Critique: Alternative Map Project

Link to Art 214 Website

Link to Alternative Map Project

I chose to map St. Mary's through music. I chose to create visual cubes of my room and my friends' rooms and incorporated music that we listen to in order to really get a sense of the space. I also chose to have Monty 25, practice rooms, and coffeehouse on the map in order to display all of the places that I perform at with my TNA (a cappella group) and Chamber singers. Finally, I have the point on the map because I associate a certain song with it and once more when that song is played with the visual cube it gives the space a certain feel and mood. I also incorporated the video in order to show the space in action. I wanted to do an overlay of sheet music which looks really interesting juxtaposed with the land and I used song lyrics to point out the places which I was calling attention to.

Artist Presentation 11: Vito Acconci

"Seedbed"

Vito Acconci began producing conceptually-driven performances in 1969 with "Following Piece." In that work, he randomly followed strangers around New York City until they went into a non-public space. He has challenged the very nature of the artistic experience and he is completely caught up in the relationship between the artist and the viewer.

In another group of works, Acconci tests the question: "How do I prove I'm concentrating on myself? I do something to myself (attack myself)." In "Rubbing Piece", he sat in a restaurant and rubbed his arm until it bled to see if viewers were more likely to approach him if he made himself vulnerable. In "Trademarks," Acconci again puts his body to the challenge. Sitting naked in a gallery space, he bit different parts of his body in an attempt to reach as much of it as possible. His motive was "to move into myself--move around myself--move in order to close a system." He literally displayed the idea of the artist as a maker by applying printer's ink to the bites and making imprints of them.

In his work, "Seedbed," Acconci created a bridge within a gallery space where he laid underneath it and masturbated. This work's purpose was to create an uncomfortable, intimate relationship between the artist and the viewers. They could not see him and this created a disturbing sense of mystery. His work interests me because it is completely non-traditional. He goes against the grain and pushes every envelope. The art that he creates is completely based on action instead of visually aesthetic work.

Artist Presentation 10: Donald Judd

"Untitled"

Donald Judd is one of the most well known Minimalist artists. He is famous for his sleek, metal, box-like structures which were made of industrial materials such as: plywood, sheet metal, and plexiglass. His work is very depersonalized and focuses more on exploration of space, scale, and materials. The art he creates does not serve as a metaphor for the human experience. Judd is emphatically concerned with pure forms. His works become lucid statements about proportion and rhythm as well as assertions about the displacement of space. His sculptures share rather than invade the observer's space, but they create a sense of monumentality which often lends them a dynamic presence.

Donald Judd says, "Abstract art has its own integrity, not someone else's 'integration' with something else. Any combining, mixing, adding, diluting, exploiting, vulgarizing, or popularizing abstract art deprives art of its essence and depraves the artist's artistic consciousness. Art is free, but it is not a free-for-all." When I see Judd's work I automatically think of Tony Smith's piece, "Die," which is considered by many to be the end of modern art. I never really knew a lot about Minimalist art, but now I have become very intrigued by it because I like the fact that it is not trying to portray the feelings of human beings. Instead, this type of art is more focused on the essence of an environment and how one can interact with an object in its space.

Artist Presentation 9: Jana Sterbak

"Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic"

I took an art history class in England that discussed 17th century art focusing on Rembrandt and the Dutch School and I learned that the term Vanitas originally described still-life compositions of rotting meat and game, guttering candles, and skulls. These paintings bring spirituality to life and were intended as meditations on the fleeting nature of life as well as the inevitability of death. By calling this work Vanitas, Sterbak is stating that her work stems from the alienation that humans feel from their own flesh, aging, and mortality. Here, the natural aging process takes place before our eyes as the meat passes from a raw to cured state.

Women, fashion, consumption, and the body are key components to her work "Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic." The equation of women with meat and the notion that “you are what you wear” are common ideas and there are a growing number of young women with eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia because their body types do not match the prevailing fashion or the “look” displayed by models populating the media.

