Thoughts on ‘The Function of the Studio’ by Daniel Buren

Posted on 15 February 2013 by beckybendylegs

Last week we were given an article to read: ‘The Function of the Studio’ by Daniel Buren (translated by Thomas Repensek), written in 1971. The essay asks, in basic terms, what function does the studio have for the artist and the artwork? I found this question interesting because I had never before asked it. My ‘studio’ is the sitting room, mostly. Or basically wherever I happen to be with some paints, a canvas and brushes.

My studio

My studio

The essay talks about the ‘first frame’, which is the artist’s immediate environment, and the ‘second frame’, which is the gallery space. As the essay states ‘…the museum and gallery on the one hand and the studio on the other are linked to form the foundation and edifice of the same system. To question one while leaving the other intact accomplishes nothing’ (p.51). So in other words the studio is vitally important to the artwork. The essay argues that in the studio the artwork is ‘closest to its own reality’ (p.53). Thereby removing the artwork from the studio it is removing it from its own reality.

Buren goes on to state that the place where the artwork ends up is not defined by the work. If that were the case the artwork would need to be identical to all other artworks. If, on the other hand, we are to admit the uniqueness of every work of art then it needs to be accepted that no gallery can ever adapt itself to the work.

There is an alternative, he posits, and that is if the work is to be seen elsewhere apart from the studio then either ‘the definitive place of the work must be the work itself’ (p.55). In other words the space of the museum has no relation to the space of the work. Or the artist ‘is led to conceive all possible situations of every work’ (ibid). This means that the gallery space becomes a blank frame, uniformly lit and neutralized. The artist must thus ‘banalize his own work’ (ibid).

The studio acts like a bubble. In the studio the artist experiences a flow of positive energy. It is almost like being in a hypnotic state. Perhaps for some the need to create art is cathartic? Or perhaps it is like an uncontrollable urge?

I think that what Buren is trying to say is that the artwork is in a state of constant flux, it changes depending on its location. To the artist the artwork is like a child. The artist is concerned about feedback, acts upon feedback, feedback throws up new questions about the artwork. It feels safe to have the artwork in the studio, surrounded by the things that have influenced it. It feels very scary to let it out into the outside world, bereft of its ‘things’.

This article was written in 1971 and that is over 40 years ago now. Perhaps someone needs to come along and update it. The concept of the gallery space has changed quite dramatically since then, and even the idea of the studio has too. The studio isn’t necessarily one single, well-lit space, it could be a laptop, a corner of a room, the great outdoors. We have those ‘sculptures in the expanding field‘ who carve their artwork in rock or snow where it is to be viewed. We also have artists who create their artwork straight in the gallery space. I agree with a lot of Buren’s ideas, such as the fact that I am influenced by my surroundings when I am creating an artwork and that the artwork changes when it is in a gallery. Reading it and discussing it has given me a lot of food for thought.

References:

Buren, Daniel (trans. Thomas Repensek; 1971) ‘The Function of the Studio’

Tutorial Notes

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More ‘expanding field’ artists from today’s tutorial

Posted on 11 February 2013 by beckybendylegs

Artists working in the expanding field can be subdivided into the various categories discussed in the essay ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’. I didn’t divide my findings this way though in my previous posting, but it is a useful exercise to help understand what the concept of the ‘expanding field’ actually means for art. These below are the artists and artworks my fellow students came up with for their homework, divided into categories.

Marked Sites

Michael Hiezer ‘Double Negative’. This work is a piece of land art to be found in the Moapa Valley in Nevada. It is a good example of artwork that is created out of the landscape. Double Negative was completed in 1969. The negative here refers in part to both the natural and man-made negative space that forms the work. It shows both what is not there and what has been displaced.

Negative space in the landscape

Negative space in the landscape

Dennis Oppenheim ‘Cancelled Crop’. A field was harvested in the form of an X where the grain was isolated in it’s raw state, without being processed. The crop was planted and cultivated for the sole purpose of withholding it from intervention.

Not a crop circle but a crop 'X'

Not a crop circle but a crop ‘X’

Walter de Maria ‘The Lightning Field’. This artwork, from 1979, was comprised of a number of polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid one mile by one kilometer. The poles were spaced 220 feet apart. This work was intended to be experienced over an extended period of time.

