The glass maze

For my final project I decided to continue my exploration of reflections using the glass bottles. I layed to glass bottles out in concentric circle patterns around and on the tables and chairs. The installation was set up in in the courtyard of the faculty lounge. The installation took place outside to reflect nature. The light from the moon and stars was reflected to through the glass. Viewers were invited to move through and around the bottles. Some people interacted with the installation while others observed. The layers of glass and the external atmoshere reflect the multiple layers of perception, the audience as an observer, the object, and the enviornment.

Light and shadow are dispersed and manipulated. My piece was partially influenced by Ursula Berlot’s, installation pieces that deals with light, reflections, and special relationships. She is a German installation artist. Like my piece, her pieces focus on the reflection and movement of light through various transparent objects. Often times her sculptures are kinetic and intersect shadow within light. Sound is also employed. I was also inspired by an installation piece by Tokujin Yoshioka entitled Crystal Forest. This piece was installed in the Swarovski Flagship store in Ginza Tokyo. Stainless steel pieces hang, “reflecting fragmented views of the street.” My project uses multiples of the same objects to capture, transform, and reflect light. Although her piece is still, the reflections are in constant motion and ever changing with the movement of the environment. This static capture as well as alteration of the movement is one of the subjects that my piece focuses on, along with self-reflection and analysis. Through subtle changes in the environment perspections are altered.

Although the installation was not a complete success or my origional idea, it was an alternative way to explore similar ideas about similar concepts.

displaying 2D evidence of the passage of time three-dimensionally

For this piece, I examined and documented light patterns that moved within one plane of space (the floor in the glass cube area between Tishman floors 1 and 2) over time and  created solid forms out of cotton scrim to represent the light patterns formed during distinct moments of time.   My objective was to document a temporal phenomenon in eight moments and then juxtapose those  eight distinct moments' patterns in time simultaneously in space. The  layering of  each individual visual moment (normally occupying  the same plane) would then  expand to create a voluminous form out of eight planes.  Just as video/ film projection is the juxtaposition of images on the same space over time, so too is the play of light on the floor. I wanted to separate out "single frames" of light patterns and juxtapose them throughout space rather than throughout time.  It would be as if one took eight frames of video and layered them vertically throughout space rather than projecting onto the same plane. 

Here is one pattern made out cotton scrim, based on the light pattern captured at 8:30am 11/1/08. 

There are a lot more of these, like a whole lot more, it is just taking forever to upload, so this is going to be it for now.

First Snow, or...

When Will I Get My Fucking Act Together and Move Somewhere Tropical?

This installation was a physical manifestation of my struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The focal point of the project was a green scarf with brightly colored flowers woven into it. The scarf was a visual representation of the warmer seasons, but in the context of the installation it also represented my yearly denial of the emotional difficulties that winter inevitably brings.

To use David Stout’s words, my piece was a “tableau vivant for the seasonal disordered.” My intention was to create an environment that expressed tension and irony as I went to great lengths to simultaneously acknowledge and deny my seasonal struggles. The irony and tension were expressed in through three major juxtapositions. First, I was knitting the scarf – clearly a winter object – but it was green and covered in flowers – clearly a spring/summer theme. Second I was wearing my bathing suit and sunglasses, but they were paired with my heavy snow boots. Third, I was sitting in a chair that is clearly for sunbathing, but the lobby was cold and the scarf trailed away from me, out into the cold winter night, and ended in a flowerbox full of dead leaves; the only sunshine nearby was on TV, as footage of a sunny beach looped incessantly on a screen that was out of my reach, representing both hope and desperation.

While I feel that my installation for our show was somewhat successful, I had the opportunity to install my piece in a different space for the InterArts final show and I felt that the second installation was more successful. The major difference was that instead of being in the middle of an open space, I was enclosed in a raised alcove built into the wall behind panes of glass, as though in a cage. This space created a feeling of isolation and separation from the audience, which felt incredibly appropriate because social withdrawal is a common symptom of SAD. I further took advantage of this space by hanging a sign on the cage, both emphasizing the isolation and also providing contextual information that related the project specifically to SAD. The sign read:

Observe the Artist in its natural habitat!