Over the span of the exhibition, the aging process drastically changes the appearance of the work. The dress was stitched together from 60 pounds of raw flank steak and must be constructed anew each time it is shown. Following a centuries-old method of food preservation, the meat is heavily salted and allowed to air-dry. I like Sterbak's work because it reminds me of surrealist photographs which took the epitome of fashion and displayed it in different ways on the bodies of women. I think of the photographs of Lee Miller taken by Man Ray. Often times he would have her positioned in ways so that it looked like one of her limbs had been amputated or so that the viewer just focused on a part of her body which did not lend to her being viewed as a person, but rather as an object.

Artist Event: SMP Opening

SMP Show II

I really enjoyed the SMP show because many different elements were incorporated. Ya Haddy's work focused on her search to find herself. I thought it was interesting that she said she often defined herself based on the people around her. She had talked about how she chose to do pen and ink, but this was not her usual medium.

It was amazing how Emily Norris used her experience with carrara in order to create three dimensional spaces of backyards and found objects and then chose to paint over them. I really enjoyed this topic because I like the idea of mixing digital media with the tradition of painting.

Bonnie Veblen's paintings were really beautiful. She had mentioned how she was afraid of paint, but her works were extremely successful. I especially liked the dark work because its size and tone really creates an intense mood.

Psychogeography Reading Response

Psychogeography is "the study of precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals."-1955 Guy Debord

The sectors of a city are deciphorable, but the personal meaning is incommunicable like the secrecy of private life in general. Psychogeography combines subjective and objective knowledge and studies. There is a connection between psychogeography and sexuality and there can be more maps than you think based on sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

Critique: 3D Terrain

Chesapeake Beach Water Park

I chose a location which already had an artistic look to it from the elevation photos as opposed to a larger body of land which was not as aesthetically pleasing. The Chesapeake Beach Water Park is one of my favorite places near my house and I have gone there with my friends during elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. I wanted to make the environment look authentic, but also I incorporated more vivid characteristics such as color and shapes that made this arena stand out more.

Artist Presentation 8: Bruce Nauman

"Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear"

Using a high speed industrial camera that was able to shoot up to 4,ooo frames per second, Bruce Nauman documented himself performing simple activities in the studio and then he changed the projection speed to extreme slow motion. These films were usually short, black and white films that depicted Nauman manipulating parts of his body stretching his lips with his fingers for example, or pulling a length of gauze from his mouth.

"Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear" is a continuation of these Slo-Mo films. In this piece, Nauman records his face in closeup and he methodically pokes himself in the eye, nose, and ear. By enlarging the image, slowing down the pace of the video, and focusing on the feature he is manipulating, then the brutality of the activity becomes grossly exaggerated. With this work he has transformed a straightforward, almost mundane action into a prolonged essay on human vulnerability.

I was interested in this work because I have always found artwork focused on process to be fascinating. I am drawn to work that involves the body and Nauman, as an artist, involves the body in manipulations in order to demonstrate its limits.

Artist Event: Richard Emery Nickolson

Richard Emery Nickolson is a Professor of Painting, Drawing and Critical Thinking at the Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana. I was able to see some of his work while he was the artist in residence at St. Mary's. This event was my first time ever entering the studio work space that is associated with the artist house. I was struck by the yellow floors which somehow seemed to be completely conducive to creating art. Nickolson had been creating work during his stay at St. Mary's. He had chosen a lot of places on campus including: the crescents, the campus center, the library, etc. His work was displayed on the wall in rows, some of the pieces were finished and incorporated color, while other pieces of his were unfinished and sketchy. He had all of his paints out on the work table and the discussions he was having with other students centered around his time as a visiting professor in Paris when he said that he never had time to draw or do his own work because no matter where he went, even if he was in a cafe after class, a student would find him and want to show and discuss their own work. Most of Nickolson's work was very angular, he finds the geometry within each place and simplifies the lines in order to create a structure through alignements.