I hear thunder, I hear thunder…

Michael Hansen ‘Organic Highway’. This piece of work, constructed in 1989 by Danish artist, Hansen, is a good example of a marked site; sculpture or art in the landscape.

organic highway

The organic highway – a bumpy road

Andy Goldsworthy, ‘Five Men, Seventeen Days, Fifteen Boulders, One Wall’. The title says it all really.

One JCB?

One JCB?

 Site Construction

Robert Smithson ‘Partially Buried Woodshed’. This is an example of a work of art created within the landscape, or blended into the landscape rather than out of the landscape. This piece was created in 1970.

Partially Buried Woodshed

Partially Buried Woodshed

Charles Simonds, ‘Dwellings’. Since the early 1970s, Simonds has been carving hidden dwellings for a race of nomadic ‘Little People’ out of the urban landscape in places such as Paris, New York and Shanghai.

Houses hidden in the bricks

Houses hidden in the bricks

Axiomatic Structures

Christo, ‘Reichtstag’. Christo’s silver foil wrapped Reichtstag is a good example of an artwork that lies between architecture and not-architecture (an artwork that transforms the architectural space).

Reichtstag covered in silver

Reichtstag covered in silver

Sol LeWitt ‘Four-sided Pyramid’. This construction was installed in Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art sculpture garden in 1999.

A four-sided pyramid

A four-sided pyramid

 Modular Structures

Rachel Whiteread, ‘House’. This strange structure made in 1993 stood in the East End of London. The sculpture was made by taking the Victorian building and filling it with liquid concrete and then stripping away the walls and roof. The result is a rather spooky ‘negative’ of the original building.

A house's innards

A house’s innards

James Turrell, ‘Skyspace’. In the 1970s, Turrell began to construct his ‘skyspaces’ which were enclosed spaces open to the sky through a precise hole in the ceiling. Inside the room, the viewers sit on benches along the edge to view the sky through an opening in the roof.

Perchance to stare at the sky and dream...

Perchance to stare at the sky and dream…

Antony Gormley, ‘Field for the British Isles’. In 1993 Gormley created this amazing sea of little people. ‘Field for the British Isles’ was created as a huge assembly of around 40,000 terracotta people.

We're all individuals!

We’re all individuals!

All these are examples of art that isn’t just something to look at. The art is integrated into the landscape or the gallery space. It is site-specific and interactive.

References:

Tutorial Notes

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Twenty ‘expanding field’ artworks…

Posted on 5 February 2013 by beckybendylegs

Simon Beck

The first artist that comes to mind to me as an ‘expanding field’ artist is the snow artist I discovered a couple of week’s ago: Simon Beck. British engineer Beck, after he suffered some injuries and could no longer run, decided to get some exercise by taking long walks. As he lives in snowy climbs he puts on his snowshoes and walks in geometric patterns. That’s how his art is created. It doesn’t last long, often less than a day.

Art linked to the landscape

Art linked to the landscape

Andy Goldsworthy

In the tutorial in which we discussed the essay ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’ the name Andy Goldsworthy cropped up. Photography plays a crucial role in his art due to its ephemeral and transient state. Goldsworthy aims to photograph his work at its height of beauty, capturing intensity. His materials include brightly coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns.

Stunning, yet short lived

Stunning, yet short lived

Susan Collis

We were introduced also to artist Susan Collis in our tutorial. This is an artist whose work at first glance appears to be ordinary, not art at all, e.g. ‘Better Days’, from 2006, which looks like a paint splattered cloth lying on the floor. However, the paint splatters and drips are actually embroidered. What is even more remarkable, perhaps, is that she doesn’t do the delicate artwork herself, she commissions someone else to do it. Surely this is artwork in the expanded field?

Paint or embroidery?

Paint or embroidery?

Werner Feiersinger

Austrian sculptor and photographer Feiersinger encompasses architectural, art-historical and personal influences in his work.

Untitled, 2010

Untitled, 2010

Gordon Matta-Clark

Neglected structures left for demolition formed the material for Matta-Clark‘s work. He has carved out sections of buildings to display their hidden constructions. The aim was to provide new ways of perceiving space, and to make metaphors for the human condition.

A good example of 'not-architecture'

A good example of ‘not-architecture’

Ann Veronica Janssens

Janssens floaty, misty brightly coloured installations scream ‘expanded field’ to me. Colours, visual light and sound effects are combined to give a new purpose to the architecture of the space and appeal to the audience’s senses.

