reflections (4.02.14)

performing the art

art over the centuries has evolved from cave paintings to sculptures to paintings on canvases, all communicating with us in some way. the past few decades have seen an art that does not restrict itself to a surface but that directly comes forth from the body. i'm not talking about dance or music but of 'performance art' where artists express themselves in a manner that the audience can interact itself with the performer and hence experience the art. going over marina abramovich, one of her most notable works is rhythm 0, also a very shocking act though. through it she came to an understanding of the nature of humans, very simply put, that man, when no resistance is met, can become quite aggressive and can lose most of or all semblances of sanity. through some very simple performances or acts an artist can achieve a much broader perspective that he/she could achieve through the means of a painting or sculpture/installation alone. the assignment for the day was to put up a performance of our own in groups of two or three. i along with two others put up a performance with me sitting and the two others portrayed as my conscience. our motive was to show the journey of lies through the mind of an individual. as lies build up, we are burdened more and more as of with an increasing number of clothing on a sunny day. but as the lies are redeemed, these layers are shed and our minds are relieved of the burden. through this assignment i understood the understanding capabilities of a crowd when they were suddenly faced with something out of the ordinary and i saw that they tried hard to cope with it the way they normally would in an everyday situation and hence weren't able to take it seriously.

here is a link to the video recording of our performance: the journey of lies.

   

     the performance was done in the cafeteria area during the end of lunch break, but while there were still people around.

reflections (21.01.14)

transforming space into substance

this class was the inspiration for an earlier post of mine, 'caged freedom' our assignment was to select a space and cast it in an artistic light. my group had chosen a window by the staircase. i sought to bring out the essence of the window by highlighting its functions as well as qualities. 

reflections (28.01.14)

speaking of art...ists

a discussion on the nature of an artist. (28.01.14)

many would speak of the role of an artist, of their works and of their duties. but then we would all come back to to what makes them artists, art. today as we watched a documentary on the supremely famous ai weiwei, 'ai weiwei: never sorry' ,a lengthy documentation of the artist/activist's attempts to oppose the government in its anarchist rule. he was successfully one of the most powerful artists of the year 2011. an artist is an ordinary person like you or me who uses art to to express him/herself, but often faces criticism and opposition and as a result, his very identity is questioned. this became the basis of an argument that constituted a lengthy discussion on three main questions: What is an artist? Is an artist (essentially) an activist? and Who is not an artist? we came to a conclusion that answered, sufficiently, these three questions;

what is an artist?

an individual who consciously expresses him/herself with a motive, medium, and methodology.

is an artist (essentially) an activist?

no, an artist is not essentially an activist but an activist is an artist.

who is not an artist?

a non-artist is a person who does not express with the intent of expression.