Key Work Selection: ‘For the Guggenheim’ by Jenny Holzer

Words projected on the outside of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

(image taken from: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/jenny-holzers-for-the-guggenheim)

I chose the work ‘For the Guggenheim’ by Jenny Holzer.

Jenny Holzer is well known for her aphorism and condense narratives on LED billboards, engraved in plaques or projected on buildings.  They generally are condensed into the various series of ‘laments’, ‘truisms’ and ‘Inflammatory Essays’

Holzer’s work ‘For the Guggenheim’ is a large scale projection of various aphorisms and condense narratives over the Guggenheim museum. The building was overlaid with scrolling bold, white texts that ranged from one liners and short narratives.  They pull various emotions and intrigue the audience to think upon the words of advice flashing on the Guggenheim, some almost haunting drawing one to think of past memories. An example of such quotes, “the little soul roams among, those landscapes, disappear, returns, draws near, moves away, evasive…” it somehow intrigues one to imagine, wander and maybe reflect on what these words mean to them.

Holzer believes in both message and the medium used, as such her words are a call to the general public to make them think Critically. One of her most famous sentences, ‘Protect Me from What I Want’ and ‘Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise’ are used to draw people to social injustice.

References:

  • The Art Story. (2018). Jenny Holzer Overview and Analysis. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-holzer-jenny.htm [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018].
  • Guggenheim. (2018). Jenny Holzer: For the Guggenheim. [online] Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/jenny-holzers-for-the-guggenheim [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018].
  • Smith, R. (2018). Review/Art; Holzer Makes the Guggenheim a Museum of Many Messages. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/13/arts/review-art-holzer-makes-the-guggenheim-a-museum-of-many-messages.html [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018].

The Online World

Hyperessay

The third space network is a live video broadcast, which focus on broadcasting creative dialogue all over the world.

At the start, what becomes prominent in the broadcast is the various technical issues that appear in the broadcast. Glitches with the sound system, where the poor keynote speaker could not hear everyone else. Glitches in film, where the video would pause but the sound would run on. The speakers would sometime speak out of the microphone and no one can hear them. The intresting thing is how people adapt and make do in this highly connected world, where something goes wrong, there are a few other devices that can be made use of to keep the symposium afloat.

(An image of the group chat slightly after the first symposium started. The Key note speaker could not hear anyone speaking, so cues were given through the group chat.)

Day 1, 29 March 2018, 8pm-11pm

The first day starts of with Keynote speaker Dr Maria Chatzichristodoulou who talked about the telematics art.

From Google, the definition of Telematic is the branch of information technology which deals with the long-distance transmission of computerized information. More simply put Dr Chatzichistodoulo describes Telematic to be live/liveness and interactivity.

She says, ” It transform the screen into a live encounter, in that sense it joins the space of the live performance and the audience, making them co-performers.”

This ability to link people in real time, gives the audience, once only silent witnesses to an art form, a chance to interject their opinions and ideas into the work, influencing the views of their fellow audience, and sometimes the work itself.  In a way this form of art embraces the connection between interaction and the media. Once, the media had only carried the recordings of art works. The media then could not influence the its audience in that contemporary moment and time, however, through telematics communication technology, everything is brought into the now, no matter where you are, so long as there is a screen before you.

Image result for hole in space

(Source taken from: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/hole-in-space/)

 

Dr Chatzichristodoulou brings in works like ‘Hole in Space’ by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, to emphasis the potential that interactivity gives performance art. As we explored in a previous essay, ‘Hole in Space’ is a satelite connected projection of two areas in USA, one in Los Angeles and the other in New York City.  The projection had first invoked curosity from the people of these separate states, before they started to make use of the opportunity to ‘meet’ each other, on screen for the first time in many years, for some. It creates a sort of unpredictability as various people come together with different intentions in mind. As such this experience, would result in very different reactions which creates a unique shared experience and can influence the audience better as it involves them. 

(Screen shot of Dr Maria Chatzichristodoulou explaining the work ‘Telematic Dreaming’)

Subsequently she mentions this work ‘Telematic Dreaming’ by Paul Sermon. ‘Telematic Dreaming’ is done in two locations, the first with the artist and the other location has the audience. The work features a projection on a bed, and the audience and the artist can interact with each other on the bed through this live video projection. What was interesting about this work was a scenario Dr Chatzichristodoulou had pointed out, where a memeber of the audience had abused the artist projection on the bed. Dr  Chatzichristodoulou had then begun to question the idea of ethics of such actions, whether this abuse would be considered as such, just because the artist was not physically harmed.

It  made me consider the power of the third space. How in this day and age, how millenials spend so much time on the third space that it almost seem as though we could be physically in it. This kind of abuse, we label it as Cyber bullying, where one would spout or post various threats online to ‘hurt’ others but not really.