A sensual experience

A sensual experience

Ryoji Ikeda

Ikeda is a Japanese sound artist from Paris. Ikeda concerns himself primarily with sound in a variety of ‘basic’ states, such as sine tones and noise, often using frequencies at the edges of the range of human hearing. He focuses on the important characteristics of sound and of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics.

What does it all add up to?

What does it all add up to?

Tomas Saraceno

‘Space Time Foam’ was an installation artwork created by Argentinian artist Saraceno. It transformed and changed shape as people moved around in it. It was an example of a total body art and sculpture experience.

Like giant bubble wrap

Like giant bubble wrap

Ernesto Neto

Brazilian Neto’s work has been described as ‘beyond abstract minimalism’. His installations consist of large, soft, biomorphic constructions that take over an exhibition space. The audience are invited to touch, poke, and walk around, on and over the structures. They are made of white, stretchy material.

A bouncy castle for grown ups

A bouncy castle for grown ups

Robert Morris

I mentioned this artist in the previous post and I’ve just come across this piece, a good example of art or sculpture in the expanding field, and from the right era (1960s-1970s). Morris had been an Abstract Expressionist artist as well as a sculpture and choreographer and prop maker.  Morris, as other artists of his era, sought to take away the imprint of the artist from the artwork.

Untitled 1965/70

Untitled 1965/70

Robert Smithson

Smithson became famous for his artwork ‘Spiral Jetty’ which was made using the natural landscape in 1970. His art was not limited by genres or raw materials. He was a true expanding field artist.

 

The infamous Spiral Jetty by Smithson

The infamous Spiral Jetty by Smithson

Richard Serra

Serra is an American minimalist artist famous for his challenging and inventive site-specific sculptures. His iconic piece of ‘expanded field’ sculpture is the ‘Tilted Arc’ of 1981. It was removed in a cloud of controversy over it’s aesthetic value from the site in 1989. Serra was vehemently against the move stating that it had been built specifically for that site.

The famous arc

The famous arc

Man Bartlett

Here is an example of an artist mixing technology, social media and art. Born in 1981, Bartlett is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. He carries out much of his work through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

This picture makes me, as a balloonphobic, shudder.

This picture makes me, as a balloonphobic, shudder.

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg deserves to be in this list partly for his immense career that started before the era of the ‘expanded field’ and continued beyond it. He is well-known for his frequently-quoted statement that he wanted to act in the gap between art and life. Rauschenberg’s Combines, which he started making in the 1950s, marked his beginning in the expanded field. These were found objects covered with slashing strokes of paint that blurred the gaps between art and sculpture. In the 1960s he began transferring photographic images from newspapers directly onto his canvases.

 

Is it art or sculpture?

Is it art or sculpture?

Eyal Gever

Israeli artist, Eyal Gever, works with the convergence of technology with art. He implements his ideas into three-dimensional software technologies and web technologies, mostly using interactive real time multimedia communication software but also three-dimensional animation.

This just made me say 'wow'

This just made me say ‘wow’

Ollie Palmer

Ollie Palmer describes himself on his website as an artist and designer. His ant ballet project is a good example of art in the expanding field. Working with Dr Seirian Sumner and the Pestival project for insect art, he developed a synthetic pheromone that a particular species of ant follows. The ants create the art.

Ant Swan Lake

Ant Swan Lake

Beate Gutschow

Gutschow is a German photographer who works on large scales. She is well-known for creating landscapes that never existed, by splicing together different negatives (digitally) and presenting each picture as if it has just appeared at the same time in front of the same lens.

Is it a painting from the 18thh-century or clever photo-trickery?

Is it a painting from the 18th-century or clever photo-trickery?

Yayoi Kusama

Kusama s a Japanese artist who works in a wide variety of media, including painting, collage, sculpture, installations and performance. Kusama’s work is described as ‘conceptual’ and shows traces of abstract expressionism, minimalism, surrealism, feminism,  pop art and Art Brut. She is an artist of isms.

Infinity Room by Yayoi Kusama

Infinity Room by Yayoi Kusama

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Cruz-Diez has experimented intensely with the origins and optics of colour. Searching Google images for ‘Cruz-Diez’ throws up a brilliance of colour and light. His wide-ranging body of work includes unconventional colour structures, light environments, street interventions, architectural projects and experimental pieces that invite the response of the human eye yet insisting on the participation of colour.

An experience in colour

An experience in colour

Thom Faulders

Is he an artist or an architect? I’m not sure. This amazing structure created for the Berkeley Art Museum just invites you to sit on it and day dream all day long.

