Presentation Overview

Orlan prescribing herself as a Carnal Artist acts upon her own body by abstracting the image of it and going against nature by opposing it and the conventions that exercise constraint on the human body. She also goes against society in her alterations by questioning whether are self representations conform to an inner reality or whether they are actually fabricated for marketing purposes, in the media and society at large especially in the conventions affiliated with beauty. In her work she goes against the idea of ‘God’ in the biblical sense, transforming the body into a language “the flesh made word” as opposed to the word made flesh. Orlan uses her body as a vessel, and she detachs herself as a personality from it.

Orlan through her work modifiys the body, she alters her image commenting on the aesthetics of beauty in society and this can be seen in her nine performative operations acting as a portraits of a potential future of humanity. Orlan detaches herself from her body and responds to the potential in technology enhancing and evolving the body by going against nature’s limitations. She perceives the acceptance of one’s natural self to be a primitive concept, given the technology of our time, and therefore does not believe that nature must be abided.

Orlan has undergone nine operations to remake her appearance commenting on the varying types of beauty which is not necessarily prescribed by the media, and the series as a whole is entitled The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan (this in reference to another art work of Orlan’s entitled Saint Orlan) or Image-New Images. Of the operations performed so far, one altered her mouth to imitate that of François Boucher's Europa; another an appropriation of the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa; and another imitates the chin of Botticelli's Venus. These models were chosen for their mythical and symbolic connotations as well as their beauty. Venus was chosen for fertility and that being symbolic of sexuality and beauty and "Europa because she looked to another continent, permitting herself to be carried away into an unknown future” . Yet another surgery, the widely publicized "Omniprésence," November of 1993, implanted protrusions in her forehead to mimic the protruding brow of Mona Lisa. the end result was two symmetrical horns.

In the plastic surgery operations/performances Orlan deals with the problem of dissection, peeling, and unveiling which feminist theorists have critiqued as masochistic compared to the sexual sadism of the anatomist's ruthless penetration -- the thrust of the male creator. But her work is also a task of incorporating the image of goddesses from mythology and art history -- such as Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and the goddess Diana -- as a computerized process of hybridization. Orlan explains: "...I devised my self-portrait using a computer to combine and make a hybrid of representations of goddesses from Greek mythology. I chose them not for the cannons of beauty they are supposed to represent, but rather on account of the stories associated with them. Diana was chosen because she refuses to submit to the gods or to men, she is active and even aggressive...(Goode, 1997)”

Art and Institutions – Candida Hofer

Hofer photographs interiors of art institutions architecture denoting the presence of the institution without the presence of people, this presents the museums without vitality. Hofer’s work relates to the fact that the importance of housing irreplaceable work is privy to the fact that art and ideas remain alive because they cannot be separated by the themes and reasons to which they are created to begin with. It draws attention to the focus on institutions and what they consider to be treasure. This is a notion towards the possibilities of art’s past and art’s future and the way art is reliant on the people and themes of the time that create the art.

Art and Audience – Vanessa Beecroft

Beecroft presents large groups of naked, semi-naked, or swimsuit clad women which resemble a high-fashion photoshoot. It creates a voyeuristic level of behaviour in the audience which brings attention to the ornamental portrayal of women in the media and also the way women are perceived in society. In reverse, she also depicts groups of men clad in military uniforms and aligned in military formations. The men are reversely depicted to the women as being anything but vulnerable and strong.

The performance invites the audience to observe and view them, but not to interact with them, it reduces them to a role of inadequacy in relation to the performers physical and behavioural perfection.

Art and Architecture – Bodys Isek Kingelez

Kingelez’s work evokes a progression from modernism’s depictions of cityscapes which zoom forward to portrayals of fantastical designs of future cities. Displayed like architectural models which resemble buildings from New York, Paris etc they are created out of recycled materials, such as bottle caps, tubes, corrugated cardboard, tinfoil etc. These works relate not only to architecture but also to globalisation bringing attention to the fact that a lot of the first world’s waste often becomes building materials of the third world’s housing.

Art and Globalisation - Chen Zhen

Chinese artist, Chen Zen’s installation comprises of Western and Eastern influences and exposure of religion and political opposition. The work Daily Incantations comprises of Chinese chamber pots that are arranged in an array of Buddhist bells, centred by a conglomerated pile of residue of electrical and electronic objects. These objects portray cultural differences. Also featured is a sound system which has recordings from the artists childhood of the reading of Mao’s Red Book from the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The human waste and industrial waste illustrate cultural difference between Western materialism and Communist indoctrination.

Zhen is suggesting that changes that have resulted due to globalisation and technology are apparent to all notions of politics and culture. The integration of these factors into his work suggests a collision of eastern and western worlds histories and futures.

I had a lot of difficulty with this topic I didn’t want to reference obvious artists (Olafur Eliasson and Laib Wolfgang,) but couldn’t find/think of any other artist’s that fitted within the topic. I think I had so much difficulty with this topic because I couldn’t push past the connection to religion that spirituality has. When I researched the definition of spirituality it provided me with some sense of clarity, an understanding as to why I couldn’t find an artist that represents spirituality. The reason being that, spirituality is in fact unattainable we can experience it but we cannot contain it, thus It is impossible for artists to truly represent spirituality. My difficulty may also lie within my inability to see something that is spiritual from another persons percpective, as i feel that spirituality is an individual's experience. So instead of finding artwork's i googled some natural phenomena's which i think are pretty amazing.

Various definitions:
-Spirituality is the level to which one is able to see past there own self.

