with their misconception-shared with the public at large-of what art is: with the naive idea that art is the direct, personal expression of individual emotional experience, a translation of personal life into visual terms. Art is almost never that, great art never is. The making of art involves a self-consistent language of form, more or less dependent upon, or free from, given temporally defined conventions, schemata, or systems of notation, which have to be learned or worked out, either through teaching, apprenticeship, or a long period of individual experimentation."
(Linda Nochlin)
This author is pretty audacious in her claims about what art is. The definition of art is always changing throughout history. . .and therefore what constitutes a great work of art.
Identity Questions Comments
From the text, "Why Have there Been No Great Women Artists?" Linda Nochlin
"If there actually were large numbers of "hidden" great women artists, or if there really, should be different standards for women's art as opposed to men's--and one can't have it both ways--then what are feminists fighting for? If women have in fact achieved the same status as men in the arts, then the status quo is fine as it is".
Who decides what is great art?
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Shirin Neshat (Identity)
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RobbinsBecher (Identity)
Global Village "The Global Village and Discovery Center in Americus, Georgia is a small "poverty theme park" intended to educate visitors about the living conditions of the world's poorest populations. The Global Village was built in 2003 by the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity—an ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to eliminating substandard housing worldwide. In 1976, Millard and Linda Fuller chose Americus, a city of 18,000 residents in Sumter County, Georgia, for the headquarters of Habitat for Humanity. The organization has been extremely successful at building affordable shelters around the world and is considered a model charity. This success is due in part to the Fullers's vision to educate and reform public opinion through a combination of tourism and volunteerism. Stated Millard: "People like to see what their money is paying for. It's been said that Americans will support anything they can take a picture of." In the 1930s and 40s, social documentary photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange photographed impoverished living conditions as a means of “making real” the situations endured by communities otherwise invisible to the mainstream public. Today, individuals or organizations wishing to draw attention to such conditions have gone to further extremes to try to explain what it might be like to live in poverty.” One of the exhibits at the Center is the “Living in Poverty Area,” is a collage of some of the worst slum dwellings from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Connected by a meandering path, each dwelling represents a different communal function—a school, a store, or a home—and is based on careful research and photographs. The reconstructions refer to specific slums, but also involve a combination of objects—both imported and locally available. Because the exhibit is intended as an appeal to a public rather than an exposé; it treads lightly on public sentiments, and mostly places blame for global poverty on regional corruption and mismanagement. Overall, Global Village generally avoids a discussion of American responsibility, economic policy, and the historic role of Christian missionaries in the process of Colonialism. Ironically enough, according to the 2000 census. 44% of those under the age of 18 and 20% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line in Americus Georgia. Global Village has plans to include an example of poverty housing from America in the near future." text taken from the website of Andrea Robbins and Max Becher - 2003 - 2005 http://www.robbinsbecher.com/RBworks.html |
Monday, April 12, 2010
Arlene Shechet Paper Pulp paintings (abstraction)
Arlene Shechet, Fireworks Bridge, (Paper Pulp Painting)
meaning without intention
p 247 Abstract Art Now "How can we possibly read meaning into work that has now intention?"
Spurce: Interventionalist Artists (nature and technology)
SPURCE (INTERVENTIONALIST ARTISTS) Many years ago we began as a rag tag bunch of artists, architects, BMXers, philosophers etc. We were curious and perplex by how things happened, emerged, and changed. And over the ensuing years we have often been categorized as “interventionist artists” or an “artist collective”. These labels and practices, while being interesting enough, seem far from our interests today. We still are a rag-tag bunch, there are more of us, and our work has expanded. But more than this we have grown and shifted both in our ideas, and our practices. Our curiosity, and the ideas that have emerged through working with others, have forced us to rethink and remake ourselves a number of times. Currently we rarely see ourselves as artist and rarely worry much about what is happening in the arts. We are most curious about systems -- systems that entangle us as humans with non-humans across many scales and logics. We are interested in experimenting on a systems level with questions and issues.
(Text from the web site SPURCE.ORG)
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Social Proactivity: thinking outside the box
"Creativity can produce solutions to social problems and concerns. It is at work in the architect who provides affordable and environmentally friendly living solutions, the village woman whose pottery is providing for her family and keeping a cultural tradition alive, and the designer whose consultation helps the village woman to produce a marketable product. Art can inspire hope and beautify environments. We see this in the community art project that brings people together for a common cause, the innovative design that allows us to live more consciously, the handmade plates and bowls that draw family and friends away from the television to sit at the table and talk, and the exhibition that inspires the visitor to take personal action. These examples are a starting point. The need in our world is great, but as creative individuals we can be proactive, with tremendous potential to bring hope through our unique talents and innovative ideas."