Although she would never admit it, this particular specimen has Seasonal Affective Disorder. During the colder months, when daylight hours are limited, this disorder causes the Artist to experience many of the following symptoms:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Loss of energy

• Loss of libido

• Social withdrawal

• Oversleeping

• Loss of interest in activities she once enjoyed

• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates

• Weight gain

• Difficulty concentrating and processing information

LIVE ANIMAL! PLEASE DO NOT TAP ON GLASS!

lonesome valley part 2

When I began this project, it was an opportunity for me to push myself beyond the boundaries of painting that I had grown accustomed to in my life. I have always been infatuated with the process of painting and the extreme relief that it gives me amidst the turmoil of my life. One thing that I have noticed about myself is that I find myself creating environments around me that are comfortable. Growing up I never found the comfort that I have found in my new life here. In this project I really wanted to explore how far I could take that reflex of mine. I took objects that I had acquired over time for my own space at home and altered them to fit how I needed in my own fictional environment. I suppose you could say that I escape into my paintings and I wanted to recreate that feeling in a space where the audience could experience that for themselves. The space that I chose for this piece is perfect for the installation because it is the space I use to paint in. Automatically, I have a connection emotionally to this area. It is a space that is charged with my creative energies and is very personal to me. The decision to sleep in the space was one that I made after the first critique that we had. I had begun the process of creating my space and was interested in pushing the experience further. The need to make these painted objects into something more than meaningful "objects" was interesting to me. I wanted to live the space I had created and spend a night contemplating why I had made the decisions I had made. When the time came I spent most of the night fuming around the barracks making decisions about what objects to use and how to place them in this 3D composition of sorts. I found myself dredging up interesting pieces of my past for inspiration. Certain symbols kept appearing in aesthetic choices and objects that I had collected in my lifetime. An example of this includes bird and cage imagery in the paintings as well as the objects that I had laying around my house, and the image of a cage-like house or home. The loneliness of the human existence has intrigued me very much. The Carter Family song "Lonesome Valley" has been a source of inspiration to me as well, because the lyrics are all about the lonely human condition. The feeling of being caged in ones own existence or reality has interested me very much and I see this entrapment appear often in my artwork. The experience of living in my art space is one that I feel was extremely helpful in the process of this piece. In the future I would very much like to sleep here again and keep a journal account of the experience and the process of building this "nest" of sorts. A journal would have worked better to draw in and control the audience in a way. I thought it was a successful piece for me personally, and I would hope that the audience could draw some sort of experience for themselves. I enjoyed this project the most of any this semester, because I put a lot of time and my heart into it. It was a great exploration of isolation of oneself in life and reality.

Because Susan didn't get to see the first installation I did for the class (100 objects - I handed out 100 wildflowers) we agreed that I would do more installations with my fake daisies. I decided to take them with me when I went home to New York for Thanksgiving.

In case you can't tell from the photos, the 5 locations I chose were the Denver airport, my parents' piano, my old bed, the post-Thanksgiving dinner table mess, and the back of an NYC taxi. Here is the documentation:

Jared Antonio-Justo Trujillo

Untitled

Vinyl, Infant Three Piece Suit

2008

Final Paper

Email me for my fun Interactive Project!

So for a project I will webcam myself for the rest of the week. You can control the camera's angles and a bunch of other stuff yourself by logging onto the website, so its very interactive. If you want to view it, you have to email me at amybeth.maran@gmail.com and i can give you the webpage and a login name and password. for legal reasons i cant just post it on a public forum.

but i thought youd like it susan. im going to bring this with me to pitsburgh and try to have a live webcast of my crazy family

UPDATE:

so like half of you got user names, passwords and the website. I made up them for the rest of you, just contact me and I'll give you all your info. Its super easy to use.

-I have no idea what anyone saw today. But I was in bed most of the day going stir crazy, so you make have seen:

- I had a migraine all day, and took a lot of medication
-brittney came over to help me with audio for the final project. (THANK YOU by the way)
-I fought with my doctor over class II drugs - so if you had audio, good for you.
-I cried several times because I'm hormonal. I usually don't cry.
-If you get this tonight, you can watch me sleep. If you move the lens, I can sort of hear it. It's like I have guardian angels. Or creepy stalkers. I'll let you know in the AM

I dont know, this is a very intense installation living arrangement. (And no, there is NO nudity. I change in my bathroom. It really is quite boring. Sorry ladys and gents)

Amy

3?'s again

Time and Narrative:
1. How are the cacti gardens in Teresa Serrano's Vanishing City considered time or narrative? It was unclear to me. It seemed like she simply created some objects and put them in a space. Is it time oriented because of the growth of each cacti?

2. Does Amanda Wilson's Mirror explore her personal construction of individuality or the audiences?

3. It seems people find the library and interesting space to create installation art in. Why do you think this is?

The Body of the Audience:
1.If the audience doesn't get the literary reference of Gulliver or Dorian Gray is the piece still effective, such as the case with Nicolai or Haxhillari's work?

2.How does Carlos Amorales's piece Funny 13 activate the audience as an integral part of the piece?

3. How is the relationship of action and passivity of the audience explored in Aernout Mik's work Pinata?

3 Questions: The Body of the Audience

1. I am intrigued by the dialectic taking place in Christoph Draeger's "Apocalypso Place," between the organization and conglomeration of media and the individual and I wonder what it is that Draeger is trying to illicit from the viewer in the piece?

