Camilla ADAD1002

After researching other artists work, we have decided to manifest our assessment of value and critique of the fashion industry in the form of a ‘subverted’ fashion show.

Everyone in the group collected old rags from around the house, an idea that Joe used for his previous assessment. When we gathered as a group, in order to challenge the traditional fashion show, we decided that as opposed to us wearing the rags we would make the audience dress us. We also decided that it was going to become a performance piece with music and dance.

We were concerned that this performance piece alone would not be able to successfully communicate the conceptual idea behind the work, so we thought we would add a video element that would play proceeding the performance. We all collected snippets of different elements of the fashion industry including catwalks, sounds of price haggling and scenes of fighting over clothes.

GLITCH

Interrupted

Chalk and water

This work attributes society’s overstimulation to two aspects of contemporary art and society:

Firstly, as a result of mass communication and technology, art has become globalised with increased accessibility and mobility. We now have access to an all encompassing, world wide web of visual information anytime we like, from anywhere we like. Boris Groys points out that ”Art is about rarity, about things that are unique and special and cannot be duplicated. And yet the technologies of our time are all about duplication, copies, about information that is not really special at all.” This unprecedented accessibility and duplicity has lead to overstimulation.

Secondly, contemporary art is characterised by the rejection, criticism and challenging of all political, social and economic aspects of society. This perpetual criticism and cynicism pervades public conscious; from the news and social media to art and tv shows. As a result, we live in a highly skeptical society whereby all forms of art are against all odds before they are even created. The message cannot get through. Art is simultaneously being created and destroyed.

These ideas are rooted in the post-post modernism movement that I explored in assessment 1. Post post modernism rejects the post modern irony and cynicism that is prominent within this contemporary globalised art world. British scholar Alan Kirby and writer David Foster Wallace have both written about this. “These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval.” David Foster Wallace critiques the contemporary rebellion of perpetually challenging society and proposing change, techniques which have obviously proved ineffective in  creating a tangible impact.

In order to encapsulate all of these ideas into my final work, I decided to re-stage the street artwork Keep your coins, I want Change. Street art is quintessential of contemporary artistic rebellion and this work is a clever and powerful critique on systematic issues surrounding homelessness. The interesting part of this work is who the author is- some website attribute it to the famous ‘Banksy’ whereas others claim it’s the work of Australian street artist ‘Meek.’ Nevertheless this is evidence of how globalisation and mass communication has compromised authorship. The very idea that this powerful work that proposes change has been heavily reproduced, shows the transcience of art. This work failed to make a tangible difference as it got lost in the every growing abundance of art.

My final work aims not to disgrace this particularly artwork, but to challenge the very nature of rebellious contemporary art that it represents. I transformed the slogan “i want change” from its original context to become a metaphor for the message attempted to be communicated in contemporary art.

To communicate the idea of simultaneous creation and destruction, I decided to use chalk and water (after a series of experiments involving different mediums- researched artists: Yoko Ono, John Baldessari and Eva Hesse). In the video work, I am drawing the chalk version of Banksy’s work whilst water streams down and gradually washes it away. In the end, a smudged indexical mark of “i want change” remains. The rebellious work being interrupted and washed away is therefore symbolic of post post modernism theory- the message is being lost and destroyed as a result of overstimulation. Further, this work presents as a performance work however I decided not to do it in class as the physical restraints would inhibit successfully communicating the concept.

My final work was not a visually refined piece. However, it effectively communicated the conceptual idea. My work does not offer a solution of what a contemporary rebellion looks like, but rather communicates that art is no longer carrying society forward.

Bibliography

Murray, S, "Review: Scratching the Surface.". in Jstor, , 2015, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/20068431?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents> [accessed 17 September 2018].

"New Sincerity", <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sincerity> [accessed 16 September 2018].

"SPACE INVADERS", National Gallery of Australia, 2004 <https://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/SPACEINVADERS/Default.cfm?IRN=162193&BioArtistIRN=33679&MnuID=4&GALID=33679&viewID=3&DTLVIEW=TRUE> [accessed 18 September 2018].

Experiment 5- Art simultaneously being created and destroyed

I got a pile of old newspapers (symbolic of political, social, economic paradigms) and with black charcoal started to draw over them. The water that intentionally dropped down immediately interrupted this process and it became a mess.

I was just thinking about the potentials of an Etch a Sketch, due to its function of easily erasing a “masterpiece.” However I very quickly realised the reality of how difficult it is to create a sketch so I don’t think I will continue using it.

I wanted to further explore water and it’s potential to destroy while something being created. Using paint (water based) I wrote “rebel” in the sink while water dripped down and simultaneously washed it away. I think this technique was highly successful in communicating my idea about how because of the highly critical and skeptical society we live in, in conjunction with our overstimulation as a result to access to art, how a work is at odds before it’s even created and the message is “washed away.” So now I just need to figure out how I want to frame this work- I want to do a performance work but will I do I’m in class or video it? What material/ should the work I’m creating look like? soluble for more effect

Last assessment, I investigated new sincerity (post post modernism) and the way in which it rejects post-modern irony to reflect that society is overstimulated with “contemporary rebellion.” I have continued on this path as I think it addresses really interesting issues, which although i don't think i always agree with, are still paramount to the ideas I've been experimenting/ exploring for my final work.

