Week 13: Review questions

Early part of class:

1)      How does Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Rex lead into the Dada movement?

Jarry’s play was written before the Dada movement was really started.  It is important as a precursor because it is a satire about the people in government.  Dada artists wanted to make a point with their works.  It was a reaction to the onset of modernism, WWI and industry.  Ubu Rex’s mockery of individuals in charge has Dada under tones to it.

Middle part of class:

2)      Why did Oupilo artists use constraints, formulas, or algorithms to create their works?

This question is important because it examines the principles of the Oulipo movement.  Oulipo artists were both mathematicians and writers, so they understood the importance of acknowledging that there are many things to be written.  By using constraints, formulas, or algorithms, Oulipo artists were constantly able to write.  Constraints also gave these artists new creative stimulation.

Most recent part of class:

3)      How does performance art fit into the fluxus movement and have ties to Dada?

Performance art is important because it was seen in Dada with the outlandish lifestyle of the baroness, but it also made a reemergence in the Fluxus movement.  Ray Johnson hitting a box with a belt is performance art, as well as Bogg’s bills and his bartering to exchange them for goods and services.  It is important to consider how performance art relates to relational aesthetics.

Week 11: Networks and Relationships

“The medium, or process, of our time – electric technology – is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal lives” (McLuhan 7).

Our generation has developed into a very technology savvy generation that technology has become embedded in our personal lives and in the television shows we watch.  The show Reba is filled with the characters using technology.  The younger daughter, Kyra, is constantly seen with a cell phone in her hand and when Reba takes it away from her as punishment you would think the world was coming to an end.  By television using technology in it, it sends the message that everyone should be doing it (especially relevant to young kids who want to be part of the technology craze).

Take a walk down Hartford… What do you see?  Most students are using their cell phones or Ipods.  Technology can “remove” people from whatever situation they are in by giving them somewhat of an alternate reality – conversations with others via text messages.  Also, technology has become our best friend because it keeps us in close contact with our friends and family.  The days of handwritten, personal letters or greeting cards have practically vanished.  Because of texting shorthand, most personal messages can be written in a 160 character text.  Epic poems expressing how a person feels about another person or situation are no longer relevant because everyone wants their information shorter and faster. 

Because of the age of technology, I wonder how Ray Johnson would have conducted his mail art process.  Could he have been a graphic artist?  Since it is so easy to send and receive email, Johnson could have created digital art to email around to his friends to collaborate on.  The drawback to instantly sharing, however, is that once another individual has the work that is sent, you cannot get it back – they can retain a copy forever.  This would have been detrimental to Johnson’s other art form – negotiation.  Johnson’s tactics for negotiating a purchase could be hindered by multiple people having a partially completed piece of his final work.

As seen throughout history, technology will always be evolving, and as technology evolves society changes with it.  As Mr. Walt Disney says, “There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.” 

Week 10: Sons and Daughters of Dada

“Fluxus artists have consistently described their work, particularly the objects they produce, as performative” (Higgins 25).

Ray Johnson, a Neo-Dada or Fluxus artist, is credited as being the father of mail art.  Although he didn’t invent it, he was extremely aggressive about moving art through his network.  The act of not being the sole producer of an artwork is performative because it takes the collaboration of others to complete it.  The recipient of Johnson’s mail art was to decide to carryout, or perform, the instructions enclosed with the art.  Instructions included “Please send to…”, “Please add to and return,”  “Please add to and send to…”, or even “Do not send to…”.  By completing Johnson’s instructions, each recipient contributed to Johnson’s performative mail art.

Johnson also designed his life as somewhat of a collaborative work.  No one person is able to accurately retell the life story of Johnson because he allowed his friends to only see so much of his life and personality.  As his friends and family collaborate in the documentary How to Draw a Bunny, the life and work of Ray Johnson is illuminated.  Because the life and death of Johnson were surrounded in mystery, his life can be viewed as a performative piece of art. 

Ray Johnson staged his death as his final performance, a mystery revolving around the number 13.  He committed suicide on January 13, 1995 at the age of 67 (6+7=13).  Johnson checked into a motel, room 247 (2+4+7=13), and then was seen jumping into Sag Harbor and swimming out to sea.  After his body washed up on shore, his apartment was found to have hundreds of his collages carefully displayed throughout his apartment. 

Week 9: Restrictions and Obstructions

The Surrealist and Oulipo movements are significantly different.  Surrealist artists created their art, whether it was literature or paintings, by tapping into their subconscious and attempting to portray it.  By utilizing the subconscious, surrealist artists often had bouts of creative blocks where they were unable to tap their subconscious.  Oulipo stands for Ouvroir de litterature potentielle, or the workshop of potential literature.  Oulipo artists create their works based on systematic techniques or mathematical problems.  Constraints or restrictions also dictate Oulipo artists’ writing.

Constraints or restrictions can be creatively stimulating and produce beautiful results.  As seen in this picture of a hibiscus bonsai, restrictions during growth created an artistic and charming plant.  Restrictions in writing can be creatively stimulating.  When restricting a story, the author is forced to recreate the story around the new conditions.  It has been both overwhelming and exciting to set restrictions on my mundane short story.  Each imposed restraint creates a new and, hopefully, better version of the original story.

