Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Performance art/fantasy response
Both articles emphasized the subjectivity of video. The meaning of the work depends on the individual. The audience is required to engage in the piece--intermedia really only exists through interaction. Video is different from artwork such as paintings and sculptures, because when you interpret the work, it's almost in a retrospective point of view--somewhat limiting the audience's role in the art. Intermedia is more about evoking a reaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibX4WbnFdHo
These are the final scenes of "Inception." It requires the audience to play along. The director doesn't make it clear whether he is in a dream or reality; it's open to interpretation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibX4WbnFdHo
These are the final scenes of "Inception." It requires the audience to play along. The director doesn't make it clear whether he is in a dream or reality; it's open to interpretation.
Performance Art
While video art can elicit emotional responses and
reactions, performance video art further emphasizes and fosters a relationship
between art and its audience. There is a defined and established interaction
between artists and performers and this can be translated when captured over
video. This kind of art requires a conversation between the artist, the art,
and the audience; each of their individual roles are important in this
exchange.
This is a link discussing a piece of performance art (though
not intended for video) called The Kiss.
The artist comments in this article on the immortality of this art form.
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Arts/2010/0216/Is-it-art-For-performance-artist-Tino-Sehgal-it-s-immaterial
Art as a Performance/Fantasy in Video Response
I think these two passages are alluding to the idea that video art like most art is actually a type of performance art. For instance, the the first passage touches on the fact that art has elements of play, symbols, and festivals which can all be seen as a form of performance because there is an interaction between the viewer and the artist. Likewise, in the second passage the author states that his first encounter with "interactive works began not with video, but in performance....Interactive systems require viewers to react" just like a performance. For this reason, we can see how video grew out of performance/interactive art.
The video that I found below is called "Music Painting", I thought it was a cool interactive video to show because it encompasses most of the elements talked about in the two passages
Art as Performance Enactment
I found the ‘Performative Act’ piece very meaningful and
accurate. The idea of the viewer
assuming responsibility for giving their own meaning to a piece of work is
really interesting and subjective. If an artist puts countless hours of work
into making a video and the viewer does not perceive it the way the artist intended,
is the piece considered positively? Conversely, if the author puts something
together that lacks intention, vision, and a core idea, but the viewer loves
it, then how is artwork really measured and how important is the preparation of
the work? I think there is no right answer to these questions and that’s what
makes them captivating. If we rely on the viewer’s own interpretation, it is
fair to conclude that artwork is not created for the viewer, but instead for the
joy of the artist- and that’s what makes artwork so unique.
Later
in the piece, it discussed the importance of movement of the player in the
play. The author rights that the movement of the player is not as important as
the movement of the play itself. This is another interesting concept because it
puts the play before the players. What about if the play is solely focused on the
performance of the player? A performance I found relevant to this discussion is
“Place Matters” by Clint Smith. He passionately proclaims a piece about the
troubles of the youth in DC. He uses hand motions to relay that passion. In
addition, the camera does not just focus on his face, but centers around his
hands at some points as well as the surrounding area. The movement of the
camera and of the player are important to relay the expression and emotion of
the actor to the viewers. The choice of the videographer to not just focus on
the speakers face for the entirety of the video justifies the point made in the
article. Movement by the speaker is important, but it only supplements the
movement within the entire play itself.
Art as Performative Enactment
This reading elaborates on three
concepts of the origins of art: play, symbol, and festival. I found the
author’s definition of “symbol” in terms of art very interesting: not just a
form that expresses the idea of a feeling, but the actual presence of what is
symbolized through “otherness.” I think this is an important concept to keep in
mind when thinking about art. I found two videos by performance artist Marina Abramovic that I feel exemplify all three concepts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKw7LuEqUVs: This performance took place at MoMA. Abramovic spent 700 hours sitting silently for 7 hours a day, 6 days a week in a chair at the museum's atrium, facing a rotating cast of 1400 visiting sitters. There was a wall slide projection of Abramovic's face staring across to a projection of her visiting sitter on the opposite wall on various days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKw7LuEqUVs: This next video was an extension of the performance mentioned above. She threw a silent party at the Sundance Film Festival.
These pieces involve elements of movement (play), an "ontological self-presentation that enables self-recognition" (symbol), and communal experience (festival), as she involves many people in her art performances.
Art as a Performance/Fantasy in Video Response
Both of these readings point out the interactive aspect to performance video. In the article, “Art as a Performative Act,” the author uses the metaphor of a game being played, which involves the spectators to participate in the movement of play as they watch the game being played. Putting on a performance takes away from the one sided dynamic video can present. The art becomes a communal festival that everyone participates in and the performance is what unites the performers and all the spectators together. This article also pointed out the use of symbols and how everything in the piece carries a meaning, such as the scrim in Russ’s piece contributing with the healing ritual being presented. Similarly, the “Fantasy in Video” article pointed out that performance art requires viewers to react and because it occurs in real time, it allows the viewer to connect with the piece. The author says that the act of viewing a captured image creates distance from the event while the captured image itself becomes “a relic of the past.” Therefore, performance video breaks down the barrier from the viewer to the performer allowing more interaction and more of a “communal festival.”