A sea of orange waves

A sea of orange waves

References:

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phef/hd_phef.htm [last accessed 6 February 2013]

Wikipedia on Andy Goldsworthy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy [last accessed 5 February 2013]

Eyal Gever’s website, http://www.eyalgever.com/ [last accessed o6 February 2013]

Ollie Palmer’s website, http://olliepalmer.com/ [last accessed 6 February 2013]

Frieze Magazine, http://www.frieze.com/shows/review/expanded-field/ [last accessed 5 February 2013]

Wikipedia on Ryoji Ikeda, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryoji_Ikeda [last accessed 5 February 2013]

Wikipedia on Yayoi Kusama, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama [last accessed 7 February 2013]

Wikipedia on Ernesto Neto, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Neto [last accessed 6 February 2013]

Wikipedia on Cruz-Diez, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Cruz-Diez [last accessed 7 February 2013]

The Daily Mail online, Rick Sharma, 6 November 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2228609/Artist-Tomas-Saraceno-creates-living-adult-playground-Milans-HangarBicocca.html#axzz2K3yBSqTw [last accessed 5 February 2013]

Blouin Artinfo, Kyle Chayka, Tom Chen, 25 July 2012, http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/814992/video-artist-man-bartlett-turns-social-media-into-playful-social-critique [last accessed 5 February 20013]

Wikipedia on the Titled Arc, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted_Arc [last accessed 6 February 2013]

California College of Arts, http://www.cca.edu/academics/faculty/tfaulders [last accessed 7 February 2013]

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Thoughts on ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’ by Rosalind Krauss

Posted on 4 February 2013 by beckybendylegs

Our homework last week was to read an essay called ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’ which was published in 1979, written by an art theorist and critic called Rosalind Krauss. I had never heard of this essay, so didn’t realise that it was actually quite an iconic piece of writing. I didn’t give this essay the respect it deserved. I read it while being driven down the motorway because that was the only time in the week I could find to do my homework uninterrupted. I found the essay quite hard to read, but I had a feeling that what it was saying was quite important in some way and needed to be understood.

Rosalind Krauss

Rosalind Krauss

Rosalind Krauss

Rosalind Krauss? No, Miranda July but she looks like Rosalind Krauss

As I read I wondered what Krauss meant by the term used in the title ‘expanding field’. It made me think of an elastic band. Did she mean a stretching of the concept of sculpture? It turns out that that is exactly what she meant.

Stretchy

Stretchy

The essay is about sculpture (obviously) and what sculpture had become in the second half of the twentieth century. In the essay Krauss is questioning the three-dimensional art form of ‘sculpture’. She states ‘surprising things have come to be called sculpture’ (Krauss, R., ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’ in October, Vol. 8 (Spring 1979), p.30) . She explains that looking back over the previous century the definition of art and sculpture has become more elastic, it has jumped out of it’s traditional box and dipped its toe in new areas.

She starts by talking about the traditional logic of sculpture and the fading of that logic during the nineteenth century.

This change of course had been gradual, and Krauss cites two examples that mark the transition. Rodin’s Gates of Hell and his statute of Balzac. These works marked the start of an era of the sculptor feeling able to express his or her personality in their work. This change is illustrated more fully by the abandoning of the pedestal upon which traditional sculpture might have sat.

Rodin's Gates of Hell

Rodin’s Gates of Hell

Next the notion of sculpture moved more fully from the monument to the art form. And so sculpture lost its ‘site’ or ‘place’. Monuments became abstract. Sculpture became ‘nomadic’ (ibid, p.34). This change occurred during the modernist period.

Sculpture, after the 1950s, she goes on to state, became something that could be defined rather than by what it was, but what it wasn’t. Krauss uses the term ‘combination of exclusions’ to describe what sculpture had become: it was a negativity rather than a positivity.

So at the time of writing the essay, in the postmodernist era, sculpture for the first time situated itself between ‘not-landscape’ and ‘not architecture’. This is where the ‘combination of exclusions’ notion comes into play. The sculpture needed the landscape to define itself, it used the landscape to be. The example she gives is of Robert Morris‘s ‘Green Gallery Installation’ from 1964.

Sculpture that was 'not landscape'.

The Green Gallery Installation – sculpture the audience could share space with.