(selection from my article that was published in studio potter last Summer Thinking Outside the Box: Social Proactivity and part of the manifesto I am working on)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Art and the Quotidian Object (thoughts)
1. Why must we suppress desire in regard to art? Why must we view it in an disinterested way?
What is the point? I appreciate art that awakens desire and that I can experience with my emotions.
2. "there are 3 different types of interest: ethical, instrumental, and appetitive" p 46
While at the armory show I was asking myself what is it that attracts me to a work of art. What essence must it have to make me want to spend time with it? What is it that gives a work value?
3. "what is being described here is an art practice that tries to circumvent selfish desire, power, mastery, possessiveness_the whole complex of relations that normally governs our lives. This is called disinterestedness." p46
So maybe I have misunderstood what the author of this article meant by disinterestedness. . . I like this definition I think. . .
4. The found object is often an object that has once had a function but in the museum has been stripped of its function, or given a new function as a found object so that it becomes autonomous, separet from the world. In this way we might look at it in a new light, see it differently. But how interesting is this really? There are some cases that I find it interesting. When the artist creates a new composition with it and use the objects in a way that exhibits craftsmanship.
Reed Seifer
SPRAY TO FORGET is a conceptual and functional product based on the possibility that “a substrate to physical reality exists, and that it can be deterministically altered and influenced by human intention.” – Duncan Laurie, The Secret Art
SPRAY TO FORGET functions as a beneficial editor for one’s consciousness, removing undesired memories from the user’s psyche via supported intent. Reed Seifer proposes that “in order to forget, we must remember something else. Spray to Forget acts as a conceptual sideways-elevator, nudging the unconscious to release a difficult memory and replace it with a more appealing one, or to create a new memory through experience… It also happens to smell quite good.”
While based in concept, SPRAY TO FORGET utilizes well-researched ingredients in support of its function. An aesthetic olfactory experience is provided through a blend of essentials oils selected for their reputed aroma-therapeutic benefits in grounding and elevating the emotions. Herkimer diamonds and black tourmaline, crystals believed to metaphysically assist in the elimination of tension from the body, were steeped for several days in the purified, magnetized water used to create the spray.
SPRAY TO FORGET, handmade in an edition of 500, is available in a 2 ounce (60 mL) glass bottle. The beautiful letterpress label is signed and numbered.
(text taken from artists web site)
Rina Banerjee
"artist's comment of exhibition 'lure of places'in an unnatural storm a world fertile, fragile and desirous, polluted with excess pollination, hungry to seize an untidy commerce also gave an unknowable size to some mongrel possessions, excreted a promiscuous heritage, sprayed her modern love, breathed deeper than any one place arching her back threw new roots that would light, sparkle and glitter on hard ground, make fire of crown, empire, religion bathe unseasonable hope to alter what could not be warm.
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artwork curated by obadia gallery, france" (text taken from design boom web site)
Paola Pivi
I Wish I am Fish
"Eighty goldfish touched down in a chartered Whisper Jet at Auckland International Airport Saturday 21 March.
Renowned Italian artist Paola Pivi has conceived I Wish I Am Fish as part of the nationwide ONE DAY SCULPTURE series. Each transported in their own glass bowl and allocated their own seat, the goldfish were flown over the Tasman creating a remarkable filmic event capturing the tilt of water during take off and the luminous light of high altitude skies. The video of their flight was screened at Freyberg Square from 9pm that evening.
The work has been commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki curator Natasha Conland for the nationwide ONE DAY SCULPTURE series on the occasion of Auckland Festival 2009." (text taken from one day sculpture web site)
Rashid Rana
Rashine Rana takes photographs of a certain street throughout a specific day capturing the action and lighting changes throughout the day and night. He puts the small images together in a large composition of the street scene.
TINO SEGAL at the Guggenheim
ON THE BUS YESTERDAY I MET AN ART HISTORY PROFESSOR, WHO HAD JUST PARTICIPATED IN TINO SEHGAL'S PIECE CURRENTLY TAKING PLACE AT THE GUGGENHIEM MUSEUM OF ART. IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH CONVERSATIONS ON PROGRESS AND WAS PARTIALLY STAGED BUT NOT SCRIPTED WITH INTERACTIONS THAT INVOLVED MUSEUM VISITORS. A CHILD WOULD ASK A MUSEUM VISITOR A QUESTION, "WHAT IS PROGRESS?"THE CHILD WOULD THEN SHARE THE RESPONSE WITH AN ADOLESCENT. A YOUNG ADULT WOULD LISTEN IN ON THE CONVERSATION AND WOULD THEN TRANSMIT THE IDEA TO AN OLDER ADULT. . . EACH PART WOULD TAKE PLACE ON ANOTHER LEVEL OF THE MUSEUM.