2. Has the audience become more relevant and important to contemporary artwork? Has the genre of Installation Art helped spurn this involvement?

3. How does Christian's Jankowsi's documentary narratives engage the audience and what role does the audience play in shaping the work?

Text Art Installation Project

"Text Idea"On Wednesday Nov 5th, I will install 10 quotes from Friedrich Nietzche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" at various points in the College of Santa Fe building system. The installations will be as followed:
2 text sites Benildus
2 text sites Cafeteria
5 text sites Barracks/Visual Arts Building
1text site Administration Building

Examples of quotes:
"When the devil shes his skin, does his name not fall away too? Forthat, too, is a skin. The devil himself is perhaps - skin. Nothing istrue, everything is permitted."

"But I am now retired from service, without a master, and yet notfree, nor cheerful at any time, unless it be in my memories."

"To live as it pleases me, or not to live at all"

"Before my highest mountain I stood and before my longest wondering:therefor I must first descend deeper than I have ever done before:-deeper into pain that I have ever descended, even into its blackestflood! Thus my fate wills it. Well then, I am prepared. Where do thehighest mountains come from? I once asked. Then I learned they comefrom out of the sea."

The quotes will be printed on plain white paper and one word will beapplied to each piece of paper. The word appearing on each paper will be very tiny so that the viewer has to get close to the paper to read the text. I am interested in what these words symbolize and what they don't symbolize. Attempting to explain the aesthetic life to one another can leave us stranded or at a crossroads of thought because far too often we are unable to communicate verbally the very objects and emotions expressed in our reality. In the novel "Thus SpokeZarathustra" an attempt is made to break down the dynamic threads of existence that sprout out of our society as well as non-society, in which a movement towards a knowledge of the individual self, the subjective being is examined at whole length, and it is with Nietzche's words that I would like the campus community to be exposed to. Furthermore, as a school with a Lassalian tradition, that which isbased primarily in the judeo-christian paradigm, I am interested in subverting that expression with these determined thoughts that arevery anti-western civilization. My hope is to create an inner dialog with the individual that comes in contact with the piece. I do not matter in this piece, a collective environment is not synthesized,this is purely a personal experience.

Reflections Installation Project

My installation is a site-specific play on light and how we see ourselves through these light reflections. For my project, I created four large triangular structures surrounding a mirror. This installation is set across from the window in the Thaw Art building. The direct sunlight reflects openly from the window casting various shadows and reflections in and through the center of these four triangular structures.

Light and shadow are dispersed and manipulated. The mirror in the center invites the viewer to examine his/ her self and view their reflection through a new light. My piece was partially influenced by Ursula Berlot’s, installation pieces that deals with light, reflections, and special relationships. She is a German installation artist. Like my piece, her pieces focus on the reflection and movement of light through various transparent objects. Often times her sculptures are kinetic and intersect shadow within light. Sound is also employed.

I was also inspired by an installation piece by Tokujin Yoshioka entitled Crystal Forest. This piece was installed in the Swarovski Flagship store in Ginza Tokyo. Stainless steel pieces hang, “reflecting fragmented views of the street.” My project uses multiples of the same objects to capture, transform, and reflect light. Although her piece is still, the reflections are in constant motion and ever changing with the movement of the environment. This static capture as well as alteration of the movement is one of the subjects that my piece focuses on, along with self-reflection and analysis. Through subtle changes in the environment perspectives are altered.

time & narrative

1. In One of Each (an archive of everyday objects that is viewed from a raised walkway) is the purpose of the viewers standpoint to put the objects into the context of an art piece? Does the fact that the viewer cannot touch the objects speak to a disconnect between everyday "things" and people, or to that of a traditional art gallery environment?

2. Can you experience an intense state of being from just observation? Does a room/place have to be completely transformed or interactive to completely transform the viewers state?

3. In what case is anything physical that is created by someone not, in some sense, a narrative?

"lonesome valley"