Some sculpture explores the possibility of landscape and not landscape (the sites define the works) and some lies in the place of architecture and not architecture (sculpture as an ‘intervention in the real space of architecture’ (ibid, p.41)).

So what is sculpture now? Or what was it at the turn of the twentieth century? Krauss was saying that it could be anything. Sculpture could encompass a much broader range of medium such as ‘photography, books, lines on walls, mirrors, or sculpture itself’ (ibid, p.42). And this is true of art as well as sculpture. The definition became more ambiguous.

This essay was important in the art world as it gave artists permission to be free with their art, to blur the boundaries between art forms and to live by the notion that anything goes.

References:

Krauss, R., ‘Sculpture in the Expanding Field’ in October, Vol. 8 (Spring 1979)

Tutorial Notes

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Relational Aesthetics – tutorial notes

Posted on 29 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

What is this relational aesthetics lark all about?

Words that come to mind when thinking about relational aesthetics:

  • participating
  • role playing
  • reciprocal
  • involved
  • conviviality
  • group experience
  • impact
  • message
  • social
  • cohesion

Origins of relational aesthetics

Early Origins – It has been argued that the origins of relational aesthetics can be traced initially to Duchamp and his infamous ‘Fountain’ (translate: urinal), when the idea that anything can be art was borne. Perhaps its true origins, however, come from the years of Dadaism in the 1920s when the notion of performing art rather than showing art as object first caught the art world’s imagination. Around that time also, or just before, we witness the take off of Socialist and Communist ideas and the concept of the masses and social cohesion between the masses, which are both important elements of relational aesthetics as relational aesthetics aims to bring people together.

1960s – The next key decade in the development of modern relational aesthetics is the 1960s. We have the founding of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed‘ by Augusto Boal initially in Brazil and later in Europe. In the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’, the audience is asked to be active. As ‘spect-actors’ they explore, analyse and role play problems. And thus the notion of dialogical aesthetics is borne. I should also mention Allan Kaprow‘s influence. Kaprow was an American artist and pioneer in performance art. He helped to develop the theory and reality of ‘environment’ and ‘happening’ the late 1950s and 1960s. These ‘happenings’ evolved over the years. He later changed the format to ‘activities’, which were scaled pieces for one or two ‘players’ devoted to examining ordinary human activity congruent to normal life. His aim was to integrate art with life. It was during this time also that Joseph Boyes popularised the idea, related to ‘art and life’, that anyone can be an artist. He was a well-known fluxus (a member of a network of artists and other creative people who were known for mixing different media and disciplines).

Some Spect-actors at play

Some Spect-actors at play

1980s – In this decade the term ‘relational aesthetics’ was coined by Nicholas Bourriaud. He put forward the idea of art beyond the gallery space.

Me again!

Me again!

1990s-2000s – These decades saw an explosion in relational aesthetic art and activities. For example artist Carey Young set up an experiment on ‘conflict management’. Here an arbitration service was set up for passers by. The aim was to make a point about larger issues related to conflict. Perhaps it also helped ordinary people solve their problems? Here the artwork is the event, the dialogue and the outcome. This time also sees the birth of the concept of valuing the undervalued and asking for their participation in an artistic statement. But we should question here to what extent the ‘masses’ or the ‘undervalued’ are allowed to participate? Also during these decades the galleries jumped on the relational aesthetics bandwaggon and ‘claimed’ it for their own gains. The ‘outside of the gallery’ concept moved ‘inside the gallery’. Here we see that the art world once again takes over. The result is that the participants aren’t the masses any more, they are the middle classes (the gallery goers).

Tell me all your problems...

Tell me all your problems…

What is the role of the artist in relational aesthetics?

The artist is a curator, a ring leader, an instigator. He / she has more of a presence than he / she used to. They gain a quasi-celebrity status. They are a social engineer. They have to be directors, actors, and hosts. They can’t disappear behind the scenes. Anonymity is no longer allowed.

Welcome to my circus!

Welcome to my circus!

Is this art?

This is a very valid question: can we call this sort of enterprise art or is it social activism? It is only art if the performance is carried out wearing art goggles. What makes it art? When does it become art?

Is the so-called ‘flash mob‘ phenomenon an example of relational aesthetics? Until our tutorial I had never heard of the term ‘flash mob’. A flash mob, wikipedia tells me, is a group of people who come together in a public place, perform some sort of strange public display, then disperse. They do this it is said for entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. These ‘events’ are organised via the Internet. They don’t do this to make a political statement, or to protest, or to advertise. They do this purely to entertain. So is this a form of relational aesthetics?

