Blogged with the Flock Browser
4.01.2009
Three D spaces
i saw this the other day and it made me think of our class discussion concerning 3-d text. It also has a strange connection to Kate's parade idea. Personally what i find most amazing is how fluorescent those Zoo Balances are.
3.30.2009
Literation Levitation
This is Jeff Koons' energizer bunny inflatable being towed through the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:
And this is Blockhead, the (relatively tame) Paul McCarthy inflatable sculpture outside of the Tate Modern in London:
And one more McCarthy, inflatable pigs...
You can also google his Santa with butt-plug piece, but that's a bronze and I'm really interested in inflatables.
You may be wondering what this has to do with our class. I've been sort of inspired by inflatables and parades lately. There is something about the scale and/or levitation of these pieces that seems to create the monolithic experience (as we were previously talking about) that is so out of scale with the human body, and yet. They are still basically over-blown (ha!) balloons. The juxtaposition between the sublime quality of the monolith and the carnivalesque sensibility of the balloon really excites me. And then, in addition, the element of parade that I think that inflatables beg for is also interesting; the participation, the idea of walking art like you might walk a dog, but a really really big floating dog...
What I haven't seen is giant inflatable text. And that's sort of what I'd like to do...a sentence parade. Because then each letter is also an object, and the composition of the words, and of the sentences, becomes a slippery sort of project. You experience the letters one by one as monolithic objects, but then also there is a developing sense of meaning or comprehensibility that the monolith initially seems antagonistic toward. That tension makes me excited, and it also seems like CalArts could really use a balloon parade because it is starting to get warm and nice outside.
I don't know how to make giant inflatables, but I think it could be interesting to learn. I don't know what the sentence should be. Kristin suggested "The sentence does not exist" and I got pretty excited about it, because I thought it was funny and smart and just the right sort of familiar and yet obtuse. But can we workshop some alternate sentences? Anyone want to help me make a letter parade?
Ok. Hope everyone's spring break was lighter than air.
Updates!
There was some interest in the discussion of how to make inflatables, and here is the resource that I was looking at:
AKAirways
AKAirways is a very open-source community. Their inflatables are hung, rather than floated, so I think we'd have to employ some trial-and-error experimenting to figure out how to levitate them.
If I brought in some sheet plastic and a fan, might we be interested in trying to make a very simple circle inflatable in class next week?
Updates!
There was some interest in the discussion of how to make inflatables, and here is the resource that I was looking at:
AKAirways
AKAirways is a very open-source community. Their inflatables are hung, rather than floated, so I think we'd have to employ some trial-and-error experimenting to figure out how to levitate them.
If I brought in some sheet plastic and a fan, might we be interested in trying to make a very simple circle inflatable in class next week?
3.24.2009
Christian Robert-Tissot
just thought i would pass this along. this guy seems to be working with language in a way that is slightly different (in both material and context) from some of the other artists we have been looking at (ie. weiner and holzer). enjoy the break!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
3.17.2009
Rebus Shmebus! eye + heart + ewe!
Thinking about our discussion in class (which ended like 20 minutes ago) about the way in which text as object and when does text become object, and the act of writing and author is eliminated for sculpting and sculptor (for example), as in cubist paintings, illuminated texts, and the Chair. In all these instances I viewed it as being not as writing, but as re-writing, which in essence is writing, sort of.
If we take the example of memory, which Tom brought up, if I may partake in a proof of sorts, or one of those stupid SAT analogy things. If we see memory as cerebral narrative, that in our minds, when we recall something we are "writing" into the neurons of our brains the narrative of a particular memory, then in fact we are constantly re-writing the narrative, as we discussed today the consistent inconsistency of memory. Even if we verbalize or record the memory in the same manner each time we recall it (details such as it was day, the bike was red, he was tall) the re-compiling of the memory in our brains, is still different each time we remember something. The more it is remembered the less authentic the memory becomes from the actual original event. If in fact a text is taken and re worked into a different context, a definition rewritten onto a wall next to a chair, magazine cut outs pasted onto a canvas a la ransom notes, or "scribes" basically re-writing what God has spoken, it indeed is, to me, a particular way of rewriting. And in this sense, like memory, rewriting is just as generated as writing is.
In addition, text put in different contexts, often are still related to, the phenomenological observer as text, the consciousness of text as still text remains. Now however, there as extra step of interpretation for the viewer. Not only is there still the aural quality in the brain, the reading of the text inside the brain, but also a human impuse to decode. Like in Rima's blog post of purloined letters, I think that any artwork which "destroys" text or reformats it, gives way to the human impulse of trying to reform it, to find codes inside of the destroyed text. Perhaps that was not the original intention of, let's say Tom's shorthand piece, but it is a human impulse to find text inside of text that looks wonky.
Language has to do with the structure of codes, and the way in which different symbols interact within a specific cultural context. Etching or drawing heiroglyphics into a stone slab or papyrus is in fact still writing, but drawing and writing. The images relate to a particular symbol, sound, or idea that, what I believe happens in every language, can only be completely understood by the culture of which is was created and evolved in. This "text" is about the relationship between image and text, and the content is directly related to the image. A wonky textual art piece is an evolved hieroglyph of the English alphabet.
Like....Rebus! These refer to either those images that sound like words that make a sentence, or those puzzles where text turns into image and back into text:
Fun! Here's more, a website for kids!
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/braintpics.htm
And here's something extra. My brother's CV website which plays with language a bit. Doesn't really pertain to any conversation we've had (maybe internet "space") but I just thought his love for language and whimsy turned his science minded website into a language text art piece of sorts.