I have come across the Fluxus movement started by artist George Maciunas in 1963 and rooted in Dadaism, futurism ad Surrealism. This movement evolved during the 1960s and 70s and was “Intentionally uncategorizable,”  It was about the everyday- inexpensive materials and experiences. Art that was available to the masses and to be produced all the time. Peformances were also a significant part of the movement.

Although this movement was exploring different ideas (experimentation) to my work, it similarly uses performance art and the theme of destruction in the everyday to be a form of “anti-art”

Cut Piece- Yoko Ono (1965)

A performance work where Ono sat alone expressionless on stage, “dressed in her best suit, with a pair of scissors in front of her. The audience had been instructed that they could take turns approaching her and use the scissors to cut off a small piece of her clothing, which was theirs to keep. Although this work has different ideas to mine, it similarly uses performance to explore destruction from a third (uncontrollable) party.”

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-fluxus-movement-art-museums-galleries

EXPERIMENT 4: Art that is simultaneously created and destroyed

I was investigating other possible ways of communicating how art can be destroyed while it is created. I previously researched Jim Denevan’s temporary sand works and thought about how sand and the ocean effectively explore this idea.

EXPERIMENT 3

I was thinking about my first assessment and how I could restage that work. I decided to try using the same idea but using technology. I used all of my tumblr blog posts, lowered the opacity and layered them on top of each other which subsequently created an ambiguous blur (similar to that of my first work). 

For this experiment I went to Katoomba Falls in the Blue Mountains and created a sound performance work. Using the sound of the waterfall as the base of the musical piece I added other environmental sounds through hitting rocks and rustling leaves. This created an ephemeral sound piece which embodied its surrounding natural environment.

However, I did not document the work. I did not take a video, photo or a sound recording nor was anyone else there to listen to it. Did my work happen? The absence of any documentation as I performed this work meant that it was simultaneously being created and destroyed.

This experiment engages with the classic quantum theory question of ‘if a tree falls in the forest, and there’s nobody around to hear, does it make a sound?’ In questioning this idea i thought about the nature of performance art, and how the only thing to verify its occurrence is the documentation i.e.In Marina Abramovic’s peformace work, “the lovers” the only reason that people were aware that this actually existed (apart from the artists) was because of videos and photos.

To continue the idea explored in my first assessment of the impact of overstimulation in relation to contemporary art, I have been thinking creating a work that investigates temporality and destruction. Destruction art specifically intentional or natural destruction are temporary works that can enhance the conceptual underpinnings. I have been looking at a series of performance and sculptural works that also operate within and explore the possibilities of, the intersection of time and art.

Jim Denevan creates temporary drawings on sand, earth, and ice that are eventually erased by waves and weather. The idea of nature effecting the longevity and aesthetic of the work is really interesting- maybe I could look at doing a work in the rain

John Baldesssari in 1970 burnt all of his paintings he made in the 50s and 60s as part of a new piece, titled The Cremation Project. He baked the ashes into cookies and placed them into an urn. Through the ritual of cremation and destruction Baldessari draws a connection between artistic practice and the human life cycle. This work takes Intentional destruction to a new level- something Im definitely interested in exploring.

Eva hesse’s sculpture Contingent is another work featuring a natural destruction. Although the sculptures break down they manage to be beautiful in their fragility and delicateness.

Eva hesse’s sculpture Contingent is another work featuring a natural destruction. Although the sculptures break down they manage to be beautiful in their fragility and delicateness.

In thinking about rebellion and my last assessment, I noticed how all these contemporary rebellious works were critiquing aspects of society. As is a lot of aspects of 21st century society, this is characterised by negativity. So I've been thinking about positive rebellion and rebellious movements. 

1.

Using my work from SART, decided to to think about the question of environment and ecology. Closely beach intersects natural environment, man made structures and humans. Mirrors are an interesting method to capture this intersection. I think i want to further investigate this with more of a focus on the question- something I want to think more about.

2.

Looking again at the rebellion question and my ideas from assessment 1. Not very successful experiment- pretty straight forward. Duplicating the rude finger shifts the focus away from the white house in Ai Wei Wei’s initial photograph which suggests how contemporary art is all focused on the ‘rebellious’ that it takes away from the actual focus.

3. 

Rebellion question again. I was thinking about another way to approach this question and thought about an interactive work whereby the audience’s rebellious act is what creates the work. In response to this, my initial thought was drawing/ writing in cement. Kind of a playful idea that I might look at further. Another idea within this is ‘wet paint’ and other instructions seen on streets on daily basis.