Naked for fun or naked for art?

Naked for fun or naked for art?

Marxist criticism of relational aesthetics

Marxists claim that relational aesthetics is a way of just putting a plaster over the holes of capitalism. It doesn’t actually do anything to make change. It is a way of passifying rather than activating society.

‘Ethical Turn’ in art

What is the criteria that makes all this relational activity art? Is it that a positive experience must be had by the ‘audience’? Or should we allow a negative experience to be generated and called ‘art’? Can the artist ‘get away’ with more than he / she would be able to  without the ‘art goggles’ on?

In answer to Marxist critics, why should the artist feel an obligation to make a change? Or even make a statement? Can’t it just be for fun, as with the flash mobs? Why does art have to have a social impact to be taken seriously?

Never leave the house without your art goggles

Never leave the house without your art goggles

References:

Tutorial Notes

Wikipedia on the Theatre of the Oppressed, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Oppressed [last accessed 29 January 2013]

Wikipedia on Allan Kaprow, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Kaprow [last accessed 29 January 2013]

Carey Young’s website, http://www.careyyoung.com/past/conflictmanagement.html [last accessed 29 January 2013]

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Cats and art again – is the ‘lolcat’ art?

Posted on 24 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

Today I read about an exhibition that has just opened in London devoted to the online phenomenon of amusing cats – the phenomenon known as lolcats.

Spot the kitty

Spot the kitty

What are lolcats? This is the first time I’d ever heard the term. The word itself is a mixture of ‘lol’ (laugh out loud) and cat (small domesticated carnivorous mammal). It seems that these lolcats are feline-inspired, often humorous, artistic creations. There are even websites devoted to the ‘lolcat’ community. Members use their own lolcat language based on the way cats might communicate if they used English (a kind of kitty pidgin). What’s more, there is a website which allows you to translates from English to lolcat in case you aren’t well versed in it just yet. Is this a bit bonkers or is it art?

Louis Vain meets Hello Kitty?

Inspired perhaps by Louis Vain?

Lolcat: teh exhibishun (sic) started yesterday (23 January) and runs to 15 February at The Framers Gallery in London. Funds raised from artwork sold at the event will go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

How do I get to Catford?

How do I get to Catford?

This exhibition has generated a debate as to whether an internet meme (defined as a concept, phrase, word, video, image or idea that spreads like a virus over the internet) is a legitimate subject for art or not. The lolcat is one such internet meme.

A tangle of tails

A tangle of tails

The exhibition brings together, in words taken from the exhibition’s website ‘cool cats and witty kitties’ created by graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, artists, animators, and writers. Each exhibitor has come up with their unique take on the cat theme to create a piece of amazing ‘lolcat’ art.

If you google ‘lolcat’ the majority of images that get thrown up are very similar photographs of cats in ‘funny’ poses with a witty caption written in ‘lolcat’ language. That isn’t art.

Just a fat cat with a cheesy caption

Just a fat cat with a cheesy caption

Looking at some of the exhibited pieces, however, I think they are art. This is art inspired by the lolcat phenomenon.

References:

BBC News item on LOLCAT: TEH EXHIBISHUN

Wikipedia on lolcats

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Relational Aesthetics – another high brow blog entry?

Posted on 22 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

Definition

I think I need to start by defining the two terms separately.

Relational – The way in which two (or more) things are connected to each other.

Aesthetics – A conception of what is artistically valid or beautiful.

Unfortunately that doesn’t help. I need to find a definition of the term as a whole. So I have to turn to the term’s originator, Nicholas Bourriaud who defines it as ‘A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space’ (Relational Aesthetics, Glossary, p. 113).

I know what Relational Aesthetics means

I know what Relational Aesthetics means

Bourriaud coined the term ‘relational aesthetics’ in his 1998 book of the same name which aimed to explain and analyse the ‘anything is art’ of the contemporary artworld of the time. I have borrowed a copy of this book from the college library, and I think I have come to a sort of understanding of what it is all about. ‘Artist activity is a game’ he writes, ‘whose forms, patterns and functions develop and evolve according to periods and social contexts’ (Relational Aesthetics, p. 11). I think what he is saying here is that the art of the 1990s had come to be more closely related to contemporary society than the art which preceded it. This art uses the audience rather than displays to the audience. He goes on to write ‘the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realities, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real’ (Relational Aesthetics, p. 13). Art is life, rather than art illustrates life.