When we first started this project, I was exploring the idea of building a tiny utopian world. The control over that environment that I would be building seemed like a perfect metaphor for the way life feels out of control and people feel the need to control the environments around us. I was looking forward to meticulously placing each detail into the world with love and care and precision. It seems to me that I am one of those people that when life is spinning out of control, that I grab onto the tangible world for comfort. It seems cathartic to me somehow.
So, I went to hobby lobby and purchased a plethora of tiny objects to put into my little world. On the way to school the next day that week I got a flat tire with no spare to back it up. The whole week we didn’t have class I was essentially without a car and was in dire need to simplify the project in order to make it plausible. I was literally transporting things to campus by shopping cart. I returned the tiny living room set I had bought for one of the houses in order to have money to buy a new tire. At this point I needed to simplify the idea of my project. I needed to cut off the fat and get to the meat of the idea. I was looking for a world that seemed safe and perfect and far away for the troubles of reality. I could get that same effect of soothing calm by simply going into a space that I could manipulate the tiny world around me. I found the space that I later did my piece in and hung out in there for about an hour to get to know the environment I was entering.
Next, I gathered cardboard boxes from my work to maker objects from. This quickly morphed from creating objects to painting everything in my little reality to be acceptable to me in that space. I am a self confessed painter at heart and I guess it truly came out in this piece. I seem to paint in my own style and every object in the space seemed to be a continuation of the canvas itself. People who look at my work tell me that the paintings seem to embody a specific reality that I create for myself and go to myself when I am in the process.
This piece is very much about finding a spot in the world where you feel safe. At this point in my life I feel very uprooted and nomadic. We as students are constantly changing and morphing and moving. I have lived in four different places in the past three years. My home in Texas no longer feels like the same place that I seeked comfort my whole life. It’s a very lonesome way to go though life and enclosed a few memories from my childhood in the space itself. One being the mockingbird painting as a symbol of the happy times I had out in the country as a child, and the other being the lyrics of the Carter Family song “Lonesome Valley,” which my mother used to sing to us as children. The lyrics of the song embody the human condition of restlessness and loneliness, which I seem to feel all of the time. The space I created truly made me feel at home. I think this result was a success in the end.

Amy-Beth Maran Installation Tie Dye Hair

(Sorry the pictures are out of order - if anyone knows how to change them, let me know. Thanks)

Amy-Beth Maran
November 6, 2008
Susan York
Site as Person: Hair as statement

The idea of a person being a "site" for an installation made me question what installation art was. After thinking for some time, I thought of several examples of how a person could be a site. The book, Installation Art in the New Millennium calls this a "non space" (107).For my project my roommate, Dara, graciously offered herself as my "space." We were both interested in the idea of what social reactions hair has on people. I was interested in the idea that I could "install" my project, but she would be a travelling installation without me. Hair art is becoming a real form of art, with contests such as Shops and Salons styling teams show in Dallas Texas. (http://www.shopsandsalons.com/hairshow.htm)
With a bleach kit, neon pink and neon blue hair dye I set out to in essence, tie dye Dara's hair. I used rubber bands and wrote out a set of directions for when to add which color at which time. Using hair and dye as my materials was new to me and I was excited to view the process as art. I saw bleaching her hair as gessoing her head like a canvas. Adding the rubber bands at particular times was similar to the reduction process in a printmaking wood cutting. Adding the hair dye was like painting - but it was painting a paint brush!
There were many obstacles for using a new material for the first time. Not only was I experimenting and therefore, expecting some type of failure (I don't view failure as negative, but part of the process). I had my roommate and her opinions and emotions to take into consideration. After the first round of tie dying her hair was pale pastels all around, but the tie dye effect was apparent. Dara was unhappy with not having the colors bright enough, and her opinion was important to me. I added more color in chunks and left it in for longer. The result is a blend of pale tie dye around the middle of her hair and bright pink around her crown and blue around the tips.
I had first had the intention to do this dye job earlier and then take her to several places (bank, restaurants, malls etc..) and catch people's reactions. I felt that having the class see the "site" new, before it fades was more important. As reactions come in, I will note them.

Works Cited

De Oliveira, Nicolas. Installation Art in the New Millennium : The Empire of the Senses. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.


Mac, Ronnie. "S & S Shops and Salons." World's Largest Hair Art and Fashion Show. 2008. Shops and Salons. 6 Nov. 2008 .

Time and narrative
1. The ideas of time and narrative almost blur. If a peice is long enough can it become narrative?
2. Can a fictional history make a piece of art historic, can history give it a story before its even shown? what is hype in reference to time and narrative?
3.If one does the same art pieces forever with the same ideas and stories, how many times in his lifetime will those stories or tales be relevant to current events?

Time and Narrative 3 Questions

1. In what ways does Christian Boltanski's "Les Abonne's Du Telephone" speak to the collective experience of human conciousness? Does this piece further ideas of individuality or of empty masses?

2. Juan Cruz, "Driving Back." This is art? True, it seems an expression of the human soul and yes the windows look really pretty with the light and how he situated the bench and the angular look of the speakers... but, this is art?

3. Hans Op de Beeck's "Location I" looks mesmerizing from the photo in the book and I wonder what sort of person creates this envisionment of art?

3 ?'s

1. How are the cacti gardens in Teresa Serrano's Vanishing City considered time or narrative? It was unclear to me. It seemed like she simply created some objects and put them in a space. Is it time oriented because of the growth of each cacti?

