Ai Weiwei's installation

That sucks about Ai Weiwei's installation. I don't think there's much to debate about it - the museum had to close it, if anything for insurance policy. I had a job guarding/managing a pool and had to enforce restrictions that were necessary for few, and ridiculous for most others. But it was all to follow our insurance policy. I wonder if there could have been another material Ai Weiwei could have used instead.

Camille Utterback, Again

Last night I went to Camille Utterback's artist talk. I had never seen her work before that evening. It was interesting to be introduced to her work as she talked about it.

Most of Utterback's work is interactive, the viewer's touch and participation creates an image. The image that the viewer creates comes as a reaction from cameras and sensors and a program that Utterback herself coded (or designed). Since her works rely on audience participation, she has recently worked with public art and has plans for several more permanent public art projects.

Unlike the public art pieces that I have seen within the past couple of weeks for this class, Utterback's work constantly changes as the viewers of the piece change. Her pieces are responsive to space, interaction, and collaboration among the viewers. In many cases they aren't necessarily site specific, but they are designed to be interactive without disrupting a space. They also lack a permanency that public sculpture has. While there are permanent pieces of the work that are always on display (a projection screen, LED tubes of light), they rely on the viewer to become fully visually engaging.

Sunflower Seeds

Here's an article about Ai Weiwei's installation at the Tate Modern, London:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/15/tate-modern-sunflower-seeds-ban

thoughts?

Public Architecture?

This week we have been considering the role of the public in public art. Successfully received public art considers the community that it is installed in. So does the same hold true for architecture. Should new architecture have to consider the community in the in the facade of the building. Architecture is argueably huge scale public art, so should the same considerations be in place for new buildings? Should the public be consideration when constructing a new space and if so in what way should they have an input.

Banksy

In early May of this year Banksy visited the corner of Randolph and Peoria and stenciled this image reminiscent of the baby carriage/union station scene in The Untouchables. The Untouchables, which was filmed in Chicago, deals with Al Capone and the corruption of the city in the 1920s. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think of this piece as a reference to the corruption in Chicago in the 20's which then serves as a reminder of the corruption happening in City Hall right now. Did Banksy have this in mind when he created this piece? I wouldn't put it past him.

I also found some other sweet stencils on the same wall of this building. Three heads, red, black, and purple lined up vertically. The stencil's cool, but the spray paining job is a little sketchy. I noticed a lot of other pieces of street art on the same corner. It seems that Banksy's art sparked other artists to come to the same area.

Camille Utterback

Camille Utterback is an internationally acclaimed artist whose interactive installations and reactive sculptures engage participants in a dynamic process of kinesthetic discovery and play.One of my favorite is "Text Rain",she made it in 1992. In this interactive installation,people use their bodies to lift and play with falling letters projected on a wall. It is very interesting to see people interact with this kind of artwork,they become part of it,they are creating arts by their body movements.

Here's the link for a video about "TEXT Rain".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_u3sSffS78&feature=related

Saatchi

I find Charles Saatchi to be such an interesting figure in the art world. His position as a "famous" collector is a challenging concept. How does one become famous for buying other people's art?
He is an advertising executive yet he his also known for his impact on the art world. But can a collector really have an impact? Is that fair to the artists? Saatchi has become more famous than some of the art work that he owns. This idea of the all star collector appears to be a construction of the modern art world and the transformation of art as a commodity. Yet it is men like Saatchi who were the early supporters of contemporary art. Arguably without them artist like Damien Hirst would not have been able to continue to make art.
Yet how does this effect the art world, and the work that is being produced. The big question becomes...Is Saatchi a positive figure who gave/gives recognition and support to emerging contemporary artists? Or is he part of the problem, because he cornered the market of the YBAs and was a major player in communication of modern art? Or is he both?

Street Art

The graffiti in the alley between Honore and Wolcott is no secret. The Maxwell Colette gallery blogs about it at least once a month. They even have a flickr stream that tracks the constant changes in the street art there.

Today I decided to make the blue line journey to check out this Wicker Park alley's graffiti feast. I turn left off on Division onto Honore and walk through quiet neighborhoods, past an elementary school on recess, fences covered in fake cobwebs, sidewalks crunching with yellow leaves. At Augusta I turn right, pass a couple houses, and face the alleyway. From the sidewalk it looks like just another alleyway: parked cars, garbage cans, fire escapes. I begin to walk down it and I start to see the street art. I snap pictures with my phone. I feel like I'm in the best museum in the world.

As I walk home I think about why I label the graffiti I just saw as capital "A" Art. I remember visiting the National Museum of Art's modern building last fall and my sudden disillusionment with the museum system. The Mondrian that I saw was yellowed and cracked. Giacomettis were piled on a pedestal together like an exhibit in a natural history museum.

