2020 Foundations

In line with the public intervention project we presented today, I thought it would be worth talking a bit more about symbols used in social and historical movements throughout history.

Of course, not all symbols have been used for “good” causes, with the most widely identifiable perhaps being the Swastika. Although for many of us this symbol represents Nazism and the horrors committed during World War II, it’s important to recognize the other contexts in which it was been used for centuries. The Swastika is also a sacred religious symbol in Buddhism meaning “good fortune.”

Symbols don’t inherently have meaning. It is the culture in which they’re used and associated that gives them their power. Yet the Swastika shows how strong such association can be, that even decades after the end of the war it remains a nearly universal symbol of hate.

Hey everyone 🙂 I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed the ride of being in this class with all of you! With summer on the horizon and quarantines still in place, I thought I would share something cool I found to do while stuck at home.

I found this article on Forbes that details 15 cool virtual tours you can take during this time of Museums such as the Louvre and the Guggenheim, word monuments such as the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower, and more!

I hope you enjoy!! I shared the link below:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/04/27/ranked-worlds-15-best-virtual-tours-coronavirus/#771be196709b

In the Art in Theory: Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant, Kant discusses about the peculiarity of judgement of taste. He writes that beauty is not applicable with universal rules, cannot be determined by proof, and it is objective; asking what is “Beautiful Art?”. Nowadays, everybody is constraint and committed to be within the society’s perception circle of what is beautiful. I read an article called “Who Decides What is Beautiful?”, which gives an example of a positive awareness campaign Diversity not Disability, with an image of a disability fashion model. The article argues that the beauty perception is intentionally built by companies and people advertising in order to make sales. I think this article not only applies on people, but could also apply on the art work we design and create.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lisa-balcombe/diversity-not-disability_b_9193850.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGI08GxKvDHVrG-YqD4rYragqBor28ivHy3m5oggAmeAJhkHjmRFlcxjVyNu0pcPaJxYZ8XrlBIw_Pb6awga1E19X5AzbFsRHAIxADInh3yrbQVeDYqW_O9QdWAeo97to1uGpKBERyGgztUvZgP9g0tLbX_Pm8Qf2JeniEY37SA-&guccounter=2

I recently read an article about the Pride Flag, and I thought it had some interesting facts that would be interesting to share. The Rainbow Flag was first hand-dyed by Gilbert Baker and his boyfriend Jomar Teng. The original flag had eight colors, symbolizing healing, sunlight, nature, and spirit. Later, the flag was updated to have six colors that symbolize the diversity of the LGBT movement. The creator of the flag, Baker, wanted people to keep on remaking the flag because he wanted the movement to repeat and represent the experience.

This is Andreas Gursky’s sensational photos of North Korea’s mass games. He travelled to Pyongyang, North Korea, to watch the Arirang festival. The photo kind of shocked me in a way. Everybody in harmony and doing the same action could possibly mean peacefulness, but it also looks like lack of freedom. I think this was a very moving picture and a great piece.

I am Making Art (1971) by John Baldessari

I thought this video could be a very controversial work in the modern society, where “Art” can be defined as almost everything around us. The author suggests that whatever he does as an artist while working has something to do with art and claiming his creative autonomy. The video made me think a lot about just What is Art? It was very interesting and I wanted to share it with the class.

I read an article about Catalytic Clothing, that can purify air. The substance called photocatalysis works similar to photosynthesis and it uses artificial and natural light to stimulate chemical reactions that can degrade hazardous air pollution (e.g. nitrous oxides, benzene, formaldehyde, VOSs) from indoors. The photocatalysis could prevent these air pollutants from piling up in the air around us. The photocatalysis does not wear off from the reaction or process, in other words, it lasts long. I thought using a long lasting material in clothing production that could eliminate close range air pollution would really help the air pollution in New York City, where a lot of people are packed and is one of the most populated cities in the world. 

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/catalytic-clothing-purifying-air-goes-trendy/

Part of the beauty in public interventions is that they don’t always have to be super complicated. They don’t always require a huge budget or a detailed plan. They also don’t always have to conquer the world or attempt to right some great wrong. Sometimes, beauty truly comes from the simplest of things. I have noticed some of these “simple” public interventions when on daily walks during quarantine.

Traffic signal boxes are everywhere in a city like mine. Sitting at the corner of every traffic intersection in a huge gray metal box, they are usually just eyesores. A few near my neighborhood are different, however. Someone has painted them. Once I saw the beautiful one covered in paintbrushes near my house, I couldn’t quit noticing them whenever I came across one. Some attempt to make the box more beautiful by blending in, painting bricks, a fence, or some type of ivy. Others, however, attempt to completely stand out, covered in beautiful designs and murals .

Now I don’t know much about these projects. I have no idea if someone asked the city or the neighborhood for permission or just went to the boxes in the late hours of the night with a couple of spray paint cans. What I do know is that there is great spirit behind these works. Somebody took such a minor conflict – an ugly control box – and said “hey, let’s make it beautiful!” And if that isn’t a public intervention, I don’t know what is!

Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist and activist, has attached 14,000 life jackets used by refugees to Berlin’s Konzerthaus concert hall. The public art installation is a tribute to the refugees that died at sea in an attempt to escape war and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa.

Our final project about public art and intervention immediately made me think of a group I have been learning about in one of my communications courses: The Critical Art Ensemble. This group produces tactical media, which is basically a form of art that is used to engage a participatory audience and comment on a sociopolitical issue.

The video below is an example of their work; it is called GenTerra. Critical Art Ensemble used actors to portray scientists who taught onlookers about a phenomenon known as transgenics. They essentially created a kind of participatory theater, which is closely related to what we might have been able to create with our intervention projects if we were all still together on campus.