Art and Audience

The artist in particular I've looked at in regards to audience is Antony Gormley.

His works, casts of his own body, shaved back to anonymity, seem to portray a feeling of venerability and disclusion. Unlike many cast human statues that we see, posing heroically or holding stoic postures, Gormley's body's stand hands by sides, crotch or shrink into fetal positions. The way in which i relate his work in relation to the audience that views it is through the way in which we are reminded of our own selves through the bodies. We are reminded of our own position in relation to space, our bodies being the only thing that we physically embody in life. Some work that emit this feeling of reminding us of our position is his recent work, 'Event Horizon'. 

"From March 26 – August 15, 2010, 31 life-size figures appeared on rooftops, setbacks, and sidewalks around Manhattan’s historic Madison Square Park.  Standing tall above the unique urban landscape of New York City, the figures were the work of celebrated British artist Antony Gormley as part of Event Horizon New York, Gormley’s long-awaited United States public art debut."

Perhaps it is through the act of looking and discovering these bodies that stand amongst the skyline the audience get an idea about their own scale in relation to the environment, such as the alienation that incorporates modern life.

Art and audience

Today i learn 't how to play an art game with an audience. it was like a test and involved memory. memory can be useful.there is a point when you get so over saturated with half formed ideas and information that it is hard to care about anything except the the immediate. a way in is sometimes through the use of fun to generate audience participation. the old fine line between active and passive participation is crucial to the way an art game is generated and how it will continue. the web is like a game which you can plug into anytime into any part (in theory) is possibly part of its popularity. but its not really even one on one- the audience just is not there in the old school sense and this must make a difference to the reactions you get .

ART & Its Audience

A great introduction to this area / introducing emerging conceptual ideas relating to pedagogy AS art:

http://fillip.ca/content/a-pedagogical-turn

Art and Audience

Been doing a little research on relational aesthetics.

From Bourriards writing (he coined the term):

http://www.creativityandcognition.com/blogs/legart/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/Borriaud.pdf

Some responses:

http://transform.eipcp.net/correspondence/1196340894#redir

Interesting stuff. I think alot of the art in Hartneys chapter is really well thought out on a conceptual level. But I like that it reaches out beyond an academic audience (unlike alot of the text based works that we have been looking at that formed part of the conceptual art movement)

Art & the Audience

Artist Vipoo Srivilasa is a ceramic sculptor who in the 2008 "Roop - Rote - Ruang" project directly engaged the audience. Roop - Rote - Ruang, or Taste - Touch - Tell, was an way to experience ceramics, wherein the guest actively participated by selecting their own plate, made a ceramic piece themselves and ate the that meal that the artist himself prepared. There were several interesting features of this performance/exhibition. It mirrored some buddhist methods, in that the food was passed clockwise, and incorporates the concept of 'ayatana' the term used to describe the six sense bases - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and the mind. The first course plates were chosen by the guest, which had a message of fortune inscribed on the underside of the plate. Next was the Best Wishes Soup, with a symbol of fortune uncovered at the bottom of the bowl as the soup was eaten. In the sharing of a meal the interrelationship between the work of art, the artist and the participants has been 'interrupted' in a traditional sense. It is a 2 way relationship, in that the audience is helping make Srivilasa's work and he is helping them make theirs. "The artist is interesting in creating opertunities for sharing between complete strangers and creating different, social ways of exploring complex ideas of his cross cultural experience."*

*http://www.vipoo.com/Content/Images/news/2008/roob_rote_ruang.pdf

http://www.artaustralia.com/article.asp?issue_id=189&article_id=207

Art and Spirituality

For Art and Spirituality I thought I would discuss the work of Alex Grey who explores in his art the mind the body and the soul. In his work he depicts "the human body that "x-ray" the multiple layers of reality, and reveal the interplay of anatomical and spirital forces"(quoted from Alex Grey Biography on alexgrey.com). His forms are reflective on his experiences in education (his anatomical education at Harvard Medical School) and his mind expanding experiences (the trips he took with his wife in college) and his interest in the psyche. What is prevalent in all his work from the begining of his practice to now is themes of death and transcendance. As an artist he is best known for the translucent glowing bodies which have been praised by renowned healers Olga Worral and Rosalyn Bruyere, his visionary figures are placed in human expieriences such as praying, sex, birth and meditation. He is well known for his Art work for Tool, which got me interested in his work, and he has also done work for Nirvana, SCI and Beastie Boys. I highly recommend going to his website, and also go on a tour of COSM (Chapel of Sacred Mirrors) the large piece/place that he in collaboration with his wife has created, he is very visionary in his ideas so don't get confused, its not an order, its really just a promotion of expressing ones creative path.

