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Bag Piece 1964 by Yoko Ono

A small room with instructions painted on the wall, encouraging strangers to “touch each other,” only led to visitors looking around awkwardly and then leaving. A take on Bag Piece — a work Ono first performed in 1964 by instructing two people to get inside the bag, remove their clothes, then get dressed again before coming out of the bag — is set up in one corner of the gallery; participants are free to do what they choose within the provided bag.

Flavorwire http://flavorwire.com/519603/yoko-ono-is-for-everyone

"Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) 1991 by Félix González-Torres

Between 1987 and 1990 artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres made an edition of 3 plus 1 artist’s proof of “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers)”, which consists of a identical pair of store-bought black-rimmed clocks. The piece was dedicated to his lover Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991. In the same year Gonzalez-Torres created a white version of the work, which is owned by the MoMa, New York. The guidelines regarding how the work should be arranged and displayed are the following: “When installed, the two clocks were to touch; the clocks could be replaced with white plastic commercial clocks of similar dimensions and design; the minute and second hands were to be set in sync, with the understanding that eventually they might go out of sync during the course of the exhibition; if one of the clocks needed the batteries replaced, it was to be done, and the clocks were to be reset accordingly; the clocks were to be displayed on a wall painted light blue.”

CatchFire http://www.catch-fire.com/2011/11/felix-gonzales-torres-untitled-perfect-lovers-1987-1991/

One-Hundred-Year Calendars 2000 by On Kawara

The format of the calendar provided On Kawara with another way of representing time and recording daily life. In both One Hundred Years Calendars (1984–2012) and One Million Years (1970–98), Kawara compresses time into small grids. For One Hundred Years Calendars, the calendars are ten rows high, with each row representing a decade and columns representing the months. Black dots indicate Sundays. Every day in the artist’s life is marked over the numeral with a yellow dot. Every day a Date Painting was completed is marked with a green dot, and red dots note when more than one painting was made. The calendars teach us some things about Kawara’s life. They indicate that he was born on December 24, 1932, not January 2, 1933, as officially recorded and publicized prior to his passing. They also reveal months of high and low artistic productivity

This week’s assigned podcast was an episode of 99% Invisible titled “Awareness.” The episode told the story of the red AIDS awareness ribbon—a symbol that arose from a society that largely wanted to ignore the epidemic. The ribbon was conceived and mobilized by a group of New York artists called Visual Aids. The idea was to make something simple and understated that anyone could wear to show their support for those suffering with AIDS and as an effort to bring AIDS into conversation. The campaign was hugely successful—the boosted awareness led to both a better understanding of AIDS in America and in actual money driven towards research to cure AIDS. The campaign was so successful, in fact, that almost every organization and cause imaginable has appropriated the ribbon symbol for themselves in a different color. AIDS doesn’t even have the color red to themselves anymore; Mothers Against Drunk Driving and several substance abuse movements have claimed the color red for themselves.

While I couldn’t really articulate a way that the lesson here applies to what we’re doing in Bookforms aside from the idea that art has power and value in the real world, I did see an interesting parallel between the Visual AIDS vision and the efforts of the artists I am creating a folio for, rENs. They both place particular importance on the color red, for pretty much the same reason. Red can symbolize a wide range of emotions—Visual AIDS wanted a color to represent blood and death, but also passion, love “like a valentine”, and compassion. A great deal of rENs art focuses on exploring these exact connotations of red—what makes a red foreboding vs. comforting and warm? It will be important for me in my study of rENs to express their ideas and feelings towards the color red appropriately, and to carry that spirit of experimentation into my own work.

ILIANNA

Your tendency is to finish whatever you start. You like to use the pen or the needle (writing, fashion design etc). You are loving, compassionate, intuitive and humanitarian. Runs of luck, either good or bad, follow you. You are sympathetic, but at times might be touchy and oversensitive. You may have a gift for writing. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.You find the best contentment in life when you own your own home and provide well for your family and loved ones. You have a great sense of responsibility and duty. You are comforting, appreciative and affectionate. Your obligation in life is to hold justice and truth, and if you follow the Law, you can find the great happiness and satisfaction.

LEI You always bring to completion anything you start. You are generous but like to see returns from your giving. You have an executive ability, you are a leader. You are moral, balanced, honest and intellectual, and you may attain spirituality. You are wise and practical with an appreciation of beauty. You always think before you act. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.