Artist Presentation 7: Tom Chambers

"Mission Window Dream"

Tom Chambers likes to create a surreal structure when creating art. His work takes the viewer on a journey through a dream-like world of the mind. He is interested in human psychology and he strongly believes that there is a loss of spirituality in the world because of the increased use of technology which causes more of an object based attention. In his artwork, children and animals are used symbolically creating a surreal landscape in order to convey human vulnerability. Chambers juxtaposes animals with people, spirituality with sensuality, and the natural with man-made materials. His ultimate goal is to express ideas about the spirit by using aspects of the real and the imaginable world, playing with expectations of the viewer.

I am drawn to all of the artists in The Alternative Museum's exhibition, Digitally Born, but I was particularly interested in Chambers work because of the way he chooses to depict real people, mainly children, with dolls. This creates an eerie feeling within the work because it makes the viewer question what is real and what is an imitation of life. There are a lot of combined elements within his piece entitled, "Mission Window Dream." In the right forefront of the composition there is a young girl holding a doll with her hands covering her eyes. In the background there is another child lying on the ground near a window surrounded by birds. The covered eyes of the girl seems very disturbing when contrasted with the half open eyes of the doll who is dressed in matching clothes. The way in which the girl in the background is surrounded by birds also makes the viewer question whether the birds are really harmless or if they in fact could potentially be dangerous. This might be a strange association, but the first time I looked at this piece I was reminded of the old fear of having your eyes picked out by birds.

Chambers artwork is beautiful, but it causes an extreme sense of uneasiness that makes the viewer feel and question how the lines of fantasy and realism are blended.

Critique: From A to Z Project

I ultimately decided to have each of my three posters represent a different letter. I wanted to combine three factors: the historical representations surrounding these letters, their visual evolution, and the way they are depicted today. The image of the snake acting as the letter "s," displayed its modern look as well as its connotation of being irresistible. The grass in the foreground and background of the scene is filled with the previous representation of the "s" which looks like a modern day "w." The dog, along with the scarf-like structure flowing from it, represents the meaning of the letter "r." The black print surrounding the image, merging with the scarf-like structure, is the previous depiction of "r." The "j" represented the many forms that the hand could possibly take, so I used a repetition of this visual to build what "j" looks like today within our alphabet. The black symbols surrounding the "j" are the previous representations of the letter.

On all of the posters I incorporated a phrase which helped the viewer understand the meaning or the associations that the letter had. The poster for "s" was the most realistic, while the posters for "r" and "j" became more abstract. During the critique, Emily mentioned that my poster for "j" reminded her of an illustration from a children's book. This was really positive feedback because I was searching to demonstrate the narrative of each of these letters. On the other hand, Tyne felt that surrounding the letters with small versions of their previous depictions was not necessary. She was pretty adamant about this and I understand her point, but one could argue that most aspects of art are "not necessary." I think having the older forms of the letter associated with the newer form added to the composition in each poster. They drew attention to themselves, while framing what would be most familiar to the viewer: letters from our modern alphabet. Ultimately, the assignment was to incorporate the meaning as well as the evolution of the letter into one poster, while still making it readable to the viewer. I feel that my work was successful at this, while still having aesthetically pleasing qualities.

A to Z Project Feedback

The commentary I received during class was very helpful. I am focusing on a very image based representation of the letters S, R, and J. It was hard for me to decide whether or not to keep these letters separated or to combine them in order to create a narrative. Ultimately, I think it will be better to separate the letters in order to make the history of the letters more clear to the viewer.

Progress: Combining S, R, J

When I originally began work on this project I focused on each letter individually. I found the history and the associations very fascinating. As I have studied the letters "S", "R", and "J," it has become more apparent how the imagery surrounding each of them can be intertwined. I know that for this poster we are supposed to create something that shows the meaning and connotations of these letters as well as their graphical evolution.