2. Does Amanda Wilson's Mirror explore her personal construction of individuality or the audiences?

3. It seems people find the library and interesting space to create installation art in. Why do you think this is?

Time and Narrative 3 questions AmyBeth

1)The author writes that archival techniques represent a desire to internalize and divert the narritive, rather then critique. What is the artist implying? Is there a problem with the system to archive artists, a problem with a lack of general art criticism, or an even more avant-garde suggestion of a new critique guided archive system?

2) Is focusing on "the everyday" a lack of historical perspective, social commentary, or both?

3) I thought Les Chaises de Traverse was an intriguing piece. However, there was very little information on it, and I wonder what the connection between the Synagogue in Delme and the Hotel Saint Livier in Metz have to do with eachother?

Textures of Fogelson Library

Public Art: The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that has been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain, usually outside and accessible to all. The term is especially significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a particular working practice, often with implications of site specificity, community involvement and collaboration. The term is sometimes also applied to include any art which is exhibited in a public space including publicly accessible buildings (Wikipedia).

For my installation located in the library, I created a book entitled “Textures of the Fogelson Library.” It is a very short book with illustrations of the various surfaces within and outside of the library (brick, carpet, etc.). I worked with Harriet Meikeljohn, the librarian who is responsible for cataloguing books. We inserted the book/author information within the libraries cataloguing system so that people can actually look the book up, or stumble upon it in their research. There is an actual call number and bar code, so that people are able to check the book out if they feel inclined.

I was interested in creating a fictitious guide for something so mundane (surface textures) it is not given any thought. By placing my book in the public sphere on the shelves with other illustration manuals and art books, I was hoping to legitimize the information. A goal of mine was to make the book seem very old and worn, as though it had traveled through the lives of a number of people. This historical presence is supposed to create a false narrative about the life of the book.

The project was somewhat inspired by the artist Mark Dion, who deals with different systems of classification. “By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society” (Art:21). Dion uses systems put in place by museums and galleries in order to classify and exhibit objects with ‘inherent import’ as dictated by those institutions. My installation is an observation on the validity that institutions assume when they give certain objects a presence and place for display. Dion also works with the different institutions that he is somewhat criticizing. I had to bring the work outside of my personal space by creating relations with the library staff who allowed for this project to exist. The librarian and I treated the book as though it were valid and true, despite its spelling errors, fabricated publisher and the misinformation of the copyright date. The process was important to me, as it involved communication with outside parties while allowing me to learn about the cataloguing system of the library.

Sources:

"Art in the Twenty-First Century: Mark Dion: Biography." PBS. 2007. Art21. 3 Nov 2008 .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_art

3 Questions - Exchange and Interaction

1. In Christoph Buchel's "Untitled," what was the purpose of making the rooms lifesize in some ways while also creating them to be minature so that the viewer was made to get on hands and knees to experience the work. Furthermore, what exactly does "Untitled" strive to evoke from the viewer and what is the overall goal of this piece?

2. Angela Bulloch's "Macro-World" looks exquisite from the photographs in the book and though we cannot imply this from the photo, the space is said to be interactive, with the viewer triggering movement in a massive pixel patterned wallfront. I really enjoy the use of not only the room but as well the color pallete expressed in the pixelated wallfront. The cieling adds an interesting, highly abstacted projection of the pixels. Personally, I wonder what sort of technology she uses to:
A. create the pixelated wallfront
B. to implement the interactive elements in the space

3. Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan - "Polar" is a monitor station that processes information from human interaction in the space. It's aesthetic is futuristic with a pale gray color scheme running throughout the seemingly varied rooms. Projections on the walls, floors and video flood through TV Monitors are the means for the human to process the data it creates by being in the space. Again, I am interested in the technology used to create such a space and I also would like to find out more information regarding the philosophical ideas motivating the space.

Juanita- 3 ?'s

1. When creating an installation, how are visual cues helpful in guiding the viewer?

2. Negative and positive interplay to create environment, how does physical position within a space effect the negative space ?

3. How does the layout of an installation effect the viewers perception of value and significance?

three questions

1. How does Sissal Tolaas' piece It must be the weather, Part 1: Dirty1 engage the viewer? Were the scents extracted from the scents of the area allowed to be worn by the viewers like regular perfume?

2. What message was Framis' trying to give the audience by having them "partake of food in a highly designed environment" in his piece Blood Sushi Bar? The central message of this piece seems cloudy to me.

3. Would the piece Gluck be more effective if the viewer was actually allowed to live within the created environment? It seems to me that the artist is trying to draw parallels between humans and subjects of an experiment. How would it enrich the piece to have the viewer actually live within the experience?

three questions - chapter three

(one) can an installation count on human nature/tendencies to produce an interaction, therefore fulfilling the meaning of the installation? and how can this be done?
are there any limits?

(two) how does an installation trick a viewer into interacting with it? can it be disguised as a regular interaction, but also be seen as art as well?