Alex Grey's Official Website- http://www.alexgrey.com/
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors Website- http://www.cosm.org/

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/visionary/- Also this website is notable to go to, its Artists discussion on Visionary Art, there is also Alex Grey's own discussion on the movement, very interesting.

Art and the Audience

Vuk Cosic in a net.art artist and prolific ASCII artist, which is using computer software to overlay videos with alphanumerical characters replacing colour pixels. net.art is simply art that is only broadcast over the internet, the web page is it’s context.

net.art came about in the early 90’s with the widespread adoption of internet connected desktop pc’s also the movement to graphically interfaced websites rather then text based sites that happened around 1993 pointed out by critic Rachel Greene.

Deep ASCII

Rather than showing the audience the work, in this case the film Deep Throat, Cosic is reaching deep into the recesses of code that is in the background of all digital transmissions and showing us the raw data. We know film is an illusion and we’re able to quite simply break it down to individual frames. But Video is different in that rather than being an illusion it’s a manipulation dots, and we aren’t able to break it down and understand it, a single still is made up of lines and lines of code indecipherable to all but the codec.

think this work comes out of the frustration of the net.art.ists failed dream that internet would become this all democratising bastion of knowledge and information. And it wasn’t, it was mostly used to look up porn and download pictures of cats. The choice of video then becomes obvious. We see all the work of programming code and encoding and decoding video, and all it’s used for is the smut transmission. The sad and ironic this is, is that a lot of the breakthrough in the way of file compression, video encoding and the like have come out of the supposed to need to broadcast porn over the world wide web.

Tv screen, night one

Tv screen, night one is a collection of video stills that Cosic captured while sitting in front of the television the night of the bombing of Yu during the NATO bombing of Kosovo. It shows at the time the authority of the television over the computer as a resource for gathering information. In some respects this still applies today, I’m more weary of information that has been easily posted online rather than information that has gone through a editing and publishing process.

Again Cosic has put up a layer with his medium between the content and the audience. They don’t see discernable information, they say frames, pixels. The background noise in the vast expanse of the internet.

A history of art for Airports is where Cosic comes out the digital ether and physically displays his works to the audience. However his very clever about the way he does this. Rather than displaying the work in the universal language of binary, he’s displaying it in the universal language of symbols, he is then placing the works in a complicated network like the internet in airports. By demeterialising the works he has turned into symbols, he is saying the history of art is beyond the object, beyond the output of a video screen, rather it’s in the raw code, it’s in the concept.

With all art being about concept as Cosic demonstrates, then the context of the work is imperative, meaning is lost when viewing A History of Art for Airports online, and vice versa with Deep ASCII and WAR (tv screen, night one)

Baumgärtel, Tilman, Net.art 2.0 : Neue Materialien zur Netzkunst, Nürnberg : Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2001

Vuk Cosic http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/

Interview with Vuk Cosic http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2006/02/interview-of-vu.php

net.art wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net.art

Art and Audience

T-shirt worn by lady pink, New York, 1983

Jenny Holzer

When I choose art and audience as the topic I thought it was such an interesting topic to talk about. For many generations the perception of art has been an outrageous debate on how one acknowledges an artwork. Depending on how and where the artist exhibits the work relies on how the work is viewed by the audience. For example having an artwork of various forms exhibited in a gallery one is engaging with the work as a personal interest to art. On the other hand having an artwork displayed in public areas, landscape architecture forces the audience to engage to look at the work.

Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. She was born in 1950 Gallipolis Ohio. She moved to New York in the 1970 and began working creating text based artworks.

In various places around the world she displays texts using LED on landscapes, building; streets, rivers and oceans throughout Europe and America. Her work is publicly shown, the audience forcefully engages with her texts whether or not one is interested in art. Located in public spaces the spectator is being forced to acknowledge the sentences allowing them to engaged and have a personal response.

"I started the work as a parody, like the Great Ideas of the Western World in a nutshell," to make "big issues in culture intelligible as public art." She challenges the public to take position deciding whether they agree or not with what is being stated. She portrays a strong tone with the text that’s forces the reader to stop and enage.

During the 1970s she began her series truisms. The above two photo images are text from this series. The text "The abuse of powere comes as no suprise" was displayed in various areas and forms. Topic areas that she usually writes about in this period and displays are themes of war, money, violence, sex. The experiences, issues activities in life that continuously moves on and how it affects society over time. She wants the audience to take part of the text as a reminder of issues in society. She completed a few series in her art practice and all contain text aiming to the public and how the audiences enages within her work. She has completed a few series in her art practice some are Truisms, Lustmord, Inflammtory essays. Each series focuses on various issues which is significant to Holzer.

The link below are some of the quotes stated by her throughout the Truisms period.

http://mfx.dasburo.com/art/truisms.html

Read my lips, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman. National art Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT 2600, 1998, Edited by Pauline Green.

Jenny Holzer, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1998.

http://www.o-matic.com/public_art/holzer.html (The above stated quote).

Art & Audience - Brook Andrew

'Art and audience’ can discuss a number of different movements or techniques in art, and the great variety of ways the audience can react to or change an artwork. Interactive artworks, however, seem the easier way to involve the audience, so that they become an vital part of the work itself.

One work that I had intended to see, (and am now very disappointed that I missed it) was The Cell, by Brook Andrew. I am seriously annoyed that I missed that. Just look at the links. It would have been so good. This work is essentially a jumping castle. It combines art, a jumping castle and exploration. You can never top that.
Apparently the work deals with ideas of cultural identity and consumerism. I don’t need to know that to catch my interest. I just need to know it’s an inflatable rectangle you are allowed the climb in. Although this doesn’t help convey my knowledge of art, I think it appeals to a study of human nature and engaging the audience. Would you say no to climbing into the cell?
For people who do not usually take an interest in art, there may be a number of reactions. Would it attract their attention and cause them to consider the artist’s intention? Would they consider it just another one of those weird things the crazy artists do? Would it not matter what the work meant, it would just become an experience to enjoy?
This choice of material is in opposition to the title of the work. Being a cell, a container for people, who for whatever reason must be kept away from other people, this work should discourage participants from entering. However people are attracted to exploring new spaces, jumping castles and bright colours. This may show that curiosity and a desire for new experiences can overpower misgivings. This may show that the power placed on certain phrases or words, and our associations that guide our choices are illogical. This may just be an experience where the audience can become the author in a space cut off from reality.

Some links have information. Some have pictures. Enjoy.
http://www.nelsonmeersfoundation.org.au/case-studies/SHERMAN-CONTEMPORARY-ART-FOUNDATION-BROOK-ANDREWS-THE-CELL
http://www.sydneydesign.com.au/2010/index.php/exhibitions/brook-andrew-the-cell
http://manexus.ning.com/events/brook-andrew-the-cell
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/galleries/2010/2948335/image2.htm

Wolfgang Laib: Returning to What Is

This interview with Laib gives us  an impression of his views on his practice as well as how his work is viewed. Laib seems very straight forward with his ideas on life and his goals, its almost as if the distinctions that separte work, llife and art are blurred from the way that Laib describes his practice. A simple, “that’s fine” seems to be justification for him feeling that his art is to be viewed in galleries as long as context of taking nature out of its environment is still valid. Most of the interview talks about his art practice, where he finds influence and what it means to be an artist. The most important piece of information I drew from the interview was the distinctions he drew between his practice and spiritualism. Even though his work is often misinterpreted he remains hopeful that his art I a by-product of his outlook on life. Laib also touches on the connections between himself and his work, drawing comparisons between his art and his life experience. His inspiration includes his past profession as a doctor, where he grew up and lives and his life experiences. Through working as a doctor he realised that he could only reach a certain “physical” level. However through his art practice he believes ht can touch people even deeper, possibly the entire world. His aim seems to be to give people the ability to see themselves in relation to the world in a different way.