I thought it was really interesting that both "S" and "R" are associated with threatening animals: a snake and specifically a growling dog, while "J" is associated with the hand, arm, and forearm showing strength and force. So I have chosen to depict a scene that combines all of this. The early version of "S," which means tooth, is within the dog's mouth. I thought it would be interesting to incorporate the early versions of each letter as bones on the ground or other objects, which I have not added yet. Right now it is a very symbolic depiction of the letters and I want to add visual representations of "R" and "J" in some way so the viewer will be able to associate this poster with the letters more easily.

Artist Presentation 6: Jim Campbell

"Interactive Hallucination"

I am fascinated with artists who can create startling installations as well as performance art and Jim Campbell does it all. While looking through the installation section of his work I came across a title that struck my eye: "Interactive Hallucination," 1998. The pictures intrigued me because I could distinguish a figure, but I was not sure what had been projected upon the people.

This interactive video installation mixes live imagery with images from videodisc and videotape. This creates a real sized, real time, distorted mirror effect on the monitor. The mirror sets the viewer on fire, and also puts a "virtual" woman in the reflection, who is not really in the room. Sometimes the woman observes the viewers passively and at other times her actions affect the virtual space.

The idea of having an hallucination is very frightening to me, but mixing that with watching yourself on fire is even more unsettling. I think it is extremely interesting that Campbell has created a work that really puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position. I am starting to realize that the art is the most powerful when the viewer can relate to it, when it makes them rethink an established idea or notion, and when their emotions are affected by the piece.

In placing the viewer directly within the work of art they cannot help but relate to it. Once they are the subject of the work and forcibly having an hallucination then it is hard not to think about their ideas surrounding fire, death, and their relationships with others. The fact that there is a woman who is placed within the space who either reacts to the viewer or not is extremely influential. The viewer cannot help but feel, at least, simulated fear while the woman screams because they are on fire or anger if she does not react and ignores the viewer.

Critique: Journey Project

This project interested me from the beginning because I had been trying to think of a way that I could use my photographs from Oxford to specifically recall the feelings and thoughts that I had during the everyday walks and conversations I experienced. When I displayed my work in class I thought the feedback was very helpful. The parallel journeys I created were a walk through Oxford from my flat to the dining hall and back again and the thoughts and associations that were going through my head at the time. When I first presented my project to the class it was still a work in progress. I wanted to incorporate music within my project, but I did not want it to be within rollovers. I took the suggestion from Pat and made a clear link on the first page (the closet) to "Sex on Fire" and a link on the last page (Ludacris and the red light district) to "Get Back" so the viewer could listen to a little bit of the songs or ignore them completely if they chose. It was just another element to my thoughts within the journey.

It was pointed out during the critique that the rollovers within the textural images of the actual walk had a comic book quality to them because they were recognizable shapes and blatantly stood out to the viewer that they could either move on with the walk or take a look at either what I associated the real life image with or what I was usually thinking about those moments in time. This is what I was going for. After the critique, I added more rollovers with images within the less textural pages that represented my thoughts. This created a more imaginative space.

From A to Z Project Research

"S"

According to The Alphabet Abecedarium, "S" is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet and the eighteenth letter of the Roman alphabet. It is descended from the Greek letter "sigma", which came from the Phoenician letter "shin." "Shin" is almost an exact replicate of how the letter "W" looks today. Nerdinger says that "S" is the displacement of split halves of the sun sign (similar to the yin yang) and stood for the summer solstice. Donald Anderson, on the other hand, believes that it descended from a pictogram depicting mountain peaks.

Plato's Cratylus states that the letter "sigma" is expressive of shaking and shock. The Romans were the ones who determined the shape of "S," displaying its changeable nature. "S" has been named "the serpent letter" because it is not of pure and unimpeachable character. Its sound can be likened to the hissing of a red hot poker that has been dipped in water just before falling silent. In Modern English, more words begin with "S" than any other letter. Poets have questioned if and how they should use this letter within their writing. Virginia Woolf wrote, "S is the serpent in the poet's Eden."

