Week 1: (sigh) I don’t like art history

because it is boring, narrow, uncultured and masculine.

Though I have to say, that was in the past. People of today have more reason to view art history more favourably because we have grown to be more inclusive and explore global cultures.

Art historians started to acknowledge a world beyond the west, and with everyone being treated increasingly equally, different accounts of history are now less biased as there is a collective, consensual narrative painted by the analysis of people of varying genders and cultures.

I think when we personally find things about art history that we are interested in, be it names, dates, pictures or biographies, it would be easier and more enjoyable for us to engage in art history.

🙂

 

Research Critique: The Collective Narrative (Cut Piece by Yoko Ono)

The collective narrative.

As we belong to a generation that grew together with technology, we might have not noticed how the virtual space plays a huge part in our daily lives and how it has become a significant feature of our identity. I think that as social beings, openness and collaboration are natural to us, to a certain extent at least. We grow up with social media, where we are allowed to interact with friends and family even when we are not physically together. We even get to interact with people we have never met before, across cultures and lifestyles, eliminating distance and heightening global understanding. Conversation is open to everyone, anywhere, anytime.

So, this virtual space allows for narratives to transform into something increasingly collaborative, involving more than one person in its making. Not saying that collaboration is not possible without the net, but it’s just that physical boundaries are eradicated, making collaboration more convenient and making content more… wholesome? I’m not sure how to describe it, but I’m sure that you would agree with me that the net has allowed for better understanding and acceptance across communities.

Here is what I have to say on Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”.

In a collective narrative, different points of views come into play, creating a story with multiple authors. In Randall Packer’s essay on Open Source Studio, when talking about the collective narrative, he mentioned exquisite corpse, a game in which a composited work is born through the contributions of multiple people/artists. I think that this is a great example of how people’s choices play a part in creating and defining the art work, like in Yoko Ono’sCut Piece. Whatever the final result is, is determined by how the audience chooses to interact with the performer, and the work is constantly changing throughout the performance. Even when Ono performs it again at different locations, the work will never be the same as different people would interact with her or respond to the performance in different ways.

Ono’s “Cut Piece” has opened up dialogues and discussions about social issues of the time, of femininity, of how women were perceived, which was a very bold move, especially at the time then. Both men and women came to cut pieces of her clothes, and you can clearly see that people had different approaches to doing this. Some cut more, some cut less. And through this interaction, you can see a glimpse of these people’s characters and how they regard Ono as a subject, as a woman. Their different reactions combined, create an overall story about how women were treated as sexual objects, they sit there submissively with no say to whatever is done to them, which extends to just how they are treated and how they are expected to respond in general. This mirrors real life, and the real interaction with real life people, I feel, just gives it that much more credibility and authenticity to her message, rather than if she just created a piece that states her opinions on the matter.

Overall, I think that we could be more aware of our actions in the net, acknowledge and consider the possibilities that the internet can open for humans. The world is already at our fingertips, let’s not take it for granted.

Micro Project 1. Video Double: Regardez Moi

Many eyes
Through glass and metal
Watch me make my art,
Peer into my life

Maybe one day

I’ll let you in
I’ll let everyone in

As an artist, I have always wanted for people to know my work. I want to share my art, but I feel that by doing so, I am also inadvertently exposing my vulnerabilities and weaknesses to the world, allowing strangers to critique me.

Through their screens they would watch me and if I choose so, even in my personal life (which is usually an influence to my work). One day I’d like to have the confidence to expose myself to the world, just like my alter ego.

Research Critique: Open Source Studio

I think that as artists and designers, we all draw inspiration and/or are influenced by many different things, whether consciously or unconsciously. Different things being circumstances, family, friends, other artists, objects, architecture, science, literature, and literally anything and everything else. I feel that a lot of art is produced out of a response to something, be it external or internal, and that as social beings, it is only our nature to share experiences, which can be born regardless; through interaction or non-interaction.

As we progress into the future, we are becoming an increasingly comparative society. I don’t think we would be reaching a superlative status anytime soon. We have more freedom; of thought, of expression. Technology is better than ever before, allowing for better communication, faster connectivity, wider reach, more and more of everything.

LIMITS NO LONGER EXIST.

In Randall Packer’s essay, he described how the artist studio used to be a finite space, and how it has expanded into an ever-expanding realm of cyberspace.

Truly, the internet has allowed for a wealth of possibilities. In Packer’s words, we are now able to “move and roam beyond the physical world: opening up new potentialities for collaborative research and peer-to-peer artistic production amplified by the network“. All these inventions have been continuously developing, and one such product of the development is the open source system, whose main idea is to create a free, open database for everyone to use each others’ ideas to develop their own artistic, intellectual purposes. This however contradicts or confuses the idea that creative people should be credited and monetarily compensated for their work just as an engineer is compensated for their inventions.

I think that a compromise is what is most appropriate. Of course, we must recognise artists for their original ideas and creativity, but we should also be generous in sharing them and collaborating with others, because only then ideas can be developed into something greater. It would be nice to make use of the variety in our thinking, ideas, and help each other improve.

Taken from an article from Zacs Garden on “Best Garden Tools”, https://zacsgarden.com/how-to-start-a-garden/best-tools/

Think of 5 gardeners who each have a single, different tool. Sure they can take care of their plant with their single tool, but only with sharing tools and working with each other, would they be able to cultivate a beautiful garden.

We have it easy – we have this database technology. It’s up to us. We could choose to be cooped up in our own worlds and create isolated bubbles surrounding our selves, or we could use it to cultivate a conducive place for learning and growing.

You choose.