 

His use of the word,  “Neutral space” when talking about a gallery, gives a unique spin on the idea of how a gallery or institution can function. He seems to be depoliticising the position a gallery takes in relation to art that is shown within it. The gallery may as well just function as four walls and a door as far as he is concerned.

 It seems this position he takes of what type of environment a gallery is informs the decisions he makes about his materials. This use of a foreign object in a neutral place allows a more “pure” form of work to be represented and abstracted. It is through this extraction of the raw material a deeper understanding of the material can be formed. From my reading of the work I find that he is trying to find definition of an object, how it exists. It is through this observation of a material outside of its frame we can discover more about what a material is and how we relate to it. 

 Throughout the interview we are brought back to the act of living itself being an artistic practice. Laib’s tedious day-to-day routine informed his artwork and in the end his work was evidence of that. The collection of the pollen alone was a performance and metaphor of life itself. The final act of dispersing the pollen within an empty space for others to view is an act of demonstration. It is through this demonstration Laib hopes to change the way in which we view life. 

Art and Audience

I thought I would use this week's topic as an opportunity to talk about a piece that I am working on for Studio Extension. It's a shame that I don't get to see what you are all working on and vice versa, so here is a brief description of what I am trying to convey through this work. (If you haven't spotted it yet, it's the one made of clear packing tape and feathers stuck on the big white wall opposite the 2nd year studios... oh and it's not quite finished yet!)

The work is directly about the here and now, exploring transcendental concepts surrounding form, space and the void. In doing so, it abstracts architectural structures in which we function and move through within our daily lives. It incorporates the architectural surface so that the forms seemingly grow and protrude out from within the wall. The wall becomes more than just a flat two-dimensional and unexceptional structure, as the voids within the forms indicate an interior. While this illusion encourages greater awareness of the space and of our interaction with the space, the voids are impenetrable. They are filled with matter and sealed off from the viewer. This leads us to consider the space in a new light, looking into its unreal yet organic appearance.

The connection between the work and its audience is that when the onlooker views the form they become the beholder of that space, and thus more aware of their relationship with it. I think it is important to look at the notion of art and audience in a metaphysical manner, whereby a work which falls under the theme of abstract, or spiritual, or transcendental, or something along those lines, encourages the viewer to look within and reflect on their own state of existence.

Art & Audience: rAndom International and Chris O'Shea

The installation is a collaboration work of rAndom International and Chris O'Shea. The concept, design and hardware are by rAndom International, and the software, which was developed in C++ using openFrameworks and OpenCV is by Chris O'Shea.

"When members of the audience occupy the space, the mirrors inquisitively follow someone that they find interesting. Having chosen their subject, they all synchronise and turn their heads towards them. Suddenly that person can see their reflection in all of the mirrors. They will watch this person until they become disinterested, then either seek out another subject or return to their private chatter. The collective behaviour of the objects is beyond the control of the viewer, as it is left entirely to their discretion to let go of their subject.

The installation aims to reverse the roles of the viewer and the viewed during this in-voluntary interaction. It seeks to establish a different kind of relationship between viewer and technology. Will other members of the audience experience the sensation of being ignored or excluded when they are not the centre of attention? Will the installation create a feeling of un-ease and unsettlement? The work investigates if machines can evoke diverse emotional reactions with the simplest of means."

Audience, Random International, 2008

It is like a painting or sculpture automatically flipping and turning its back on me, just because it doesn't like me, or I am not interesting enough as an audience. That's what this installation is doing or inteded to do - choosing its audience, rather than audience having the liberty to engage with the artwork of their choice. It has a modern appeal, both in terms of visual aesthetic and properties. Apart from being interactive and engaging for both adults and children, it traces me back to my experiences with technology. It is about losing control and power over your own creation that you once naively thought would move in your rhythm. It makes me think of having to wait for a page to upload, and losing my patience if it takes more than few seconds, and losing a document that is yet to be saved. It doesn't understand our emotions, yet we have succumbed to it; we adjust ourselves to the way system functions, the system that was once created by one of us.