Within the Beth-luis-nion alphabet, the letter "saille" ("S"), is associated with the moon, monday, the lunar month (April 15), and the willow which is connected with witches and witchcraft and associated with Satan. In chemistry, "S" is the abbreviation for sulphur. The Romans used it as an abbreviation of salutem, "wishing health."

The meanings of "S" include: to chew, reduce, analyze, grind, crush, and shoot with a bow and arrow. The Mysteries of the Alphabet points out that there is also a "focus on the element of a barrier to the mouth, one that protects the entrance, a gatekeeper that can bite."

When I read that "S" was known as the serpent letter, I found a source image which depicted a snake in the shape of an "S." "S" depicts silence and because it is camouflaged as a snake, giving this idea even more precedence.

"R"

The Mysteries of the Alphabet says that "R" comes from the letter "resh," meaning the head or beginning. "Head" conveys the meaning of origin. There were some very interesting quotes concerning the letter "R," within this book, that caught my attention: "living is being born at every moment" and "...men have to die, but they are not born to die they are born to innovate."

The shape of the Hebrew letter "rosh" is taken directly from the hieroglyphic "head seen in profile" wearing a scarf. As time progresses, the scarf disappears as does the nose. As the letter made its transition to the Greek alphabet its direction changed

The derivative meanings of "r" include: brain, cranium, creation, create, begin, summit, head, to preside, to the end, new, first, branching, priority, and genesis. "Rosh," another letter that "R" is connected with, means "venom" and "poison." The Alphabet Abecedarium says that a capital "R" is like the shape of a growling dog's head. The form of this letter was thought to be ideal.

Therefore, I decided to use the image of a growling dogs head and a three dimensional "R" within its mouth to outline the similarity of shape and serve as something that the dog is trying to bite.

"J"

"J" is the tenth letter of the English alphabet, but I found out from The Alphabet Abecedarium that "J" is not in the ancient Roman alphabet. It is descended from "I" and thus comes from the Greek vowel "iota" and the semitic consonant "yod." The Mysteries of the Alphabet explains that "yod" is the hand and it is represented by a bundle of papyrus reeds or an extended arm with an upward facing open palm. It means to take, give, sleeve, and extension.

The original pictogram was borrowed from hieroglyphics that used a large number of variations based on the shape of the arm, forearm, and hand. There were depictions of holding bread; strength, force, effort, and violence; stopping; and negation. Canaanite inscriptions show it as a stylized hand while the Greeks reduced it further to three lines articulating the elbow and wrist, meaning to command. "J" is also linked with new life, soveriegnty, and christianity.

I thought it would be interesting to represent the letter "J" by using a hand that is already in the form of "J" in sign language because it is so closely related to the hand. I incorporated what looks like "J" from our alphabet as an arrow that explains the motion the hand must perform in order to sign "J."

Artist Presentation 5: Oleg Kulik

"Big Milk"

"Dog"

"Beremennaya"

I found Oleg Kulik's work in The Alternative Museum's exhibition Digitally Born- Digitally Manipulated Photographs. Fantasy is a prominent theme within Digitally Born. The artists have portrayed their imagination through the manipulation of these images. Fantasy is an element that often delights the viewer, but these works are alarming and provocative as well. Photography is often used to capture a more realistic portrayal, but these images push beyond what is immediate and perceptible. They make us question what is really being portrayed and our associations with the subjects.

Reality is ultimately the starting point for fantasy so it seems fitting that Kulik and the rest of the artists in this exhibition begin with photography. I really like how Kulik uses the repetition of the dog in all three of his works within this exhibition. He is using the dog to point out the essence of being human. In "Dog," by placing the dog in front of the family laying a golden egg, Kulik is referencing the fairytale of the goose laying the golden egg, which is a reference to greed. He seems to make a lot of allusions to allegories, commenting on the human psyche.

