Please post at least two thoughtful comments on the readings for this week: pages 97-151 in the Goldberg book.
Here are some considerations:
-Suggest a theoretical happening based on the tenants of the Bauhaus (descriptions of Bauhaus festivities and Schlemmer's conceptual assertions might be a starting point.)
-What concerns of the period influenced the aesthetic investigations of the Bauhaus (re: interest in technology, etc.) and what parallel concerns of contemporary life might likewise influence your aesthetics?
-How do accounts of and artists statements regarding some of the early happenings in the 1950s-early 1960s fit in to class discussion regarding the need or lack of need for artist intent and responsibility? (ex., Alan Kaprow's statement regarding 18 Happenings in 6 Parts: "the actions will mean nothing clearly formulable so far as the artist is concerned.")
-Discuss and react to the social implications of the work of Klein, Manzoni, and Beuys; or defend the assertion that Joseph Beuys is the best artist ever.
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7 comments:
I thought about our in-class discussion everytime the book mentioned how some happening meant nothing or when Cage said "my favorite piece is the one we hear all the time if we are quiet." I agree with these types of examples because art isn't just painting something on a canvas and have people adore it. You dont have to "intend" on making art in order to create it.
Manzoni and Beuys work are the most interesting to me because of how much they based their work on making people react to it. Manzoni seemed content by mocking people like art collecters by literally selling them shit. Beuy's comment "even in death a hare has more sensitivity and instinctive understanding than somemen with their stubborn rationality" shows his deep understanding of people and how they work. We are supposed to be the "superior" species on the planet because of our ability to rationalize. This type of understanding of man allowed him to get the reactions that he did on so many occasions.
I found the 18 happanings in 6 parts section interesting, and was able to relate to it through connection. In one of my film classes, we watched a movie called BLOW UP about a man who thinks he has photographed a murder. The main plot isnt what i connected to, but rather the ending.
first, i must say that the film takes place in the 60's and throuout it, a group of performance artists conduct "happenings" about town. the main charachter runs into them many times, but never really pays attention to them, or even achnoledges them.
at the end of the film, however, they are involved in an invisable tennis match. When one of the performers invites the main charactor to participate activly, he gains an understanding of the happaning, and it becomes real to him.
i think, that by inviting the publick to participate in his happanings, Kaprow oppened up a new and universal understanding of "happanings" and what they were.
I can agree with gamblermo when he says
"Beuy's comment "even in death a hare has more sensitivity and instinctive understanding than somemen with their stubborn rationality" shows his deep understanding of people and how they work. We are supposed to be the "superior" species on the planet because of our ability to rationalize. This type of understanding of man allowed him to get the reactions that he did on so many occasions."
he made propper use of our pride and inability to let somethings go when we get them fixed in our head to get his point across. Stubborn is the optomal werd here.
-What concerns of the period influenced the aesthetic investigations of the Bauhaus (re: interest in technology, etc.) and what parallel concerns of contemporary life might likewise influence your aesthetics?
the Bauhaus investigation of art and technology in 'Man and Machine' is one which has been applicable to life since the industrial revolution. Artists today still use this issue and personally I find it one of the most fascinating and important issues of our time. How has the invention of machines changed the life of man? How will machines continue to seperate man from his natural invironment and behavior? What are the consequences? Today, the artist STELARC builds bionic devices that enhance human abilities to explore the realities of machine modified humans. These concerns influence my aesthetics because I tend to look for them in art that may not otherwise intend to express the man/machine issue.
Dan Graham's piece, "Performer/Audience/Mirror." had much of the same concepts as John Cage. Cage's belief, "every smaller unit of a larger composition reflected as a microcosm the features of the whole," and especially his famous work 4'33" explore similiar ideas regarding the art of mundane, unobserved details and the behaviours of individual audience members reflecting and creating the behavior of the group.
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