Bibliography:

http://www.chrisoshea.org/audience

Art and Politics

Gunter Demnig

Stolperstein (Stumbling Blocks)

He creates blocks displayed on sidewalks around the cities, vilages and towns in Germany. He engraves words beginning with "Here lived" one on block. He illustrates the identities of people killed by the Nazi's in reference to their name, date and place of death. He has always been interested in pulic interests cultures and issues as a political artist.

He displays the stones himself bringing back the names of the holocaust victims for the public and audience to view. His style of making blocks is quite interesting and is a exceptional way of remembering the dead. As one walks by these blocks reads the word which is imprinted on the blocks and attracts the viewer attention.

http://www.obermayer.us/award/awardees/demnig-eng.htm

http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/719/the-right-questions/

Art and Institutions

Theo Jansen creates these Kinetically powered creatures he calls Strandbeests. As you can see these wind-powered plastic tube creatures, many the size of elephants and larger are amazing to watch.

 This Dutch bastard, artist, engineer creates these sculptures to roam the beaches of Holland and survive on their own via the wind. 

Im guessing he wants to create some form of new life, personally think he's insane.

Jansen is a pretty cool guy, he doesn't afraid of anything because he exhibits outside of an institutional format. 

If you like this i suggest watching his TED clip. Or is BMW sponsored clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b694exl_oZo

(ted speech)

BMW clip

http://futurecraft.media.mit.edu/amitz/2007/09/24/theo-jansens-mechanism/

http://www.strandbeest.com/

Art and Politics

Dream City series (2007-08)

From my understanding Gao Xiaowu has never had a nine-to-five job—and he’s proud of it. However this good fortune reminds him of the millions who struggle among the mass of Chinese society. His Dream City sculptures (2007) present one view of such people: balloon-shaped men and women with tiny wings, who seem to be rooted and grounded to the earth, yearning to fly. The effect is both poignant and inspiring: these figures cannot fly. The artist writes: “I am looking for a world without reality … let’s go to a world without reality.” In the meantime, his work celebrates those who will never escape reality, yet never abandon hope. Gao Xiaowu’s pieces are a reflection of modern Chinese society, and portray innately Asian manerisisms and mental traits that combine to create a collective Asian identity.  Through his works I feel as though touch on the political climate of a pre-post communist China, if that makes any sense. His work remains very optimistic amongst the uncertainty of China’s politics. He speaks of the positive energy of the Chinese people as well as the pursuit of happiness occupying the mind of man or woman, regardless of age or social standing.

http://www.odetoart.com/artist.php/3861BDBE-1DE6-4AF0-B2D6-7524DDA3869A,Gao%20Xiao%20Wu

Politics Vs Art

Instead of talking about how an artist deals with the political situation they are presented with I wanted to breifly talk about the effect of politicians on art. We would all be pretty aware of what happend to Bill Henson in 2008, But the larger effects on the visual arts community are not as common knowledge. The way children are dipicted in are is a massive bone of contention, and since the Henson saga there has been a change to how the australia council deal with the dipiction of children and pornography in the relation to funding.What is deemed in good taste in this country is still somewhat in the hands of those "leaders" who look to the commercial network current affairs programs for a moral compass. The structure of Australia's Art scene being largly proped up by govenment investment in the Australia Council and without the philanthorpic scene of America, the UK or Europe may arguably leave Australian visual artist in the uncomfortable position of self censoring.