When I looked at the three images that Oleg Kulik has displayed I was most confused by "Beremennaya." The viewer is almost pushed up against the figure in the foreground on the right, who appears to be pregnant. On the bed in the background is another figure which is somewhat hidden and displayed at the same time, but still hard to read. The dog is in the center of the image looking slightly afraid. There is a vibrant red which is placed on an object on the ground. This object seems identical to what is between the legs of the figure on the bed. It was hard for me to decipher everything shown. Apparently, "beremennaya" means pregnant in Russian. I believe the artist wants the viewer to think about the origin of life and what it means to give birth, but it the way the dog is just placed in the photograph is kind of disconcerting because the tone of the image is not immediately apparent.

The way that Kulik uses three tries at presenting the dog in different ways and associating it with different aspects of being human is very interesting to me. With the letter project, I know that we are supposed to present three different approaches to similar imagery. Therefore, I found this recurring theme of the dog and Kulik's style very relevant.

Artist Presentation 4: Ana Mendieta

"Imagen de Yagul"

"Silueta" Series

Ana Mendieta was exiled from Cuba as a teenager and thereby separated from her family. This dislocation caused her to be moved from orphanages to foster homes for years in Iowa. This dislocation from her roots caused a serious wound to her, creating a sense of isolation. Her work can be considered "violent, ritualistic, and ephemeral." Her art has been strongly influenced from a source within her that wants to be reunited with her Cuban past, but also wants to integrate her past with the American values she has been exposed to during her upbringing. Her sculptures have a very ephemeral nature to them. They possess the ability to mark the presence and absence of her body on the landscape. The purpose behind her work is very private and ritualistic, but at the same time the video documentations of her performances throw her work into the public sphere.

I was drawn to Mendieta's work because she used her body in order to express herself personally and socially. She challenged idealized traditions of the female body being passive. By establishing a dialogue between landscape and the female body, she was able to demonstrate how the latter is a source of life and sexuality. From 1973 to 1980 Mendieta created her "Silueta" series where she combined herself with natural materials. By working within the scale of her own small body she provided an alternative to the monumental view of male land and earthwork artists of the seventies, who even used bulldozers to create sculptures out of the earth. Even though her work seems to show a tendency toward feminism she was still aware of the fact that most feminists were white and of the middle class with little understanding of third world women. Therefore, Ana Mendieta's work did not fit neatly into any specific category of art taking place during her time.

Natural elements such as grass, mud, flowers, and trees captured Mendieta's attention, she was also drawn to another natural element: blood. The violent rape and murder of a fellow student on the campus of the University of Iowa in March, 1973 was a catalyst for some of her early performance pieces which used blood as a medium. Mendieta's performances were her "'reaction against the idea of violence against women.'" Mendieta described blood as "a very powerful magical thing." In "Body Tracks" her actions are hypnotic and her use of blood lends her the qualties of a shamanic priestess.

Artist Presentation 3: Fran Herbello

"liguero"

"In Our Own Likeness"

I was originally drawn to Fran Herbello's work because I like the way he merges aspects of masculinity and femininity. The photographs in his exhibit, "In Our Own Likeness," show how the body is objectified not just because it is the subject presented to the viewer, but because the body parts themselves have been turned into everyday objects. In his photograph "liguero," Herbello takes the associations we have with the garter belt being a sexy, feminine object and turns it around completely by placing it on a man and making it seem as if it is holding up the hair on his legs instead of stockings. As the viewer, we are tricked into thinking we are seeing a melted candle when in fact it is a human ear with a light coming from it, in the photograph "vela." His work is disturbing, yet fascinating at the same time because it is hard to distinguish what is truthful from what has been created.

