from Haley --

Hey Hermione,

I didn't do one specific artist, but rater a statue in down town Cardiff that acts
as a medium for many artists in the San Diego Area. It's a site where a lot of
artists will work on a public display for a couple weeks and then in the middle of
the night they run out and set it up so by morning the Kook has been transformed.
Some artists take a lot of time in planning their piece, while some just use it as a
decoration. It pops up on the news a lot when a particularly extravagant piece has
gone up. Here is a link of some of the pictures
http://www.google.com/search?q=cardiff+kook&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnsa&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=YDdgT-_TI8_OiAK01vCRDQ&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1229&bih=674,
they are pretty cool to check out!

From Kathleen:

I stumbled upon some links that are fun examples of performance art.
They're old videos so I'm pretty sure the class has seen some of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MBBr-a2KnM

The Improv Everywhere YouTube channel has a bunch of other videos. These
were two of my favorites.

Christopher - Ai-wei-wei

The artist I choose was Ai-wei-wei.  I stumbled across an image on the
internet one day about an artist that was arrested and all I remembered
was an overweight asian man almost naked jumping in the air.  When you
told us to pick an artist, I just searched up controversial asian artist
and Ai-wei-wei poped up.  I was actually interested in his works because I
found out he was Chinese, and I have never really been exposed to many
asian artists at all.  What I found out was about how he is openly
critical about the Chinese government.  Through my VIS classes, I have
began to admire people who stand up for their beliefs, even more so if it
is controversial, and show it through expression, whatever that expression
might be.  One of his works that drew me in is "Sunflower Seeds" as it
shows me just how powerful such a simple idea can be.  It was was one
hundred million hand painted little porcelain beads, but the message
behind it of about mass consumption, chinese industry, and famine just
made so much sense.  It really inspires me to use art to show my
underlying messages as well.

your artists pt2

Sean:

Allan Kaprow

Here's a link to the MOCA's reenactments of his happenings in 2008.

http://www.moca.org/kaprow/

-----

Mandy: 

Krzysztof Wodiczko

your artists pt 1

Janise: Niki de Saint Phalle "Sun God" and countered Jackson Pollock's drip
paintings (and other abstraction expression artists) by shooting
canvas/objects with paint 

---- 

The artist I chose to present today was Robert Irwin because of his
sculpture: "Two Running Violet V Forms." I chose this artist and sculpture
because of its random presence within the Muir forest, and the stories
that it has sparked throughout campus. I like the idea of making something
that doesn't seem to belong, and yet, it does. People have said that the
fences were meant for catching giraffes, but it's actually meant to
capture light and amplify the changes in nature. I was also interested in
Terry Allen's "singing/talking/silent trees," because of what stories
they've sparked. People on campus talk about how at night we can hear the
trees sing and talk because the forest might be haunted or enchanted, but
it's actually because of Terry Allen's trees. From these two artists, I
want to create something out of the norm and set it within the forest or
within the canyons and perhaps my sculpture will go unnoticed, or perhaps
my sculpture will be noticed and stories will begin to form.

-April Shen
 

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Deanne: Tara Donovan


----

My artist is Roman de Salvo, someone who is very familiar in public art in
San Diego. I don't remember quite how I stumbled upon it, but I chose to
focus on his work "Crab Carillon", located on the 25th street bridge in
San Diego. As with most of de Salvo's work, "Crab Carillon" makes light of
the every day objects, and changes or upgrades them in a delightful way.
The bridge's fence separating the road and the sidewalk is actually a
series of chimes, which when struck accordingly, create a tune! The tune
was written by Joseph Waters specifically for the work, and is a
palindrome! The same tune is played forward and backwards along the fence.
This dimension in the work really stuck out to me, as de Salvo
intriguingly makes the work more complex in construction, but more simple
when interacting with the work (similar to "Legway"). "crab Carillon" also
holds a special place in my heart because its a childish gesture; running
alongside a fence dragging a stick along the surface of the fence. Placing
this work on a freeway walkway overpass awakens the space with a juvenile
virtue. And how simply awesome is it that you can run back and forth, back
and forth with the same tune playing each way! This work also stuck out to
me because I've become increasingly more interested by the use of sound as
an art medium, and possibly other senses.