Subsequently, Annie Abrahams had done a live performance. she had collabed with a few other people who were from different parts on the world, relating to the idea of politics.

What i fould most interesting was the various voices and statements that were said, “excellent”, “status”, “3.961”, “144”, “excellent” “300,000 milliseconds”, it is like a computer comming online. Also, alongside the various images above, they would say various sentences, that they believe were something related to politics. It just brings across the point that in this day and age, it is so easy to connect and bring people of various backgrounds together to collaborate and make art.

Day 2, 30 April 2018, 8pm-11pm

The speaker Matt Adam’s had spoken of Blast Theory. Blast Theory is a pioneering artist group creating interactive art to explore social and political questions, placing audience members at the centre of their work.

(screenshot of Matt Adams explaining ‘Kidnap’)

His First example was ‘Kidnap’ which revolves around two voluntary members of the public winning a lottery to be “kidnapped’. Subsequently they were kidnapped and taken away to a safe house for 48 hours, with the video recording streaming them live for the entire 48 hours.

“Once you put on the bag, it feels very real” says one of the volunteers, “Like you are not in control of anything.” and it is true to an extent, handing all control to strangers, and trusting that everything is an act, when they do actually have the ability to make you feel vulnerable, to harm you.

(Screenshot of Matt Adams explaining ‘Uncle Roy’)

Subsequently there is ‘Uncle Roy’ which has two roles to play, the first being the people off the street with only 60 minutes to find the missing uncle Roy, through clues provided by a hand held computer. The second being the people online, whom can moniter the progress of the street player, and guide them by giving them instructions to where uncle Roy could be.

It brings across this idea of team work, and bring people of different communities together. It is almost as though they looking for Uncle Roy together in the same place. In the end they were made to answer a few questions regarding stranges, ‘whether they would help a stranger in a crisis’. I find this quite interesting, as it does reflect how connected the person is to society, how willing they are to help each other. It makes me realised sometimes, despite being so well connected, and willing to connect with strangers online, it makes some people reserved when meeting face to face.

Conclusion:

I feel that the idea of collaborating with others through online platforms has a larger potential to influence more people across various countries, so long they have the internet. The third space, that we have constantly talked about also has a various platforms and tools that can be explored to make art works more engagine and interactive. We consider them playful, and almost whimsical as collaboraters can create contrasting images, or interact in a certain way that goes beyond the boundaries of the physical plane.

The Day that Cardillacs Stands up

Artwork Review

(Source taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch#/media/File:Cadillac_Ranch.jpg)

Title: Cadillac Ranch

Artist: Chip Lord

Year created: 1974/1994

Medium: Installation

Overview

Cadillac Ranch is an installation of 10 Cadillac’s buried nose deep in a line, in the dirt along route 66 west of Amarillo.

Its almost as if they were droven off a cliff and plunged head first into the ground. Now useless, the owners wander off looking for help and the Cadillacs lay, left there buried with their tailfins in the air waiting for travellers to chance upon it.

After awhile, the work was subjugated to the whims of the travellers, meaning they were either defaced with graffitti or ripped apart as souvenirs. Whats left of these cars are but a line of rainbow coloured skins of their former selves, rebirth into comic relief for a travellers amusement.

Cadillac Fatality.

(Source taken from: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220)

Ant Farm

As mentioned by Constance Lewallen, in his writing ‘Still Subversive After all These Years’

Ant Farm — a collective of radical architects who were also video, performance, and installation artists but, above all, visionaries and cultural commentators — offers an intriguing look into the conceptual activity of the late sixties and seventies, a time that has proved to be seminal for succeeding generations of adventuresome artists.

Their work embraces ‘the latest technologies to disseminate its scathing criticism of American culture and mass media’.

In the case of the Cadillac Ranch it is a commentary about consumerism and maybe pop culture. What a car and a crashed car is in society. More interestingly is how members of the online communitty take to the idea of a crashed car.

Its almost Ironic, how one can act so indifferent and even gleeful of the idea of chancing upon a crashed car. How satirical their photos get when they interact with the car itself.

Decades have passed. The Cadillacs have now been in the ground as art longer than they were on the road as cars. They are stripped to their battered frames, splattered in day-glo paint splooge, barely recognizable as automobiles. Yet Cadillac Ranch is more popular than ever.

As quoted from roadsideamerica.com

The pink period was one of the most popular.

in an attempt to cover the grafitti

And in a way it is quite interesting as it changes in an unsual way with time.  The artwork evolves with evey added touch of a new tourist own creativity into the mix. It keeps conversations going, give people something new to talk about.