(three) if the viewer plays a large role in the purpose of an installation, does it still have purpose without the viewer, without someone to interact with it?

Chapter 3 3 Questions Amy Beth

Ch 3 Three Questions:

On the "is this art" topic, "N55 Hygiene Systeme Extended appears to be an extravagant Mcdonalds playplace. Does this make the Hygiene piece less of an art piece, or does it raise the playplace to art?

Massage Parlors truly DO pop up in unusual places, churches, community centers, the only thing that makes Happy Berlin Different it seems, is that it plays "The Mask of Zorro" - but does showcasing a popular movie (which isn't far fetched to image happening elsewhere) make this art? Or rather, art important enough to earn a place in this book?

Were the participants of uke-TEL aware that they were dropping pins on fish in the name of art? I know its very animal activisty of me, but since people create an uproar over dogs, cats and horses being harmed for art, I wonder if the artist just wanted to play with that line of where the ok and not ok is. And I wonder, when is it too much? When can we not hide behind art as an excuse for our behaviour?

Yay Cookies!

Yay Cookies! stimulates the senses of sight and taste in a sneaky intervention to brighten your day. This piece is a site-specific social intervention inspired by the notion that sometimes we don’t want to go to class, but a shared plate of cookies is a welcome surprise that somehow makes the classroom experience a bit more pleasant. (This is not meant as a statement about Installation Art class by any means; rather, this stems from my current frustration with academia in general.)

By offering classmates a plate of fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookies, I am subtly infiltrating and shifting your in-class experience. In doing so, my intentions are to trigger your memory and make you happy. Chocolate chip cookies are an ideal medium for triggering memory because they are pervasive in domestic American culture, and therefore are often associated with childhood, family and home. These cookies also support the intention of making people happy because, simply, most people think they are yummy!

This project is influenced by the simple, deliberate pieces created by many members of Fluxus. Here are two examples by Albert M. Fine and Don Boyd, respectively:

Ice Cream Piece
Performer buys an ice cream cone and then [a] eats it, or [b] gives it to a stranger, or [c] waits until it melts completely, then eats the cone, or [d] on finishing the piece, buys another ice cream cone.
1966

A Performance Calendar (for El Djerrida)
For whom? Anyone.
When? Anytime.
JANUARY
Obey all laws 30 days. One day disobey one law.
FEBRUARY
Make a work with the fewest elements possible. One item?
MARCH
Watch the clouds on a sunny day for 10 minutes.
APRIL
Watch some kind of insect for 10 minutes.
MAY
Take a book and a pen. [An old-fashioned ink pen]. Sit in the woods for 30 minutes watching and listening. Write of what you see and feel and hear.
JUNE
Find a sheep. Watch it 30 minutes.
JULY
Find a wolf. Watch it 30 minutes.
AUGUST
Write a letter to the IRS [Internal Revenue Service or the equivalent income tax authority where you live], explaining how difficult it is to achieve lofty dryness.
SEPTEMBER
Make a list of your four favorite books. Send it to me.
OCTOBER
Make your favorite dish of food. Send me the recipe.
NOVEMBER
Go somewhere and watch it snow. Sit with a friend. Drink hot tea.
DECEMBER
Give something you treasure to another person
1989

As with Yay Cookies!, neither of these pieces necessarily deal with recontextualization, reappropriation, or a visible relationship between artist and viewer/audience. None of these works directly question or provoke. These works simply explore deliberate action, and though it isn't expressed explicitly, each piece also makes space for a reaction. With Yay Cookies!, I am similarly exploring a deliberate action: the simple act of baking and sharing cookies. And similarly, I am making space for people’s reactions; my hope, of course, is that they will all be positive.

Source:

Friedman, Ken, Owen Smith and Lauren Sawchyn. Fluxus Performance Workbook. Performance Research e-Publications, 2002. http://www.thing.net/~grist/ld/fluxusworkbook.pdf.

Rebecca Chornenky

Amber 3 ?s

How can uncertainty and incompleteness be a catalyst for change in 21st century art as Cedric Price argues?

Is the Ilya Kabakov in this chapter the same collaborator from the abandoned schoolhouse in Marfa?

What is the significance of modifying the interior of a private clinic as Francoise Bassand has done here? What effect will a piece in a doctor's office have on the viewer vs. one in a sterile museum environment?

zacs ?'s

Is art in a taxi art?

how do people get known as installation artists. For instance, how would someone having a gallery in the back of their yard get them into this book?

If you do art in somehwere like a hospital, do you think artists who work in said spaces are more likely to make art about said spaces??

Three Questions - Author & Institution

1. Is the photography of installation art an art that can stand alone or is it purely documentary? How can a photograph of an installation change your perceptions of the piece?