He defines it better on the next page as ‘an art taking as its theoretical horizon the realm of human interactions and its social context, rather than the assertion of an independent and private symbolic space’ Relational Aesthetics, (p. 14).

Relational aesthetics artworks use the physical (and social) space of the art gallery, street, studio or whatever is available. Relational aesthetics is the art of life and believes that art forms itself spontaneously in a natural environment. This sort of art does not remove an object from its environment and display it in an alien space. The viewer’s experience is the art.

Relational aesthetics is the art of human interaction. Bourriaud cites examples of is Argentinean-born Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija cooking Thai food the ‘art’ being the interactions between the people and the food, Vanessa Beecroft posing groups of (usually naked) women as a form of illustration of the complex relationship between viewer, model and context, and Philippe Parreno organizing parties and presenting these ‘performances’ as art.

Inviting people over for dinner - is it art?

Inviting people over for dinner – is it art?

But is relational aesthetics just another ‘ism’ to add to the long list of ‘isms’, and at that an ‘ism’ of the 1990s more than the 2000s? Where are we now? My personal impression of the art world now is that it is much more fractured than it has ever been before, anything really does go.

I guess relational aesthetics is just something you either ‘get’ or you don’t. To coin a phrase used by the Space Pirates on the CBeebies channel: ‘If you don’t get it, just forget it’.

Na na na na na, Space Pirates

Na na na na na, Space Pirates

References:

Bourriaud, Nicholas, Relational Aesthetics (les presses du reel, 1998, English trans. 2002, 2009).

Wikipedia on Vanessa Beecroft

The Free Dictionary

 

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Modernism and Postmodernism – tutorial notes

Posted on 21 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

Modernism

Modernism can be described as a movement of the ‘avent garde‘ – a movement that was all about pushing the boundaries. It was a revolt of the old academic tradition.

Modernism encompasses so many art forms, and also other areas of life. The social aspect of Modernism, for example, had a huge impact on history. This aspect relates to the idea of a central authority broadcasting to the masses. In other words Modernism appreciated the importance of a grand narrative. Is Marxism part of the Modernist project?

Modernism was also about an appreciation of industry, a praise of the Industrial Revolution, a celebration of mass production, design and industry and this lead to the distinctive style of Modernist architecture with all its glass and steel.

In terms of literature and art, Modernism praised the individual perspective. The individual experience was highly lauded, and created an interesting and new way of narrating reality.

Modernism’s many art ‘isms’ believed in individual exploration of life experience, emotions, states of mind and spiritualism.  Modernists wanted to step outside of the self in art and creativity.

Postmodernism

Differing from Modernism in one important respect, Postmodernism rejects the idea of the grand narrative.  Instead of the grand narrative explaining reality (such as God), nothing can explain reality. In fact there is no reality. So you may feel as if you are having an original thought, but you really aren’t. You are influenced by what has come before you, what is around you, the authority who feeds you.

Postmodernists believe that there are no big theories.

The notion of pastiche is an important notion to consider when discussing Postmodernism. Pastiche relates strongly to the concept of a lack of original thought. There is no reality, instead pastiche uses fragments of the past, but not in the way of a parody which makes fun of the past, but in an almost respectful way. It takes elements of the past and creates a type of nostalgia for the past. Star Wars presents a perfect example of pastiche: taking elements of film genres of the past and putting it in space. There is success to be had in non-originality.

Luke, I am a Postmodernist

Luke, I am a Postmodernist

The idea of experiencing life in the moment is also an important Postmodernist element. The immediate experience can be intense. The surface is paramount over in-depth thinking and self-reflection.

Postmodernist art is about celebrating art for arts sake. It takes away the concept of the elevated value of certain artworks. High art and low are art blurred. There should be no distinction. Art is art for art’s sake. A urinal can be art, anything can be art.

Postmodernist science is about the ‘teeny tiny possibility‘ theory of current theories on science not providing the explanation for everything. A good postmodern scientist is a scientist who doubts and quests to keep finding new explanations, someone who accepts that they might not be right.

I'm not denying evolution, I'm just saying that it is one of the possibilities.

I’m not denying evolution, I’m just saying that it is one of the possibilities.

What comes after Postmodernism?

