Second Blog Post: Reflect
Scott introduces the artwork of Marina Abramovic to explore the question 'what is art?'. This question has been posed since the beginning of artistic modernism and personally, as someone pursuing a career in visual arts, I am very invested in finding the answer. Although I would like to believe that art is fluid and can anything the artist manifests, I also believe that modern artwork can be overly simplified and excruciatingly mundane. Additionally, as Scott explains, modern art tends to patronize it's viewers and exclude those who do not understand it's meaning. Generally, those purchasing modern art are extremely wealthy and spend millions of dollars on the seemingly ordinary objects, leaving the underclass confused and enraged. Abramovic's controversial piece The Artist Is Present, which was displayed in the MoMA, continues to explore the validity of modern art. The Artist Is Present features her sitting in the museum for intrigued crowds to view. She was not accompanied by any other art and the exhibit was not embellished with any inventive decor. Despite the sheer simplicity of the exhibit, each of her audience members were individually moved by the piece, some visitors even weeping as they stared into her eyes. This surprising manifestation of emotion could be accredited to the profound isolation that we feel as a society in this modern world. In an age where most day-to-day conversation occur through a screen, we rarely have to be near someone to communicate with them. This distance eliminates many aspects of human interaction such as awkwardness, eye contact and physical contact, even if this contact is only in the form of a handshake or high five. As a result, human interaction has been striped bare of it's vivacity and devolved into a robotic exchange of information. People are thirsty for this missing connection, which is exactly what Abramovic offered to her viewers at the MoMA.
Second BLOG POST: Incorporate
SECOND BLOG POST: Synthesize
In Better living through criticism, A.O. Scott explains how widespread consumerism has massed together world cultures and desegregated traditionally divided groups of people; rather than being peasants, priests and laymen, we are simply consumers. Additionally, consumerism has muted ancient cultures and traditions as habits of the Western world such as imperialism, conquest, trade and capitalism spread throughout the globe [page 1]. Scott explains how ideology, advertisement, distinction, culture, status and pressure all prevent the masses from having pure perception, or the ability appreciate a piece of art without any pre-conceived assessment of it's value and no distraction while viewing it. I wonder if one could break through this brick wall of predetermined disruptions and achieve pure perception and, if so, should that be something that a consumer of the arts desires. If there were no races, genders, cultures or ideologies, how would an individual have unique viewpoint without the world falling into total homogeneity [page 2]? Scott ranks the art forms from most abstract to most representational and, in order to represent this spectrum, I decided to display his rankings on a ladder [page 3]. This ladder displays the differing levels of difficulty a viewer faces when they consume the various art forms. With criticism, the way that the viewer should feel after consuming the piece is literally spelled out for them; with documentary film, the next rung on the abstract ladder, viewers are made to understand the message that the movie conveys; narrative pros are more abstract and, although the author is conveying a conscious message, the writing remains up for interpretation; dance has less of a comprehensible message and has many varying affects on its viewers; Scott describes music as "The limit case of non-mimetic art (...) not about anything", thus earning it the highest spot on the abstract spectrum. I disagree with Wilde's position on aestheticism and the belief that the only beautiful things are the ones that do not concern us. In my opinion, great art is not only technically superior but also emotionally moving and viewing "art for art's sake" will not lead to pure perception but rather indifference.
SECOND BLOG POST: Explain
After reading the second portion of the course pack, I am definitely expecting this upcoming year to involve thoughtful inquiry both in and out of class. Additionally, I am expecting much of the material we read this upcoming year to have predominantly progressive ideals and themes of modernization and innovation. I hope to become better at asking effective questions and using these questions to find my own answers and develop my ideas.