Tino Sehgal
"THERE’S TOO MUCH STUFF IN THE WORLD—THAT’S THE CONTENTION OF TINO SEHGAL. SO THE BERLIN-BASED ARTIST CONSTRUCTS EXPERIENCES, NOT OBJECTS, THAT CAN NEVERTHELESS BE BOUGHT AND SOLD. IN ADVANCE OF HIS UPCOMING SOLO SHOW AT THE GUGGENHEIM, SEHGAL GIVES AN INSIDE LOOK AT HIS UNORTHODOX METHODS".
article on Tino Sehgal wmagazine.com
Olafur Eliasson: Child-like joy!!
Exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery: February 11- March 20, 2010
This exhibition is beautiful! Colorful lights project shadows onto the walls. It is so much fun!!!
As experience oriented work, Olafur is creating an experience, a journey for the audience.
http://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/artist.php?art_name=Olafur%20EliassonMonday, March 1, 2010
no visible traces
p84 Tino Sehgal recruits actors to interpret his interactive scenarios, he requests that no visible traces be left behind. . . “the insistent on the here and now”
ephemeral entities
“It must be admitted that each of us now intuitively perceives existence as a collection of ephemeral entities, far from the impression of permanence that our ancestors, whether rightly or wrongly, formed of their environment”
Nicholas Bourriard
Generative Art
“Does this new object that has entered that artistic bubble generate thought and activity or not? Does it have an influence on this space-time, and if so, what sort of productivity does it generate? These are the questions, it seems to me, that are more pertinent to ask of a work. Whether or not it holds up and has a story to tell, coordinates, produces. . . Does something pass or come to pass? Let’s set aside the reflexes of the policeman and the legislator and look at art through the eyes of a curious traveler, or those of a host receiving unfamiliar guests in his or her home?
Nicholas Bourriard, Radicant 105
What is radicant aesthetics? (an outline)
What is radicant aesthetics?
1. movement, dynamism of forms
2. precariousness, volatility, lifespan of the object is becoming shorter
3. All trends coexisting. . . in the past (until the 1980s) fashion in clothing and music had time to develop before giving way to another that was equally distinct
4.“the precarious against the solid, the flea market against the shopping mall, ephemeral performance and fragile materials against stainless steel and resin” (Bourriard, 82)
5. the era of commitment is past
6. space and time specific. . . thinking about space in terms of time. . . using time as a phenomena and a place for us to travel in we can shift back and forth in . . . not as linear
7. potentially moveable
8. not a terminal object but merely a moment in a chain
9. the journey has become an art form in itself
10. the collection of samples and information along a path
11. the experience of exploration, rather than the image of exploration
12. post-medium, not based on any specific disciplinary practice
13. the indeterminacy of art’s source code, resisting hyper-formating.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Shimabuku
Shimabukus Fish & Chips 2006
"In 2000 Shimabuku gave an octopus from Akashi a tour of Tokyo. Far removed from its natural habitat, the octopus experienced a series of encounters that were, quite unquestionably, historical firsts. In his search for new value in the everyday, Shimabuku's works begin with simple, often surreal, ideas that are meticulously realised and documented. The narratives that occur throughout their production are as central to the final work as the original idea.
Visiting Liverpool the artist discovered Scouse, the dish made of lamb, onions, potatoes and carrots that gives locals their name. Curious as to how its component parts, each from different counties within Great Britain, first came together, he sampled various recipes in eateries throughout the city. Pondering other British dishes he came to the nation's other great contribution to global cuisine – fish and chips. His film for the Biennial documents the fictional first encounter between the dish's constituents and sees the artist diving with fish while potatoes mysteriously fall from above. With the octopus, Shimabuku introduced the sea to the land, now it is time for the land to meet the sea. This seemingly absurd encounter ultimately encourages a questioning of the mundane elements of daily life".
Text taken from the Tate website follow this link for more info: http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/liverpoolbiennial06/artists/shimabuku.shtm
Mel Chin
"Unconventional and politically engaged, his projects also challenge the idea of the artist as the exclusive creative force behind an artwork. “The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized,” says Chin, who often enlists entire neighborhoods or groups of students in creative partnerships. In “KNOWMAD,” Chin worked with software engineers to create a video game based on rug patterns of nomadic peoples facing persecution. Chin also promotes “works of art” that have the ultimate effect of benefiting science or rejuvenating the economies of inner-city neighborhoods".(text taken from Art 21 artist bio. Go to the following link to read more: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/chin/index.html#)
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Radicant: Vocab
proletariat |ˌprōliˈte(ə)rēət| (also archaic proletariate)
noun [treated as sing. or pl. ]
workers or working-class people, regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism) : the growth of the industrial proletariat.
the lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome.
heterogeneous |ˌhetərəˈjēnēəs|
adjective
diverse in character or content : a large and heterogeneous collection.
• Chemistry of or denoting a process involving substances in different phases (solid, liquid, or gaseous).
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