Thankyou

Thanks go out to everyone for a great year.

I hope you all have a safe and culturally enriched break.

I look forward to seeing you about the studio next year!!!

You can collect your TEXT based works NOW - they are placed in a BOX at the staff door.

I will also post the PDF of the complete works here!

Your essays will be available once marks are released. (I am really impressed by the quality of writing thus far!!!)


All the best,

Amanda.

photos of the suitcase project are up on facbeook

Join: "I can SPI higher then a pigeon cause you are the wind beneath my wings"
to have a looksie the photos

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123447664360407

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

Art and the audience

vb46.017Los angeles, 2001 Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft organises these large groups of naked female models who perform within the gallery space for up to three hours. This work in particular the women are standing as if they are posing for a high fashion photoshoot, wearing nothing but stiletto heals. This image of the nude women isnt really that shocking because there is a barrier that has been created between the audience and performance. However, this work is almost animated by the presence of the audience within this room of nude bodies that are not interactive, therefore this work becomes this dramatic spectacle when there are people in the room to witness it, to feel perhaps awkward or uncomfortable in the room with these models. To me it also almost seems like the artist is making some sort of comment about the portrayal of models coming off production lines and how these women are presented as objects almost as opposed to human beings. i think this work really needs to be witnessed to have the dramatic effect that the artist has intended upon.

Art and Politics

Thomas Hirschhorns work is usually laced with political statements and signs. He applies a makeshift aesthetic using very basic techniques and materials such as; box tape, cardboard, and aluminum foil. He was part of a group of graphic designers called Grapus which was a political design firm running throughout the 70s to the 90s.

His installations for me have a protest feel to them, he makes use of newspaper imagery and clippings from popular culture magazines.

Heres some of his work:

http://www.gladstonegallery.com/hirschhorn.asp?id=1405

Art & Audience: Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono, "telephone piece", 2008. Sydney Biennale.

This work consisted only of a telephone which at any point during the exhibition Ono may call from an undisclosed location and an audience member will answer the phone, or not and in that case it just keep ringing. As one would expect.

So, you could argue that the pinicle point in the work it the performative action of the phone being dialled, it ringing and then being answered by a stranger at the other end. The work is the performance, the answerer supposedly enters into this unknowingly that they are actually becoming art at the time of the conversation.

They have the opportunity to speak to the artist from within the gallery and say whatever they want. I think this idea is awesome. And really quite weird.

Art & Politics: Ron English

Ron English, "Abraham Obama", paste-up. 2008.

This is one of my favourite Ron English works. It was created during the 2008 US election. English has combined the faces of Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama to form a super democrat. The face of the president who will change "The free world" for the better. And then there's also the Warholic reference, which of course means that English is selling the 'super presidents' as a commodity, advertising, mass producing. Emphasising the the fame and celebrity which American presidents seem to acquire without fail.

Art & architecture: Frank Gehry

Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Designed by Frank Gehry. 1993.

I really like the idea of an art museum being a work of art in it's own right and I really think that this particular building successfully accomplishes this. The abstraction of the design and the reflective surface of the outer material creates an appealing structure in an urban environment. It's unusual and it's intriguing. Makes you wanna look at art...

Art & Globalisation: Yoko Inoue

Untitled, 2006. Yoko Inoue. Dimensions vary. Ceramic.

I see this work as a corruption of buddhist ideals. Although these shapes are pleasant enough, they are unmistakably casts of plastic drink bottles. The coin slots reference the keeping and storing of money, want, desire, attachment as well as pollution ( the pollution of the mind, unclarification.). These are the things which keep one from enlightenment. I feel that Inoue is making a comment on the western ideals of mass production and consumerism and how these things effect eastern spirituality. Money spent on water which comes free from a body of H2O.

Art and Politics

I was looking on the Art & About website because I wanted to get some background info on all of the works that I have been seeing lately scattered throughout the city. I was a little surprised to see that almost all of the descriptions of the works on the site were very 'safe', so as not to offend anyone or bring about any sort of commotion, given its status as a public event. I on the other hand find some of the works to be particularly sinister, ironic and political. The colourfully dressed statues all over the city reminded me of Yinka Shonibare's practice of incorporating ethnic patterns within traditional English attire. Because the various fabric used to dress the statues is so vibrant, I seem to associate it with 'native' or 'tribal' imagery. I may be way off the mark with this impression but while others stand in front of the colourful statues in order to have their picture taken, I can't help but feel something like "white guilt" or a tension with the work. Again, with the laneway work HAR BOUR VIEW by John Cambell, the site talks about the work in a very light-hearted, harmless way, seeming to censor the work's political message.

Maurizio cattelan

hello SPIes just wanted to introduce you a crazy crazy crazy crazy artist for those who havnt met him yet. he was the one who exhibited the horse suspended from the ceiling in mca for sydney biennale 2008! italian sculptor Maurizio cattelan (b.1960) has a very satirical yet radical, perhaps even disturbing, style of approaching life and death and everything inbetween. here are some google-searched images of his work

his works are an instant attraction and fascination. but i dont think i can fall in love with them. its just too painful to even get too close up on the screen. crazy crazy artist. here is an interview with Cattelan by michele robecchi http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/maurizio-cattelan/ slightly long but quite interesting.

check him out!

art and politics (annotated bibliography) - liu bolin

http://www.liubolinart.com/
liu bolin's official website. as his personal website it has very thorough biography and insight into his previous and current works. he's photo gallery is nicely divided into sulpture, photo, oil painting and blackboard which all have very high resolution documentations of his work. the website also contains links to different articles featuring his work as well as a message board which enables people to contact him directly. the photo gallery did not have any description of each works which was quite confusing. and unfortunately for "hiding in the city" photo documentation series i dont think it was the full collection of his series were uploaded. however the cctv footage shots of peoples reaction towards his camouflaged body was documented which is quite interesting. the website couldve been more useful if it contained some academic writings of his practice.

http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/2008-interview-with-liu-bolin/1245
charles schultz's interview with liu bolin in 2008 (translated by christine wang). Despite most of this interview being about his work China report 2007 and only 7 question short interview it gives enough insight into his experience, ideas, concepts, influence and practice. China report 2007 which i havnt mentioned in my presentation is another very political work of liu bolin. so i could relate the artists ideas presented in this interview into "hiding in the city" series.

http://www.ifa-gallery.com/artists/liubolin/texts.html
ifa-gallery website contains a curator review Everything Is Not Quite Right about liu bolin's practice. written in april 2008 by Bérénice Angrémy it gives short introduction to his persponal life then moves onto Urban Camouflage which talks about his "hiding in the city" works, influence, intentions, aesthetics and concepts very deeply. then moves on to talk about Eyes Blindfolded which explains his more sculptural practices such as "burning mao" and "red hands". as all liu bolin's work has a reference back to chinese politics and government and as this text talks mostly about the artists "hiding in the city" series it was a very helpful site providing more academic writing compared to other sources.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=liu+bolin&aq=f
youtube, as an addition to everything else, was a "must see" source for me in order to understand the process of liu bolin's "hiding in the city" practice. it is not only fascinating but also educational in a sense.