Fowler Museum: Singular Spaces Event Blog

My trip to the fowler

Singular Spaces is a photography exhibition that showcases the work of several self-taught Spanish artists. The various works of these artists are considered ‘art environments’ in terms of the scale and the way in which the pieces are integrated organically with previously existing sites around Spain. I felt this exhibition in particular helped show me an example of how science and technology can help spread art, but also demonstrates scientific approach to the curation and presentation of art. 

My picture of the exhibit description

The artist behind this exhibit, Jo Farb Hernández, studies ‘art environments’ and directs a gallery at San José University. The concept behind these ‘art environments’ is focused on finding inspiration in your surroundings and using what is available to create pieces of art. This approach is much like some of the science-art forms we’ve discussed this quarter in the sense that it requires an understanding of the surroundings in which the art is being built. The engineering, construction, and scientific research of the environment that is involved in the art installation is equally as important as the artistic side of the production.

Roof ornaments

The set of photographs on display at the Fowler museum showcased an interesting mix of various environments. The collection boasted everything from full buildings, to gardens and sculptures. I particularly enjoyed some of the constructions made on previously existing buildings. Creating some of these roof ornaments must have involved skills in engineering, particularly in making materials that are durable to sun and weather. For an interesting amalgamation of fascinating artistic pieces that juxtapose art and nature, I suggest looking in Singular Spaces to any other DESMA 9 students.

Fowler Museum: Making Strange Event Blog

For one of my event blogs this quarter, I attended the art exhibit at the UCLA Fowler Museum called Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram. Sundara is a contemporary artist from Delhi, and is among India’s leading modern artists. His two pieces Gagawaka and Postmortem, both showcased side-by-side in this exhibit, are a commentary on fashion and the human body. While the work is undoubtedly creative, and I particularly appreciate the use of recycled materials and medical supplies in the creation of the ‘brand’ fashion articles, this exhibit didn’t resonate with me the same way others have this quarter. Although, I felt the second of the two pieces related to our discussion of anatomy and its relationship to art. 

Me at the exhibit

Gagawaka was a piece entirely comprised of sculptural garments that were all created as part of Sundaram’s fictional ‘brand’ called “strange”. The garments are all made of recycled material and medical supplies, implementing a combination of bandages, foam cups, x-ray film, and other odds and ends. I personally felt that these garments as an art piece didn’t convey any sort of strong message or commentary. While the description I read at the exhibit described a ‘subversive’ relationship to the fashion industry, I saw the garments more as a creative use of non-conventional materials rather than a strong commentary on the fashion industry. I did however, find the second of the two art pieces, Postmortem, to be more interesting and relevant.

Some of the postmortem models

Postmortem actually builds on Gagawaka, and is presented along side the garments within the exhibit. The second piece is made up of a collection of unsettling sculptures that are a combination of mannequins, wooden dolls, and anatomical models. These models supposedly question the fashion display of Gagawaka with commentary about the social issues surrounding aging and illness in the human body. I think the use of anatomical models, and slightly haunting depictions of the human body provided a more powerful and relevant commentary. In this sense, I appreciated the second of the two pieces more. I also felt the second piece related more to our material this quarter, and served as a good example of how the human body, and anatomy are often closely intertwined with art to generate powerful social commentary that more closely relates to each and every one of us. 

Hammer Museum: This Is The End Event Blog

Me in front of the exhibit

This Is The End, is a multimedia exhibit at the Hammer Museum featuring three videos each independently made by three international artists. Each of these videos was presented for a certain portion of the exhibit’s running time, and when I attended, Ed Atkin’s Even Pricks was the video being showcased. This 8 minute video loop is among the most interesting art pieces of seen in recent memory. Combining vivid CGI-driven imagery along with a dense, yet highly refined soundscape, the video creates a powerful and unsettling message. The short loop is filled with interruptions and abrupt transitions, yet utilizes the same kinds of images and themes throughout. There is a limited amount of dialogue, and there are a few messages that make an appearance several times in the form of huge 3D movie-trailer style title sequences.

Action trailer-style title sequence

With it’s use of loud explosive sounds and graphics, along with over-the-top CGI visuals, at times Even Pricks looks like an action movie trailer. As Anne Ellegood and her colleagues put it in their essay about the work, “Though it is a completed artwork, Even Pricks is a preview of itself, made in anticipation of itself, which again seems to thwart the seductive promises of such image-making technologies.” Even Pricks uses it’s stylized imagery and sound to provide commentary on physical and psychological depression. I found Atkin’s approach to utilizing action-trailer style sounds and images, along with some recurring gestures and symbols to be particularly effective as a means of commenting on a medical disorder from an artistic perspective. 

Recurring CGI thumb image

One of the most frequently recurring images in the video is a thumb poking up out of a hairy, CGI arm and hand. This arm seems to float in and out of the frame, juxtaposed over a series of different images that seem to reference the repetitive activities of daily life. Yet the thumb doesn’t seem to interact with the scene other than touch certain things. The ‘thumbs-up’ gesture that tends to suggest a positive attitude is warped and played with here. Rather than suggesting a mood or commenting on the visual scene itself, the thumb simply floats around, and becomes subject to a number of unsettling visual distortions and transformations. To me, this comments on the detached aspect of depression, and how those who suffer from it seem only to interact with the surface of what surrounds them without emotionally grappling to anything. To me, this video is a prime example of how art and technology can be used in tandem to portray the effects of a medical disorder. 

Week 9: Space + Art

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

Our view of the night sky, and the stars, planets, and galaxies that fill it, have always been a source of awe-inspiring inspiration. Before we knew anything about space, artists provided their interpretation of what ‘space’ was through their work. As we’ve discovered more about our place in the universe, society culture and art have all been radically affected. In our lectures this week, Professor Vesna put an emphasis on the importance of the space race in American society during the mid 20th century, as well as the ways in which it has changed our society in the long run. 

The International Space Station

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” - Carl Sagan. This is such a relevant quote that helps explain the relationship that humans have with space. It is the close relationship between the imagination of space and what we may discover in its endless void, and the development of science bringing imagination to fruition. NASA’s space station is a perfect example of something that was imagined in the space fantasy of countless authors, and in films/series like Star Wars and Star Trek, but is now a reality. 

The final frontier

In his statement on spaceart.org artist Annick Bureaud states: “It is artists and their work that reveal to me the essence of space for human beings in the twentieth century, as well as my place in the cosmos.” I think this sentiment is something most of us can relate to. It is a combination of our imaginations, and what has become reality as a product of all the sciences we’ve discussed in this course, that can help us discover our place in the cosmos. Space represents the unknown, and because of this can tell us so much about ourselves. There is no limit to what we can discover, and to what we can imagine. I think this is why our relationship with the cosmos is so important. It always motivates us to learn more, and it keeps us humble. 

References:

"An Eames Office Website." Powers of Ten Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.

"Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers." Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.

NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.

Sagan, Carl. Cosmos. New York: Random House, 1980. Print.

Sagan, Carl. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. New York: Random House, 1994. Print.