Sources:

  • https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
  • http://www.stretcher.org/features/still_subversive_after_all_these_years/
  • http://amarillo.com/stories/070404/fea_artbeat.shtml#.WpaDXK6WbIU
  • http://www.spatialagency.net/database/ant.farm
  • https://www.moma.org/collection/works/107284
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch
  • https://www.eai.org/titles/cadillac-ranch-1974-1994
  • http://slide.ly/buzz/view/0753e05835bf697ae7eee5b1329f801f

 

Together, a story of many

Week 3 Essay

Hello World! Or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise

Artwork title: Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise

Artist: Christopher Baker

Medium: Multi-channel multimedia installation

Year created: 2008

The Review

Hello world is a video installation where 5,000 video diaries of various individuals are played along a wall. The people in the videos can be seen speaking in their rooms, kitchens, a space of comfort.

Walking into the gallery space, one is instantly immersed in layers of voices, overlapping to the point that the words blend and become noise. It is as though you are listening to them talk about something intimate, nd at the same time, their personal issues are made public. You hear everything but at the same time you hear nothing in a sea of voices.

His works is a visual representation of the modern lifestyle of being constantly interconnected despite being far apart.

The concept is similar to that mentioned in Randall Packer’s writing ‘The Third Space’ in regards to the art work ‘Hole in Space’. He mentions the idea of a ‘third space’ being created, or a virtual identity being transimitted from one party to another through technology.

Image result for hole in space art

(source taken from: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/hole-in-space/)

In this case the works differ in the the sense that ‘Hole in Space’ is a live broadcast, which is ephemeral, it is ever changing depending on the people and how they interact. On the other hand, ‘Hello World!’ is a collection of pre-recorded videos, hence the interaction becomes one-way. That means that there would be a distinctive lack of communication between the people whose videos are put up.

When we were in class, we talk about how communication is important when working as a collective whole to make a work cohesive. So it is amazing to see the images contrast with each despite the lack negotiation.

Credits

  • Christopher Baker: Hello World! (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2018, from http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/3200/christopher-baker-hello-world!
  • Gallery, S. (n.d.). Christopher Baker. Retrieved February 07, 2018, from http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/christopher_baker_hello_world2.htm
  • Packer, Randall, Open Source Studio, IEEE Spectrum, 2015

A guide to Intimacy for Asexuals

Image result for Annie Abrahams the big kiss

(Source taken from: https://thirdspacenetwork.com/annie-abrahams/)

Title: The Big Kiss

Artist: Annie Abrahams

Medium: Webcam performance installation art

Year: 2008

The Review

On October 10 2008, Annie Abrahams set up a live video shoot of her and Mark River sitting on opposite ends of a partition, simulating a kiss over a split video screen.

(Source is a screen shot from: https://vimeo.com/2070207)

From the image we can see the two artists manuvering their faces in front of the camera while looking towards the screen to see if their faces were match up forming a ‘kiss’. The live video consist of the both of them sticking their tongues out and pressing kisses againgst each other as though they are making out with each other physically.

According to the website thirdspacenetwork, Abrahams’ works explores the ‘intimacy’ and even ‘sexuality’ of humans ‘in the “telematic embrace”‘ which is the internet, and the idea of ‘being alone but together’. It draws parallels to how the millenials of the 21st century have used their technology like snapchat, skype, etc to have real time conversations with each other despite being in different locations. It is almost as if conversing with an object and not an actual person.

As mentioned by Randall Parker in his writing ‘the third space’, people can assume their internet identities in a ‘reinvented world of their choosing’. They can take walks with each other, converse with each other, initate acts of intimacy, etc without actually touching. It becomes this invisible barrier between two people that keep them apart, but still together at the same time. As a result, this ‘portal’ which allows us to see each other in different locations has the potential to become surreal or fantasy like because it does not show the ‘utimate truth’.

If we cross reference this work, with Nam June Paik’s ‘Egg Grows’ we can see a similarity with this idea of the third space being ‘decieving’.

Image result for egg grows nam june paik (Source taken from: http://kmccarth.umwblogs.org/2015/01/26/nam-june-paik/)

From above we see an egg being broadcasted in real time ov various Tvs placed in different positions and of different sizes. As a result the images of the egg become distorted to fit the TV screens, making them bigger then usual, or positioned weirdly.

In conclusion this becomes an alternate reality that conincides with the actual reality we exist in, however, it has far more potential to be manipulated into something that we want to see of want others to see.

Sources:

  • http://bram.org/toucher/TBK.html
  • https://thirdspacenetwork.com/annie-abrahams/
  • Paker R. ,The third Space, http://www.randallpacker.com/third-space/
  • Video recording of ‘The Big Kiss’: https://vimeo.com/2070207