Street art, like the work I saw today, is the most contemporary. It does not rely upon "systems of reception wherein distinction is conferred." It is temporary, site specific, new, and often comments on politics and culture. It even takes part in its own cultural and political war because it is illegal. Chicago's street art is at odds with Mayor Daley's "Graffiti Blasters," who search the streets for graffiti to paint over.

Like public sculpture, street art relies so much on its location. And like museum art, street art participates in a conversation bigger than itself. Tags interlock with the bigger pieces that melt together, they communicate, have a "dialogue" with each other by necessity.

Street art does what avant garde art does, it pushes the limits of accepted visual arts through its imagery and location.

Allora and Calzadilla Art 21 link

Here is the link for the Allora and Calzadilla interview on Art 21. All of their videos are on this site. Also check out their lecture with the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. As for Lida Abdul, here's her website, but again, just film stills and photographs, no actual videos are here. If interested, just Google her name and click the videos tab. Snips, picks and talks will pop up which are all interesting.

http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Intro.Allora-and-Calzadilla-Wake-Up.148.html

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/alloracalzadilla/index.html

Public Art /Street Art

Today I went to the 911 Emergency Communications Center on W. Madison to see Nacy Dwyer's piece, 911 Oasis, three dimensional granite letters that read, "No man is an island entire of itself." While I was there I also saw Carolyn Ottmers' Intersect, large aluminum leaves with the grid of Chicago on one side and the veins of a leaf on the other. When you come up to these works from the sidewalk, you're separated from the courtyard that they're in by a tall metal fence. You have to walk into the building and back out into the courtyard to be among the art.

As I was walking from my L stop to the 911 center, I saw a lot of street art. Nothing big and spectacular, but some stencils on the sidewalk and a lot of stickers. I thought it was interesting that the real art is hard to get to but the street art is in your face, under your feet, on street signs.

The works by Dwyer and Ottmers, large scale and unexpected, demand your gaze. But, even though they're unexpected they aren't disruptive. They blend into their space. Ottmers' leaves are pushed to the edges of the courtyard and into the gardens. Dwyer's piece winds around a planter and the letters are short enough to be benches. These works don't disrupt the courtyard, they beautify it. Asthetically, these two works of public art share something in common with street art. They are attention grabbing in their imagery. Dwyer's granite words are even reminiscent of tagging.

Later this week, I'm going to make a pilgrimage to one of the Banksy's works in Chicago (if it's still there) and consider how it fits into the idea of public art.

Sankai Juku

Sankai Juku is a famous butoh dance troupe from Japan. Amagatsu is the group’s director, choreographer and designer. He studied classical dance as well as modern dance before he developed his own “second-generation” Butoh style.Butoh is originated from the Japanese avant-garde of the 1960s, a period when World War II was ended, Japan suffered from the lingering effects of the atomic bomb detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasak. Butoh means "dance of darkness," the medium created a space for the intensely grotesque and perverse on the stage.Sankai Juku’s performers all have shaved heads and bodies. They are covered in white rice powder. Sometimes they may be costumed, partially costumed, or unclothed. Rather than wearing typical “street” clothing onstage, they sometimes wear long skirt-like costumes.Amagatsu explains that while "butoh is a dialogue with the gravity," other dance forms tend to revel in escape from gravity. But his dancing movements, in contrast, are based on "sympathizing or synchronizing" with gravity.
Here are some photos about the performance and Sankai Juku is going to perform on Oct. 20 at Chicago Harris Theater.






pictures are from sankaijuku's website: http://www.sankaijuku.com/index.htm

3 public works of art

I looked three public works of art walking down Dearborn St today. First was the Flamingo sculpture by Alexandro Calder. It's the big red one made of what looks like long arching steel bars coming out of the ground and dipping back into it. It must be forty feet tall. First impression is it's a dinosaur. Also like red flames coming out of a volcano. Super menacing. The next block north was the four-walled mosaic by Chagall, called "The Four Seasons." It's 70 feet long on the longest side, and 14 feet tall. The imagery looked religious, but other than that I couldn't really tell what was going on. Then again, I was cold and didn't look at it for very long. It wasn't that interesting to me anyway. The next block north on Dearborn was the Picasso. I like this one more each time I pass by it. It's staggeringly tall, yet it's completely dwarfed by the building it's in front of. The two are the same exact color all the way through. It's kind of like a no-messing-around business relationship the two have together. I don't know if I'm really attracted to the sculpture itself; the way it fits in is just amusing, I guess. Overall, the Flamingo is number one.