2. What category of art, if any, do "pre-documents" or preparatory drawings fall? Does the physical evidence for the planning of an installation piece carry the same underlying themes and ideas as the actual installation?

3. Is an installation piece more effective overall if it exists in a context that is separate from the traditional "art world"?

My sister's "baby shower" AmyBeth

Amy Beth Maran
Susan York
Installation Art
10/14/2008

Pepon Osorio’s use of everyday kitsch objects creates awe inspiring 3-dimensional and installation high art. Understanding and using kitsch has been an influence to my art. Latin American art is prevalent in New Mexico and the forms typically studied are Pre-Columbian artifacts and traditional arts such are pottery making and textile weaving. Osorio represents a modern group of artists that are using their heritage while pushing the boundaries of the art world as we know it.
Osorio delves into this the rarely acknowledged topic of kitsch art. As a Native Puerto Rican growing up in New York City, he associats certain cheap kitsch objects with his heritage. Visually he uses an, “overload of tchotchkas, plastic toys, Puerto Rican flags, tourist and religious kitsch items and products, “Made in Korea”.’ (Indych)
He visually overloads his viewers for many reasons. He is pointing out the high class/ low class dichotomy that translate into the art world. The low class – in this case New York Puerto Ricans, don’t have the elite influence to gain access to high art. Osorio is exaggerating and celebrating this marginalized “low” class culture by excessively using kitsch objects in his artwork.
Amongst Osorio’s culture, the fear of not having translates into surrounding one self with kitsch objects. For this culture, these objects are full of meaning. “To embellish to Puerto Ricans is to reinvent with what’s there…people living in deprivation comfort themselves with icons of richness, a metaphorical richness.” (Indych) Even if they can’t afford gold adornments, people use kitsch objects full of meaning and embellishment to celebrate their religion.
In Osorio’s pieces he takes these kitsch objects and turns them into legitimate high end art. He has always worked with a social meaning in mind to turn these plastic, Hong Kong, mass reproduced objects into one-of-a-kind meaningful and beautiful pieces.
Osorio’s work undeniably deals with his heritage. Living in New York as a Puerto Rican he has made works such as El Chandelier which encrusts a chandelier in plastic palm trees, plastic babies etc… He is not simply making a beautiful artwork he is making a statement about having and not having. Seeing people in his neighborhood with so little Osorio notes that these chandeliers, “Were self-fashioned creations of abundance in otherwise impoverished settings” (Indych).
Osorio’s installation pieces tend to be darker in subject and content then his objects. He creates intricate rooms for viewers to look through and make personal judgments, such as Scene of the Crime (Whose crime?) and Badge of Honor. The latter involves a running projection of a boy talking to his father in jail highlighting the effect that violence causes in the family. These pieces confront the viewer and our assumptions, forcing us to rethink our stereotypes we have of a “Puerto Rican” and of “Latin America.”
The idea of having and not having strongly connects me to Osorio’s work. The use of kitsch to make a larger statement appeals to me. While I am not Hispanic, I can associate being marginalized due to my own culture.
Being Jewish American undeniably creates certain obstacles. My generation and society have been diverse and accepting. I even feel a connection with our countries fore fathers, though I’ve been told “those men weren’t for me.” My comfort in this country doesn’t belittle the struggle of other Jewish Americans and I acknowledge the differences I have with my fellow classmates, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances.
Where I find Judaism and mainstream culture clashing the most is within personal family context. Not celebrating Christmas was difficult but not celebrating Halloween or Valentines Day to me was plain absurd (that only lasted a few years.) Living with “Jewish Law” in my family was more of a struggle between parent and child, trying to love our religious culture despite being saturating with popular culture.
I believe not having an object creates a type of yearning that goes beyond that physical object. In my case I yearn to have a baby shower for my sister. It is against my religion and forbidden in my family. Being told “no,” every piece of baby clothing, toy, book, and even wrapping paper almost brought me to tears. I wanted to touch these objects, purchase them, wrap them, and horde them. It was the way I could celebrate and prepare for such a momentous occasion.
For my installation I wanted to explore this feeling of why having a baby shower was so important to me, even when it was against my culture and family wishes. On a spree, I bought every baby shower tchotchka I could find. All the plastic babies, diaper pins, bottles, bears, and rubber duckies I could find. I bought pink places settings for this imaginary baby shower with baby images on the napkins and cups. I bought wrapping paper to wrap imaginary gifts for this fetishized baby shower.
Despite the visual overload, creating the installation was meditative for me. I placed every small knick knack carefully and decidedly throughout the piece. I wanted to create an overwhelming kitsch encrusted, over-the-top baby shower with string lights and piles of pink glitter. This party was set up on the floor in an enclosure obviously not meant to be used. In fact, it looks more like a window display then a party. I want the viewer to feel the static of the space as well as an invitation yet blockade to the party.
After setting up the party I realized that all these plastic objects were just that: plastic objects. I added “aged” Hebrew prayers to the cups to create a dichotomy between the plastic pink surroundings and my family’s deep traditional symbolism. While I chose no specific parsha (passage), the prayers are all relevant, as the entire Torah represents Jewish Law to my families tradition. On a personal level, my mother teaches the ancient skill of reading the torah, called trope . The passages all represent my connection to the faith, as my mother taught me and my fellow students to find relevant social meaning in each week's parsha. My art is very personal with both my family and religion and I am very specific with why I chose the objects that I chose. Despite my creation, I could not bring myself to purchase any real baby objects. No diapers, cribs, or even clothing. Every time I picked up a bib or baby dress I felt a sense of dread. In creating this piece I understood the difference between the unimportant and the importance of tradition. Osorio has spoke about creating art and the intimate relationship it creates with the community one is working with. “When making art in the community…students have to rethink the ethical issues, the relationship with the family” (Mesa-Bains). I believe there is a line of respect where I can contemplate with a critical eye my family and their beliefs without crossing that line to disregard their concerns and wishes. I am still learning where to draw this line but I do acknowledge its existence. The importance of not choosing objects is as important as choosing objects.
In the beginning of this project there was no difference between all the hoopla for the baby shower and the real needs for the arrival of the baby. I saw one as a means to the other. They both were part of an acknowledgement celebration. In creating this piece I discovered that the hoopla was kitsch and I could purge my desires without guilt. However, when I thought into why my culture truly doesn’t have baby showers, I couldn’t bring myself to buying baby clothing.
Osorio’s use of filling up spaces to avoid the feeling of not having was my creative departure for this piece. I wanted to take his method of working with his own culture’s kitsch to find what makes my culture unique and what objects represent our inner working. Dissecting and examining my religion, culture, and community has made me both question and respect certain assumptions I had previously taken for granted.
I hope to take the many tchotchkas from this piece and make a permanent sculpture installation for my niece’s room. To talk about this prematurely is perhaps still a cultural taboo, but now that I can tell the difference between meaningful and meaningless taboo I have confidence to continue my artwork.