Francis Fukuyama stated in his book The End of History and the Last Man (Free Press, 1992) that the end of Postmodernism came in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. He postulated in this book that the end of Communism signalled the success of Western liberal democracy over all other social and political systems. He stated that since the French Revolution democracy had repeatedly proven itself to be the superior political system. Interestingly, Fukuyama later conceded in the book Our Posthuman Future (2002) that his original thesis was incomplete, stating that the end of history can only come with the end of science and technology.

Postmodernism is replaced by Supermodernity and Transmodernity. Transmodernity provides a nomadic explanation for reality. The real world is now in a liquid form, brought about by the globalization of culture, economics and society. Everywhere is composed of transient places, such as airports, capital cities and Costa coffee shops. We are all travellers. Is there in fact something we could call a hyper-reality? Is Disneyland more real than the real world? Is Las Vegas more real than the real world? I can visit China in America without actually going to China.

Mickey welcomes you to the real world

Mickey welcomes you to the real world

Is the virtual reality of the Internet more real than the real world? I’m sat rather comfortably in it now as I type.

References:

Tutorial Notes

Wikipedia on The End of History and the Last Man, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man [last accessed 21 January 2013]

 

 

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Snow art – there are lots of snowmen on Facebook

Posted on 21 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

It doesn’t snow very often in this country and when it does, some people like to moan about the disruption and some people like to get creative. As I type, Facebook is being flooded by pictures of snowmen, snowdogs, snowmonsters and igloos. I even added to the plethora of amateur snow art by adding a picture of these wonderful three snowmen made by my eldest son.

The three grubbiest snowmen in town

The three grubbiest snowmen in town

Then an old school friend of mine posted a picture of a Lego snowman he’d made. His creativeness wowed me. This wasn’t an ordinary snowman, this was a Lego snowman that actually looked really pretty good. Of course this caught my attention also because it mixes Lego art with snow art. Genius!

I am a Lego snowman

I am a Lego snowman

The next day my friend made a dolphin.

Where's the water gone?

Where’s the water gone?

And of course this all got me thinking about the use of snow as an art material. Snow is a transitional art material, but it is very versatile: one does not need glue, double-sided sticky tape or sharp implements. So long as one has the right sort of snow (not too powdery, not too slushy) then all one needs is two hands (with gloves on them, not mittens) and an idea.

If I search for ‘snow art’ on the internet one name keeps cropping up: Simon Beck. This man doesn’t make snowmen or igloos, he creates elaborate crop-circle like patterns in the snow using just a large flat piece of land, some snow and  a pair of snow shoes. Actually that’s not strictly true, he also uses an orienteering compass and measuring tape to get his bearings and form the design, and then uses a clothes line and central anchor to create curves and circles. There’s a mathematical quality to his snow art. His patterns are said to have different effects when viewed from various vantage points in the varying light during the course of the day. His art only lasts a few hours, but this somehow adds to their magic quality.

Aliens in the snow or has Simon Beck been visiting?

Aliens in the snow or has Simon Beck been visiting?

Sculpting in snow is a serious business. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival which includes snow and ice carving competitions is the oldest annual winter carnival in the world, the first of which was held in 1886. Frankenmuth in Michigan hosts its own snow and ice sculpture festival towards the end of January with artists travelling far and wide to carve the snow. Frankenmuth’s Snowfest consists of ice carving competitions and snow sculpting competitions at primary school, high school, state, national, and international levels. However, being a snow artist is not always easy. In China, for example, artists have to work in temperatures of -30 degrees centigrade.

One of the many competition entries

One of the many competition entries

I might suggest to my Lego-snowman making friend that he considers taking his art further afield. It doesn’t snow very often in these parts. He might need to invest in some industrial strength thermals though.

References:

Lori Zimmer, ‘Artist Creates Gigantic Winter Crop Circles Just by Walking in the Snow!’ Inhabitat (2 June 2012), http://inhabitat.com/artist-makes-giant-wintry-crop-circles-just-by-walking-in-the-snow/ [last accessed 21 January 2013]

Wikipedia on snow sculpting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_sculpture [last accessed 21 January 2013]

 

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The Travelling Bottle of Ketchup

Posted on 19 January 2013 by beckybendylegs

I am conducting an experiment. I have sent three bottles of ketchup on their travels to see how far they will go. The first one has only got as far as Newport, Shropshire, at least so far.

Picture 1

TF107AQ

The second one is stuck in Birmingham, on a window sill.

B3 2JR

B3 2JR

The third one?

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