The Five Obstructions utilizes Oulipo’s constraints and restrictions to recreate the film The Perfect Human.   Lars von Trier establishes constraints for Jorgen Leth, the filmmaker of The Perfect Human.  After each restriction was established, Leth felt overwhelmed or worried about how to recreate his original film; however, once he began working under the constraints, he was able to create great renditions.  In my opinion, Lars was quite harsh on Leth about the Bombay obstruction.  I thought that Leth created a beautiful version of the original.  I liked that the people were visible in the background, but were somewhat distorted by the plastic sheeting.  To me, it gave the film an us versus them theme, or perfect versus imperfect, by not allowing the extras to be clearly seen.  Leth was extremely successful in each obstruction and seemed to thrive on recreating his original film.

Week 7: Text for Project 2

Lira and Peso            

Main Narrative:

I watched the kitten run around the house.  She jumped into the window sill to watch the birds at the feeder.  After jumping at the window in an apparent attempt to attack the birds, she gave up.  Instead, she entertains herself by becoming an acrobat on the rungs of the kitchen chairs.  I walk past her, catching her attention, so she gives chase biting my toes.  I pick her up to try to subdue her, but she wriggles free and her frenzy continues.

Variation 1 (List):

Crinkle ball. Untied shoelaces.  Blinds cord.  Window sill.  Chirping birds.  Tucker’s ear. Electric cords. Hanging tie. Doorstop.  Scratching post. Peso’s tail.  Backpack straps. Bed skirt. Jingle ball. Toy mouse.  Scott’s fingers. Chair rungs. Toy mouse.  Leather couch. Dog toy.  Amanda’s toes.  Coffee table.  Keyboard keys.  Cat tree.  Nap time.

Variation 2 (Lira’s Perspective):

Nosey birds, I’ll show them what’s up.  Bang. Dang!  Stupid window.  Guess it is time to find something else to play with.  Ooo… the rungs of the chair look like fun if I jump on them.  Weee!  Swinging around the rungs as I fall is an intense ride.  Ha, she thinks she can walk by me without playing with me, so I will bite her toes!  Ahh…Don’t hold me down!  Let go! Don’t ever grab me like that again.

 

Week 6: Magic and the Margins

“My sight is still excellent although I use spectacles for reading, when I read, which I practically never do.  True, rheumatics have bent my skeleton somewhat.  …  The fact that I have no teeth and never could wear dentures does not in any way discomfort me, I don’t have to bite anybody and there are all sorts of soft edible foods easy to procure and digestible to the stomach” (pg. 3).  “Indeed I do have a short grey beard which conventional people would find repulsive.  Personally I find it rather gallant” (pg. 5).

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington



Weirdness or qualities outside the norms of society can be interpreted as magic or witchcraft.  Marian’s appearance exemplifies the attributes possessed by individuals with magic power.  She is kind of misshapen, somewhat isolated from others, and doesn’t follow the norms of society. 

One aspect of a person that can deem them magic or a witch is the age of a person or the defiance of a life threatening illness.   Marian seems to defy death at the age of 92 when her son’s family feels that she should be better off dead.  Despite her mangled body and speech impediment, most likely as a result having no teeth, Marian believe she gets along well for her age.  Her family believes that she has become senile when, in fact, she seems to be quite sharp for her age.  Because of this perception of her, the family tries to keep her isolated and sends her away to an old folks home, which proves to be anything but normal. 

Marian’s hearing disability creates the outlet for her magical experiences with the hearing trumpet.  Up until Marian receives the hearing trumpet from Carmella, her life seems pretty ordinary.  Afterwards, however, her life is turned upside down (both because of the trumpet and because of her family’s decision to move her out). 

Week 5: Objects of Desire

Excerpt from Unica Zürn’s Dark Spring, pages 112-3:

She takes the ball of sealing wax into her hand and thinks about the fact that nobody knows what it contains.  When they find her body in the morning, they will wonder what the meaning of this ball may be.  …  Perhaps they will want to bury her wearing her amulet around her neck.

Painting by Scott Siedman @ http://www.eroticpaintingsparadise.com/

Throughout Dark Spring Zürn, the unnamed female is infatuated with the idea of discovering sex and pleasure.  She has found that every time she experiences a sexual high that it is fleeting, but she desires to prolong the experience.  Because each encounter is so brief, she is left feeling let down and somewhat empty. 

In the excerpt, Zürn’s unnamed female has collected several items (a strand of hair and a small photograph) from the object of her desire, an older man at the pool whom she watches and fantasizes about.  Because pleasure is so brief, she decides that she is going to die at the peak of her delight, which was gaining these objects. 

The strand of hair is extremely important because it is a physical piece of her desire.  She seemed to realize that she was never going to be able to have sexual relations with the man, so the hair somewhat replaces the phallus.  The hair is hidden in the ball of sealing wax because she doesn’t want to share her obsession with the man. 

Death with the man’s hair around her neck symbolizes that she is taking him to the grave with her.  To her there can be no greater pleasure because her brother already took away her first experience with sex and it was a disappointment because she felt there was nothing left to experience.  Death is the only other thing she has left to experience.  By having the hair around her neck in the grave means that she will always have that pleasure with her.