If we take the example of memory, which Tom brought up, if I may partake in a proof of sorts, or one of those stupid SAT analogy things. If we see memory as cerebral narrative, that in our minds, when we recall something we are "writing" into the neurons of our brains the narrative of a particular memory, then in fact we are constantly re-writing the narrative, as we discussed today the consistent inconsistency of memory. Even if we verbalize or record the memory in the same manner each time we recall it (details such as it was day, the bike was red, he was tall) the re-compiling of the memory in our brains, is still different each time we remember something. The more it is remembered the less authentic the memory becomes from the actual original event. If in fact a text is taken and re worked into a different context, a definition rewritten onto a wall next to a chair, magazine cut outs pasted onto a canvas a la ransom notes, or "scribes" basically re-writing what God has spoken, it indeed is, to me, a particular way of rewriting. And in this sense, like memory, rewriting is just as generated as writing is.
In addition, text put in different contexts, often are still related to, the phenomenological observer as text, the consciousness of text as still text remains. Now however, there as extra step of interpretation for the viewer. Not only is there still the aural quality in the brain, the reading of the text inside the brain, but also a human impuse to decode. Like in Rima's blog post of purloined letters, I think that any artwork which "destroys" text or reformats it, gives way to the human impulse of trying to reform it, to find codes inside of the destroyed text. Perhaps that was not the original intention of, let's say Tom's shorthand piece, but it is a human impulse to find text inside of text that looks wonky.
Language has to do with the structure of codes, and the way in which different symbols interact within a specific cultural context. Etching or drawing heiroglyphics into a stone slab or papyrus is in fact still writing, but drawing and writing. The images relate to a particular symbol, sound, or idea that, what I believe happens in every language, can only be completely understood by the culture of which is was created and evolved in. This "text" is about the relationship between image and text, and the content is directly related to the image. A wonky textual art piece is an evolved hieroglyph of the English alphabet.
Like....Rebus! These refer to either those images that sound like words that make a sentence, or those puzzles where text turns into image and back into text:
Fun! Here's more, a website for kids!
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/braintpics.htm
And here's something extra. My brother's CV website which plays with language a bit. Doesn't really pertain to any conversation we've had (maybe internet "space") but I just thought his love for language and whimsy turned his science minded website into a language text art piece of sorts.
3.10.2009
Label Gazing
Investigating identity through labeling. Literally. Adjectives on Avery labels on Post-its on us. Sensitivity training gone wrong or soooooo right. A project spawned from Erica J.s' consideration of labeling of the Obamas and the McCains.
1) Send Kate 15 adjectives that define yourself by Saturday.
2) Kate will print out adjectives on labels.
3) We'll transfer labels to post-its in class a la assembly-line.
4) Tag each other? See what happens? Other ideas?
1) Send Kate 15 adjectives that define yourself by Saturday.
2) Kate will print out adjectives on labels.
3) We'll transfer labels to post-its in class a la assembly-line.
4) Tag each other? See what happens? Other ideas?
Objection: Purloined Letters
I was thinking about Tom's shorthand pieces and wondering about the hidden meanings behind the text. Also, last week when we did the erasure activity, there was talk about how when the text became obscured on the pages they somehow transformed into being "text as object." I wondered if Tom considered his shorthand pieces "appropriated text," even though the legibility and the meaning of the text was obscured. What makes text become an object? When its legibility is obscured? It made me think of the idea of the purloined letter, where the idea of the letter with unknown text takes precedence over the actual meaning of the text in it. Is the way we view the shorthand pieces markedly different because we know that there is hidden meaning in the shorthand text used to make the piece? If it were a piece made of multiple curved lines, how would we view the piece differently?
3.09.2009
lawrence weiner: language as material (itself?)
hello all,
thinking about our in-class discussion on materiality the other day and noticing the lawrence weiner link on the wiki, i decided to embed this short video which, i think, nicely illustrates weiner's practice in relation to the materials he engages with. he is working in a discursive space where materials--language, paint, museum walls, etc--are used to both define that space as well as dissolve that which defines the space. he aims to collapse the art object ("a-r-t"[language]) and art material (paint, wall, floor, language, etc.) into one complicated loop of circular fun in a way that plays with the importance of the material art object's relational status.
it is also worth noting that L.W. has done several "art" books which consist only of words on a page (yet which somehow escape being labeled poetry [not even concrete poetry!] or even writing!) our library has several of these in the art stacks and they are all worth checking out (with your eyes not your id since artist stacks are reserve only:). I wish i had cough syrup as an excuse for that horrible joke but i don't so i will just see you all in class tomorrow.
thinking about our in-class discussion on materiality the other day and noticing the lawrence weiner link on the wiki, i decided to embed this short video which, i think, nicely illustrates weiner's practice in relation to the materials he engages with. he is working in a discursive space where materials--language, paint, museum walls, etc--are used to both define that space as well as dissolve that which defines the space. he aims to collapse the art object ("a-r-t"[language]) and art material (paint, wall, floor, language, etc.) into one complicated loop of circular fun in a way that plays with the importance of the material art object's relational status.
it is also worth noting that L.W. has done several "art" books which consist only of words on a page (yet which somehow escape being labeled poetry [not even concrete poetry!] or even writing!) our library has several of these in the art stacks and they are all worth checking out (with your eyes not your id since artist stacks are reserve only:). I wish i had cough syrup as an excuse for that horrible joke but i don't so i will just see you all in class tomorrow.
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