WORK CITED

Indych, Anna. "Nuyorican Baroque: Pepon Osorio's Churerias." Art Journal. 2001. College Art Association. 12 Oct. 2008 .

Mesa-Bains, Amelia, and Pepon Osorio. "The Practices and Pedagogy of Pepon Osorio." Reading Room. Oct. 2008. Communityartsnetwork. 12 Oct. 2008 .

Author & Institution: 3 Questions

1. How did the break from the gallery system come into being? Does it relate directly to the shift towards Installation art as a medium for artists?

comment: The art exhibitions in Marfa, TX were a good example of ways in which art displayed in a gallery setting could also compliment the landscape around it. I'm thinking about Judd's steel cubes, and how they interacted with both the gallery space and the architecture of the surrounding town. The work was not detached from the space it was in, although they could probably be just as effective in a completely different environment.

2. What are the advantages of doing work outside of the gallery as compared to doing work within the gallery? Does working within the system create a safer place for progressing artists? Is there more support? Is the work 'taken more seriously' in the gallery?

3. How do galleries re-act to artists whose work criticizes the gallery structure? Was this idea initially rejected by curators? Were they reluctant to show works within the gallery that utilize its space for ironic purposes?

Charlotticus

This performance/installation came about because of a man, who is lacking in the necessary skills involving boundaries, decided to tell me that I would “be bikini-ready if I just lost ten pounds.” Upon serving him his second beer, he gave a more descriptive analysis of the pitfalls of my body. In order to cleanse myself of this experience, I decided to do an installation in which I meticulously chronicled his words, as well as other voicing’s I have encountered in regards to my body (both good and bad).

I wanted to put myself on display, similar to an insect pinned to a wall. In using this scientific format, I was hoping to take an ironic approach in illustrating how I have retained a number of subjective comments as beacons of truth in my life. Being behind glass in that confined corner further added to the scrutiny I have felt from others in the past. The pins, though a little disturbing, emphasized how I have become emotionally scarred from a number of these interactions.

If I were to do the piece again, I would consider being nude, although I feel that it may disrupt the theme of universality that is very important in my works (even though they are always very personal). If I were to be nude, I would change the site to more of a lab-like setting with bright fluorescent lights, and make the scenery more important to the piece. It would probably become something entirely different.

Doing performances such as this, even with my minimal actions, is really very terrifying for me. I’m not sure if I want to explore that idea or not. I much appreciated the classes support and comments. The piece was maybe too personal for my level of comfort, but it showed that exploring these ideas in a classroom setting can be very helpful and safer than I may have imagined.

Site Specific Installation Pictures