This is an interesting little article about the funding differnces between Opera australia and the other arts, It is another example of how politics influences the culture of this country and how much of a top down propsition the arts is, funding bodys effectivly funtion as cultural censorship but keeping the art and ideas far enough on the periphery as to not inflame any unrest from either artist or the community at large.

http://http//www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/tone-deaf-in-a-popularity-contest-20100924-15qhc.html?comments=42

Art & it's Institutions

So for some reason in the last few years all the people I know who really loved Banksy now really hate him. Starting out as a stencil artist (for the most part illegal graffiti) and then moving into more (at least for me) interesting spatial intervention work be it text based or sculptural. His work is very political and highly critical of contemporary british society and constanly seek to rupture the public private space devide. My favorite example of this is the instituional/cultural (for lack of a better term) rapes he commites in one of the iconic british institutions the Tate. By placing his own work: bastardisation of more traditional works and by not observing the gallery protocal. To those who witness the work he creates an uncanny skizm of what they expect to see in such a place, but to those who are aware of the work after the fact it questions the whole relation we have to these long established informational top down hierarchies and potetially devalues or at least in some ways balences for a time the old sacred and now somewhat esoteric cows with what is happening in the world of art today.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkUbYBo5xgs&feature=related

Art & Audience- Francis Alys

When Faith Moves Mountains (2002).

Francis Alys's work When Faith Moves Mountains is a documented performance work where 500 volunteers attempted to shift a sand dune by only using shovels. This work interests me because the work is not the affect the people have on the sand dune but the act they are doing, the conversation they engage in and the physical work they do. This work also makes me wonder who the volunteers are, how was Francis Alys able get 500 people to go out to a sand dune and just start to dig and use energy to do a somewhat pointless act.

Art & Politics- Krzysztof Wodiczko

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NewYork.

Projection, South Africa House, London (1985).

(The image is hard to see, there is a better picture on page 382 in the Art & Today book.)

Wodiczko creates public art works by projecting different images on to monumental sites around the world, in such places as London and NewYork. The images he choses to project can be seen as quite controversial and offence to some viewers. In his work Projection, South Africa, London, 1985 a projection of the Nazi flag was displayed on the front, top of the South Africa building in Trafalagar Square, London. This projection was displayed for only two hours at the top of the building. Projection, South Africa, London, 1985 was a more discreet work, because of the postion and timing the work was displayed, then some of the other works Wodiczko has created. The Nazi flag on its own has strong political by projecting the work on to the South Africa House in London which is a government building creates a deeper stronger statement about how the govenment has acted in the past and how it was in 1985 when the work was made.

The buildings that are selected to display the work have a great impact on the meaing of the work and how the audience reactes. Buildings such as the South Africa House in London and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch have a specific purpose and some have a somewhat sacred purpose, like a memorial. With these works it is easy to see that there is a strong political message, it is always easy to see how many people could be offerened by Wodiczko's works.

Art & Its Institutions- Guillaume Bijl

Guillaume Bijl creates installation works in normal gallery spaces such as the Tate gallery in Liverpool, his installation work are also very normal and are places that are used and can be found in everyday life. They are usable supermarkets and fitness centres, he has even created a psychiatric hospital inside the gallery space. Bijl's installation "Your Supermarket" (2003) which was installed in the Tate gallery in Liverpool, was simply a supermarket which anybody could use for there everyday needs like any other normal supermarket the only difference it was placed inside the gallery.
Guillaume Bijl's installation works relate to Art and It's Institutions because the artist is making a statement about how art is viewed and touched or not touched in most cases. There is always a DO NOT TOUCH sign in an art gallery, (its because of these signs it is hard to get a audience to interact with work) in the work "Your Supermarket' Bijl has taken away the do not touch signs and created a work that the audience can easily touch, buy and take home, he is making a statement about the 'rules' that are set in art galleries around the world.

ART and politics

some thoughts on the topic
history (as recorded) is self centered and selfish as it is normally recorded by the so called winners.
Art can operate closer to the personal of politics than political parties because they work to apeal to popularist opinions.
To be politicaly active you need to be at least active in politics although it could be said that doing nothing is doing something its a long bow to draw.
concerning mutual obligation, its usually seen as inherent in social interaction and participation.
Australian Nationalism- beware of the identity you have when you have no identity.
I really thought that presenting the title and details vertically at the side of the picture read from top down is a good idea, its not so distracting to the image but the info. is there.