- Rachelle

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Minsi - Kimsooja

please send me names of artists taked about on our outside rambles

manifestos

http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo5.htm
http://www.stuckism.com/stuckistmanifesto.html
http://www.terezakis.com/realist-manifesto.html
http://www.daaq.net/folio/bibliography/b_koolhaas.html
http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/mexico/zapmanifest.html
http://mediebol.stu.cofc.edu/dogmemanifesto.htm
http://www.freemedialibrary.com/index.php/Dada_Manifesto_%281918,_Tristan_Tzara%29
https://www.google.com/search?q=artist+manifestos&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=xYk&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=f9hXT7DDFqTaiQLyx7iPCw&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1067&bih=506

Final

Thought I'd give you a heads up on what will serve as our 'final' -  written piece of work summarizing the quarter's progression, capturing the essence of your work and predicting future directions.

I imagine this as a synthesis between all 5 Works and the abstracts you have already written. I want this piece of text to gleam with the intensities, necessities and impossibilities discovered and explored over the last 10 weeks, pushing the struggles you pursue into tangible form for the next stage of your artistic itineraries. Use this piece of writing as a chance to locate the place (or state of awareness) you have arrived at through this class, and as a means of projecting yourself into the next situation you wish to find yourself in as a practicing artist.

In the loosest sense, think of this as an artist's proposal. Propose what you want to do in the future: where, how, why and with whom.  It's a kind of manifesto,  a personal declaration of purpose and ambition. 

The writing should be a minimum of two, maximum 4 pages long. Feel free to experiment creatively with the aesthetics of text on the page, with lists, diagrams and sketches, but not to the detriment of deep, reflective prose.

I will read and review these in the mode of someone considering applications for a competitive artist's fellowship - i.e. the elegance of your language, insight, wit and integrity will undoubtedly contribute to the success of the statement (and it's portion of your final grade).

due Monday March 19th, 4pm. Deliver to my studio (VAF 273) with sketchbook/journal, and documentation of 5 works and abstracts. 

WHERE: (nature/ culture/ ecology)

dwellings, mobile, inside and out:

Cornelia Parker: exploding shed  
'Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991) is composed of the ragged fragments of a garden shed, which was blown up by the British Army for the artist Cornelia Parker. It was a carefully orchestrated event that took place in the grounds of the School of Ammunition near Banbury.'
exploding shed

Rachel Whiteread's HOUSE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtsYIIIfkw

Simon Starling: 'Shedboatshed': the massive structure Shedboatshed (2005) was a looming presence in the gallery. Starling had discovered the shed upstream from the museum on the Rhine. The building had been cut up, its parts temporarily refashioned into a ‘Weidling’, a local type of boat. The boat had then been punted downstream, disassembled outside the museum, and the original shed reassembled in the gallery, though not made whole. Walking into its dingy space, with light pouring through awkward slits and gaps, gradually you could attribute its broken appearance to this double metamorphosis. The cuts in the walls corresponded to the contours of the former boat; the now redundant holes were where bolts had been holding the craft together.
 images: shedboatshed

article in Frieze: http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/simon_starling1/

Dun Ho Suh, Fallen Star: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/suh.shtml

Roger Hiorns Seizure

Mildred's Lane:
www.mildredslane.com

mildred's lane images
Renovating Walden
Bas Jan Ader: http://www.basjanader.com/

Art 21 'ecology' episode: http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-ecology

Sophie Calle: guardian article
interview


Hasan Elahi:website
wikipedia



From lecture (activities): 

- 'curating relationships'

- Material conditions ---------------->  discursive spaces

1.  locate a  disscussion that might arise from the shared experience of one of the above works (or a work spoken about in lecture, i.e. Ricardo, Kyong or Michael's.) Describe to the rest of the class what material conditions of the work inspired this choice, and host the conversation, bringing the room into coversation. 

2. Each decide upon a conversation or relationship you would like your own work (and more specifically work5) to catalyze. Explain this to the rest of us. 

Spend the rest of class time researching a work of public/ site-specific art to present on Wednesday.

Prepare for Monday/ Wednesday classes

I'd like you all to research and present one instance of 'public' or 'site-specific' art for class on mon/wed.
We'll use these examples along with material from lecture and Michael, Kyong and Ricardo's talks to begin discussing issues that relate to work5.