Fran Herbello breaks the usual way of seeing the familiar and documents this with seemingly scientific black and white photos. He is interested in restructuring identity and self-analysis in a society which has been altered by the influence of digital technology. His art can be deemed sculptural as well as photographic. It seems that the authenticity of the digital image is constantly being questioned but Manuel Sendon, the writer of the review for The Alternative Museum says, "Little does it matter if the scar in the image of the backs was created by Photoshop...or as a result of the search for a person who possessed such a scar in real life. What matters, is not the process followed but the result obtained and the underlying concept."

Herbello's work is reminiscent of a lot of Man Ray's surrealist photography. "Corse" reminds me of a photograph that has been taken of someone who has had body modification. Therefore, to me, it is not as shocking as the other photographs because it is something I have seen before. Yet, placing it with these other pieces makes me think of it as more abnormal while still causing me to question whether or not people will start changing their bodies in the same fashion that is depicted in the other photographs.

"Corse"

Artist Presentation 2: M. River & T. Whid Art Associates

"Our Political Work"

"Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing"

MTAA (M. River & T. Whid Art Associates) is a conceptual and net art collaboration based in Brooklyn, New York. They do performances which are played out on the internet, in installations, through print media, documentation, and other mediums. They use aspects of conceptual art, popular culture, and performance in order to create a different dialogue with the viewer.
"Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing," were commissioned by The Alternative Museum. It is a work inspired by early video performance work where the artists were intrigued by repetitive actions and everyday gestures. The first video is called "Sliding Compression" where the artists look away from the viewer, towards the viewer, and to the side, while smiling and blinking. Their expressions are hard to read, they look as if they are almost annoyed, but they also look as if they are in deep thought or contemplation. The second video, "On Then Off," is interesting because the viewer has some control of the artist. When "on" is pressed then T. Whid appears and reaches over the screen hitting the "off" button. The same holds true for the video "Lights On, Lights Off." M. River is asleep, but when you turn the lights on he awakes confused. These videos show the repetitiveness of everyday actions, but they also display how people can control each other in little ways.
I was specifically intrigued by these videos because they are process oriented, but also interactive."Our Political Work" was a process because the artists had to do continuous moments of screaming and laughing. This video is made from 141 filmed moments. What most people try to hide, these artists throw out there. The videos of interruption and disappearing need a viewer to be fully appreciated. Someone must be there turning the lights on and off to see the complication.

Artist Presentation: Mouchette

Mouchette's Homepage

In 1996, this website appeared where the viewer is met by an extreme close up of a flower with flies and ants crawling on it. At the left is a picture of a sad young girl and next to her is written:

"My name is Mouchette

I live in Amsterdam

I am nearly 13 years old

I am an artist

Le site existe aussi en francais

My next mood is..."

There is an innocence to the way in which she expresses herself, but there is also an undeniably creepy and provocative quality to the website. On the homepage, if you click on "artist" it says,

"An artist? Yes. Here is a tip: I heard that the only way to become an artist is to say you are one. And then you can call "art" everything you make.... Easy, he?"

This is harmless enough, yet other parts of the website display images of raw meat and sexually suggestive pictures. The website is very complex, it does not seem to be the work of a thirteen year old girl. When looking through the profiles of all the different artists discussed in New Media Art, I was immediately caught by the initial image of the flower shown with Mouchette's profile. When I visited her site I was intrigued by the contrast of innocence, associated with the flower and her supposed youth, compared to the discussion of suicide Mouchette wants her visitors to enter into. The artist remains unknown and this causes a separation from the viewer, but there is also a close personal connection that exists while there is messaging back and forth between the two.

The artist who created Mouchette (or Mouchette herself), is similar to Marcel Duchamp not only because of his alter ego, Rrose Selavey, but because the artist changes paintings, giving them new meaning, much like Duchamp's readymades. However, the manipulation is digital instead of physical. It has been said that the Mouchette website is based on Robert Bresson's 1967 film "Mouchette." There are undeniable similarities between the two, but no matter whether or not that is intentional, the site exposes the unsettling ideas of child sexuality and identity manipulation online.

Sample Post with Image

Here is a sample post with an image.

link to my website