Turbine Hall

Part of developing an appreciation for art and projects is having a venue where great pieces can be displayed. No knock on the MET or the Louvre but Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern has housed some fascinating exhibits. Often using space and optical illusion to create magnificent works. For example, Doris Salcedo’s exhibit Shibboleth created a crack in the floor of the museum. This is completely counterintuitive to normal viewing at a gallery or museum. Rarely if at all is the work displayed on the floor of the build as it is typically hung on the wall. Also, it is different because a crack would normally be hidden from view not the focal point for guests at the exhibit. Another great piece of work is Test Site. This is giant plastic tube piping system that truly engages its guests as it doubles as a slide. This also provides several prospective of the art, while on the slide, watching someone else go down the slide, looking at the entire structure of the slide.  These are just two examples of the tremendous exhibits housed at the Turbine Hall.

Road Trip!

We went to the Albany Institute of History and Art and saw the exhibit titled “Graphic Design Get the Message.” Graphic design is a carefully planned arrangement of visual images and printed text. It conveys both meaning and message. The exhibit examined technological, commercial, aesthetic, and social factors through graphic designs, objects, and the history of design work from the Albany area. After examining these factors, viewers were compelled to address broader issues of national and international significance.
We saw one piece of the Walkway on the Hudson that stood out particularly to Mike. This is because he lives only a few minutes from the footbridge. His entire family has walked on it, but Mike has not because he claims he was always too busy with school. After seeing the work, Mike has vowed to visit the footbridge as soon as he graduates. The Walkway on the Hudson items/pictures are below.

 

Below is another piece in the gallery that moved us. We thought the class might think it is interesting as well. The poster is titled Do With Less So They’ll Have Enough. It was printed by the US Government Printing Office during WWII. As an econ minor and econ major, we both instantly thought of the “Guns or Butter” concept.

Evolution of Graffiti

          Street art is growing in popularity not only with the general public but the art community as well. Graffiti once a symbol of gangs, violence, and disrespect for the law is taking on a different meaning in some cases. While not all graffiti is street art; the growing popularity can be a helpful tool for the art world and general community for a couple of reasons.
          First this provides the public with “pure art” and what we mean by pure is that your reaction to the art is completely your own and only influenced by you and the artist. It has not been evaluated by some art curator or critic who immediately influences your view. It has not been located in a gallery in a certain section because of its likeness to other paintings or prestige. It is simply there in front of you completely raw and unfiltered. This allows people to think for them, which is pretty much always a good thing.
           The second positive aspect is it may “speak” to people that gallery and museum work does not.  Not all people are gallery goers and this provides another avenue for expression and contribution for art. It can also be used to spend positive messages in an oxymoronic sense.  Graffiti is historically used to send gang or hate message but it could be used to speak to inner-city youth about positive messages again providing an alternative to the tradition use.

Ok We are calling "BS" on this one

This course has undoubtedly opened our eyes to art forms we would have never even have heard of let alone understand. However, there comes a point as in any industry it is more a “BS artist” a fraud if you will then true to the profession. You see this in politics, in business, in education, in pretty much every field. That is how we feel about Fred Russell. Fred uses mainly already made objects and creates a lay he is there for using space as his medium for art. Maybe it is because we don’t know enough about this form of art but to us it seems to be stretching, the skill level threshold. We don’t see how Fred Russell is any different than an interior decorator. While his work may be appealing, exciting and even occasionally inspiring it is not fair to call him an artist. His work is supplementary to the art field. Without already appealing inputs and works Fred Russell can add little to no value. Other artists obviously need inputs as well, clay, paint a canvas, what have you but that is different. They are taking raw materials and creating something. Russell is arranging finished items in space. If that is the threshold then the Star Wars freak that is 40 years old and lives in his Mom’s basement setting up his action figures could be a world acclaimed artist. This is not to say  only the most difficult productions qualify as art but rather that there is a minimum threshold and sorry Fred Russell you did not make it for us.

The Common Lanuage of Beauty

Perhaps at the core of why we dispute “what is art” is that we dispute what is beautiful. The classic cliché is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some want to restrict it slightly more and say it is in the cultural conditioned eye of the beholder. Some argue still that it is a term similar to excellent or love that is simply overused and therefore undervalued. That being said I believe the beauty is something done well. This is a definition that is very broad allowing for a lot to be considered beautiful.  A thrilling catch in a baseball game, a flawless rendition of Ave Maria, Di Vinci’s Mona Lisa, or a breathtaking water fall are all beautiful and should be described as such. While it is important to not over use the word, under use can be just as damaging. Having a word that can encapsulate so much feeling, evaluation and emotion that is applicable to more than one area is a good thing. It will help build cultural understanding; a common language. So the baseball fan can understand the emotion felt by the opera fan after a “beautiful” performance of Phantom of the Opera. While the baseball fan himself may not be able to view the performance as beautiful they can understand do to the ability and difficulty it is considered “beautiful”. This world needs beauty let’s not attempt to restrict and over define the word.

Secrecy

Jill Magid’s “Authority to Remove” marked the last chapter with artists involved with the Dutch Secret Service. Her work is particularly moving because the Secret Service in and of itself is an intriguing organization. To adhere to budget obligations, the Dutch Secret Service asked Magid to create a piece of work for one of their facilities. Magid agreed to do this and explored the themes of secrecy by delving into the complex layers of fact, fiction, and role playing inherent to a government intelligence agency. She interviewed various secret agents to learn more about the organization. Her interactions were similar to those you would see in a James Bond movie: meeting in a public place, not knowing the face you are meeting, and then being tapped on the shoulder by a complete stranger. Magid conversed with the agents sometimes for hours. She pointed out that the agents appreciated the interaction. The agents saw Magid as an escape from their lives of secrecy. However, Magid realized agent interaction was not welcome by the bureaucrats, who saw her work as a threat to the organization's role as an intellegence agency. This is because, as the agents noted, a revelation of their identities would “burn their face” and thus endanger any missions implemented by the Dutch Secret Service.

Matthew Barney-Value Added without Appreciation

Perhaps one of the more challenging and uncomfortable is performance art. The reason for that is the medium does not sit on a shelf or hang on a wall waiting to be notice; but rather actively engaging you forcing a reaction. The CREMASTER series by Matthew Barney is a prime example of just how bizarre and somewhat haunting performance art can be. As much as we may hate this type of performance wish we could just turn it off and run the other way, it is important it is value added to the market place of ideas. As the course progresses we are finally beginning to understand what art is. Art is just like everything this. Art we like, art we don’t art we appreciate art we don’t think is art, art that is classic, art that is cheesy. But that is similar to music just because I can’t appreciate, enjoy and even consider heavy metal music it is still important. It contributes to the context and the frame work of how we evaluate not only art but ourselves and this give and take is extenuated best in provoking performance art piece such as Matthew Barney. The more we “peel the onion” the more value the work adds. Not just “I don’t like it” , but “I don’t like it because it creeps me out and unsettles me and I want art to make me happy”.  Again we struggle to see the brilliance of Barney he obviously has a talent and an important contribution to the overall field of art just not one we choose to enjoy.