Feel free to use the library and bring in books/material relating to the artist/work of your choice. Try to get under the skin of an artist or collective who's working methodology intersects with your own interests or methods.
Of course you also have the whole internet-world to explore and use as a means of researching this work. This site is a great starting point, with a mass of links to other public art-related blogs:
http://thepublicartnetwork.blogspot.com/

enjoy!

Work 5 (last one!)

WORK 5 – WHERE

This final prompt addresses the context and location of your work, removing it from the territory of our classroom and discussion, through extension into the public realm.

To re-cap on our visiting artists:

Michael spoke about his radio projects, directly engaging local communities through practical workshops and on-the-street interviews. His mode of working becomes more about curating and catalyzing happenings and empathies, than the individual authorship of singular artworks.

Kyong Park’s mobile dwelling caused a series of re-contextualisation, as a module of Detroit literally migrated as an events-space, to be re-inhabited in various cities across the world. Here the fabric of a specific place  (and the issues embedded within it) becomes a means to strike up new conversations, as the house relates differently to each locality whilst retaining its own narrative.

Kyong also initiated Storefront, an experimental institution in the heart of NYC that continues to host some of America’s most engaged and innovative public projects: http://www.storefrontnews.org/

Ricardo Dominguez’ ‘bio-political’ art practice, often in collaboration in forms such as Electronic Disturbance Theatre continues to probe, reveal, and antagonize existing cultural boarders (social, material and political) in the USA. 

His use of inexpensive materials and the internet as a crowd-sourcing platform inspires a realization that resistance and radical activism need not be supported by expensive technologies. Like immigrants sliding across the boarder on re-cycled car seats, the loudest statements and conceptual explosions can be small in scale and materially modest:

It’s not the size of the thing itself that matters, but the stretch it demands on existing conventions.

Dominguez’ intense involvement in the situations he aims to address becomes a powerful activism that utilizes the languages of politics, philosophy and art. The resulting works percolate the fabric of the everyday, to suggest and activate alternatives to specific repressions of contemporary existence.

THE PROMPT

Beginning once more with the struggles and motivations developed throughout the last 4 works, this is the time to locate your practice in a space where it communicates with a broader audience of your choosing. 

Now think critically about who you want your work to address, and how. It is the point at which various platforms of exhibition become relevant: the gallery is one such platform with it’s own specific audience of viewers who are largely engaged with history and theory of art itself – many others exist, from non-profit spaces for public participation, to public plazas, to the wedges of unused land in Gordon Matta-Clark’s Fake Estates: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/oddlots.php

...re/ the above link, Cabinet magazine itself acts as a curated space for the two-dimensional display and dissemination of artwork (beyond reproduction of work elsewhere, the printed journal can function as a public space for the display of research-based art). 

Whether your instinct is to disrupt, collect, question or activate, it is crucial that your art becomes a conscious intervention. Whilst production of work can be self-exploratory, its exhibition will unavoidably involve communicating with a certain segment of humanity. Its affect ultimately depends upon the relation between the work itself, and the audience who experience it. The strength of an artwork often relies on an awareness of this social context. In Teddy’s words, this is about curating relationships.

That’s not to say that work must be immaterial, as Anya’s ice-block sculpture goes to show, these relationships can emerge from the existing conditions of a space or place. And a sculptural work can itself be the producer of new relationships through the gatherings it causes (the youths who returned daily to Anya’s pump-house). Interactions can be activated by the ‘stuff’ of art in a gallery context too – as in Felix Gonzalez-Torrez’ heaps of sweets: what does it mean to gather? To eat together? To build together? To move a mountain together?

So, this week: 

-       Perform, build, or instigate a process in a public space. This should relate back to a now more finely-grained awareness of the personal frustrations that motivate your practice.

-       Carefully consider the social realm you plan to address. Justify the location (its material and social preconditions), and remain conscious of the relationships ‘curated’ by your work.

-       Fully document both the work itself, and its relational outcomes. Present  this documentation and a report on the responses, behaviours and opinions of the public who engage with it.

-       Use the abstract to fully justify and (during/after) the event, criticize the effectiveness of your work in this specific context.