When reading these articles, I thought of Pes and his work where he takes inanimate objects that look like food, for example, and makes things like guacamole with them. In other works, he personifies couches and tells a short story, mainly using stop motion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJdJIwCF_Y
I also just re-discovered this other performance video which I thought really combined the new technology with performance art.
https://vimeo.com/45417241
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Art as a Performative Act
The reading goes through the three main aspects of art: Play, Symbol, and Festival. The play are the characters in the piece. The way they interact inside the piece represents an aspect of the art. The art is literally represented through the actors and their movements in the piece. I liked the metaphor of the game used to describe this. The players and the game itself compliment each other. The symbols are the objects in the piece of art that have relevance pertaining to the story as a whole. Finally the festival is the unification that is caused by the art itself. The art brings a community of people together to which the art speaks to. The festival or the art itself can bring people together in communal unification.
For my example I chose one of my favorite movie sequences ever. Its a scene from Shutter Island. The sequence has so much symbolism that moves the story forward. The acting and movement of the characters also has relevance. In the sequence the emotions of the characters are not only expressed by words, but by movement. The sequence perhaps speaks to a community of people who have experienced the hardships of letting go of guilt and tragedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0eG0O9qNB4
For my example I chose one of my favorite movie sequences ever. Its a scene from Shutter Island. The sequence has so much symbolism that moves the story forward. The acting and movement of the characters also has relevance. In the sequence the emotions of the characters are not only expressed by words, but by movement. The sequence perhaps speaks to a community of people who have experienced the hardships of letting go of guilt and tragedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0eG0O9qNB4
response to art as performance
The reading talks about the act of playing in
an interesting way. It starts off about how you need movement for play.
It then goes into this whole thing about how first you start playing the game,
and then others join you in the game, and only then is the game being played.
Then it says if there is an audience for the game then they are in fact part of
the game and have to move as such. At least that’s the basic idea that I
understood from reading it, I honestly found it all very confusing and I didn’t
really understand how it related to video or performance art.
This got me thinking about I idea of
filming kids playing games. I feel like if it was shot in the right way it
could be a very cool thing to watch. I say this because I feel like kids,
unlike adults, are very “real”. What I mean by that is that I think that what
kids do, and say and how they act is very genuine. Because of that, I think the
recording them when they are free to play whatever game they want with other
kids, with no direct adult supervision or influence, could be an interesting thing
to see. It could kind of be like getting a glimpse to what the world would be
like if there were anarchy instead of government, how social society would be
different and how people would act towards one another. Of course I'm describing
the ideal version of what the video would capture. However it would probably
end up just being silly and stupid.
Part
of my influence for this idea came from this video (at the 10min mark)
Response to "Art as Performative Act"
The author describes art in three ways, which it can be shown as a play, a symbol and a festival. A play suggests the movement or the performance itself. The art is presented through actions. The subject or the main focus in this case is the actor. He/she illustrated the piece, which is also defined as "self-presentation". The second way is the symbol. It is the object that is used through a performance, or plays the function of recognition during the performance. The third one is the festival. The festival brings all the performance elements together and all participation represents different artforms.
This is one of my favorite performing pieces from MoMA. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created the piece. The sand and the platform are the symbols in the performance. The dancer, herself, is the play. We can understand as a way that she is playing with the sand. I feel the piece tide to the reading that the author is trying to explain.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Origins of Video Response
There is certainly a perceivable relationship between the development of art and changes in technology. This is also true for society in general; we are constantly progressing. From an economic perspective, there is reason behind this growth, especially in the arts. In the past people spent most of their time obtaining food, and taking care of household duties, but as we became more efficient in accomplishing these tasks, more time was available for leisure, and therefore the arts. Today art has become a major part of our lives, so more and more technology has been developed, which allows us to express ourselves in more and varied ways.
I thought it was interesting how Meigh-Andrews mentions that
works in forms such as videotape and more recently disk are become obsolete.
Pieces that weren’t considered “significant” were not preserved, archived, or
restored. This was true for the past, but with the great strides in technology
I doubt that this will be a problem anymore. Much video is now digital and can
be preserved and stored much more easily, regardless of any perceived
significance.
The power of video extends even beyond aesthetics and even
into political and social context. The video artist Kubota claimed video is a
medium that empowers women, enabling them to achieve a place in Western art
that couldn’t be achieved through traditional means such as paint and sculpture,
both which had been dominated by males. This is true for any platform, not just
feminism. Technology has become accessible for anyone, and improvements have
allowed video to become widespread so many can watch and identify.
The link includes some of the earliest color motion picture
film you can find. It is the Kodak 1922 Kodachrome film test. I found it
interesting because it was shot right here in Rochester, NY. New effects such
as color revolutionized film, and this city was a crucial part.
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