- The ability to tap into areas of life beyond what is normal (what is able to be easily seen, heard, felt, and smelt)

-Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life. It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world

Art & Audience

I feel that this topic ‘Art & Audience’ is the most obvious and off the most importance, as art’s purpose is to be seen. Whether the audience is simply the artist who creates the work; the general public; or other artists. The artists Intention is to provide audiences with a different perception in relation to various situations and life in general.

The artist:

- Challenge’s > perception; values; beliefs; opinions

AND

- Trigger’s > thought; memory; and emotion;

Artist Derrick Haung held a residency at SCA this year for two week’s he’s really lovely and showed me some of the works he had previously created and exhibited. Derrick’s works are primarily interactive installations and sometimes include a performative aspect, fitting perfectly within the topic ‘art & audience’. His work frequently incorporates a sensory aspect, through the use of dried popori; fruit; and leaves which the audience is unable to ignore. Derrick uses both visual and sensory aspects within his work that enable the audience to fully interact and become immersed. “Another kind of aromas” exists as a darkened room containing a low rectangular container, filled with dried organic material free to touch, and a variety of hand packaged spices hanging neatly and freely on the walls. The packages and the material within the open box are beautifully illuminated by light. “Hidden Place” is within a small exhibition space, filed with dried leaves and warm lighting, central to the space is a cylindrical-like structure reminiscent of netting used to keep away insects, and pieces of loose thread which hang freely around the structure like cobwebs or roots. The structure is large enough for a person to stand; sit; or lie within it. The warm lighting and dried leaves evoke the sense of being within nature, and the netting seems to take me a step back in time, triggering memories of building cubby houses with pegs and sheets as a child, pretending I was elsewhere. “Consumption” was a performative work in which Derrick sat within a space filled with red cotton waste, peeling the rinds off oranges in which he then latter re-sowed together. How I interpritate this work in relationship to it’s title and the repetitive action in which Derrick performs, is essentially a statement concerning the overwhelming consumption of food. The loose orange peels represent the waste of produce and the sewing-together is then perhaps is a direction to recycle and reuse.

"Another kind of aromas" spices, box, documents, 2007

"Hidden Place" textiles, threads, leaves, light, 2005

"Consumption" oranges, red thread, 2005

I think Derrick’s work is beautiful and I’m a little bit jealous, I absolutely love the use of organic and deteriorating material, evoking the sensors, and mentally and physically recreating a space elsewhere. I hope you all got to meet him.

Art and Globalisation - JR

Im not sure if anyone has already heard of this artist, he was the winner of the TED art prize. In regards of globalisation, JR is interested in the individual and each person's fate, and takes up themes of photographing groups of people and pasting their images on gigantic landscapes, such as the slums in Kenya, corresponding with trains and landscape features. The images are black and white, and relate to social issues such as Portrait of a generation, 2006, portraits of the suburban gangsters which were enlarged and covered buildings in the middle class areas of his home city Paris. Since this project, he has travelled throughout Europe and the world, creating similar works, projecting regional social and racial issues out into the mainstream world. the two most recent undertakings have been particularly ambitious - Face 2 Face, 2007, saw huge portraits of Palestinians and Israelis positioned on either side of the Separation Wall in eight cities of each country. In 2008, Women presented the issues confronting women in countries where they are subject to discrimination and hostility. These site specific installations create questions of freedom, identity and cultural differences to those who care to investigate. For others, they are simply a humungous funny face that brings laugher and connects people in the community. Other interesting points of his work are that he remains anonymous and is he calls himself a graffiti artist, as his work is displayed illegally on the streets and buildings of the locality. This also raises questions of who does this art belong to - JR? the global community? I think these are the questions he is trying to raise.

Watch this fantastic video for the details of his work:

http://www.mutualart.com/OpenArticle/Meet-the-TED-Prize-Winner-of--100-000--T/87F68DF44529C7F2?utm_source=newsletter_b&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_video

Art and Architecture - Hundertwasser

The Green Citadel of Magdeburg, Germany (2002 - 2005)

Waldspirale (Forest Spiral), Darmstadt, German (built 1990)

Hundertwasser is one of my favorite artists involved in architecture, for his strong philosophies and environment thoughts. For example, he believes it is better to walk on uneven floors and doesn't see why the windows on a building should be all aligned. A common feature of his work is that he despises the straight line, and so many of his building as asymmetrical. Some of his most famous buildings are Blumau, Kunsthaus Wien, Spittelau, 21st Century Clock and Mop Incinerator, Osaka. The most recent building have been built based on plans that Hundertwasser designed before his death in 2000. Grüne Zitadelle Von Madgeburg in German and The Ronald McDonald House in Essen, Germany are two examples of this. His philosophy embraces human existence in harmony with nature and aesthetics of life and art. He has written manifestoes in relation to architecture: Mouldiness Manifesto against rationalism in Architecture, Window Dictatorship and Window Rights, and There are No Evils of Nature - There are Only Evils of Man.

"Since his first artistic actions his thoughts circulate around the same topics: life, nature and all beauty, what happens between, next to function and profit. It attracts attention that the texts were cumulative subdivided, more targeted and gets more profoundness by and by. They obey not the trends, the rumour of the public and the exchange value, they owe their appearance the diligently and exact study of humans and their manifold interdependences and addictions, necessities and opportunities, but also their lapses… "

Walter Schurian, in: Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Schöne Wege, Gedanken über Kunst und Leben [Beautiful Paths, Thoughts on Art and Life] Writings 1943 - 1999, Munich 2004 (translation from German)

http://www.hundertwasser.de/english/texts/philosophie.php