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Home , Bas Jan Ader, Nam June Paik, Rebecca Belmore, Sophie Calle

mid to late 20th Century Art Overview

Week 5

SM1701. Contemporary and

Professor: David (Jhave) Johnston david.jhave.johnston --at-- cityu.edu.hk

WEBSITE: http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/sm1701/2012_FALL/Jhave/ EXERCISE:

During today’s lecture, on the sheet of paper I am handing out, write down 20 artists, put them in or close to the category in which you think they belong.

Conceptual Figurative

in-between categories Abstract Intuitive news These $10 Robots Will Change Robotics Education

“Suckerbot, designed by Thomas Tilley, a computer scientist living in Thailand, started with a hacked PlayStation controller, and wound up winning first prize in the tethered robot category. In this case, the tether is the controller's USB cable, and Tilley attached the rumble motors to a pair of wheels. Suckerbot's list of parts comes to $8.96, but the real genius is the Chupa Chups. Tilley needed a way for the robot to sense if it ran into something, so he stuck a lollipop in each joystick. Whenever the Suckerbot bumps something, the weight of the sucker tips the joystick forward, and a signal is sent to the processor.” http://www.wired.com/design/2012/09/afron-winners Chinese Government to Shut Down Ai Weiwei's Firm: Chinese authorities plan to shut down Ai Weiwei's production company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development, because it did not follow annual registration requirements. The company last week lost its final appeal against a $2.4 million tax evasion fine, which the artist announced he has no plans to pay. Ai's lawyer, who announced the news in a blog post, said it is not clear when the closure will go into effect or how the news would affect the tax evasion fine http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/830070/china-shuts-down-ai-weiweis-firm-moca-unveils-youtube-channel ADMIN (review) new rules for blogs

1. Everybody on tumblr.com 2. Every student must make a blog specifically for this class SM1701 and this class alone. (only posts for SM1701 go on this blog; if you already have a tumblr account then simply create another blog titled Name SM1701) 3. Profile photo and description must be filled out: profile must include: your name & the name of this course SM1701 must be mentioned. 4. All blogs must have a title (there are many currently called .) 5. A total of 10 blog posts minimum are expected. 6. The date function must be turned on: so that each post displays the date it was created.

& now a brief message about ‘empty’ art for those with ‘empty’ blogs…..

Yves Klein Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle [Zone of immaterial pictorial sensibility] (1959)

is an artist's book and by the French artist . The work involved the sale of documentation of ownership of empty space (the Immaterial Zone), taking the form of a cheque, in exchange for gold Between 1947 and 1948,[2] Klein conceived his Monotone Symphony (1949, formally The Monotone-Silence Symphony) that consisted of a single 20-minute sustained chord followed by a 20-minute silence[3][4] – a precedent to both 's drone and 's 4′33″ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein monochrome paintings "authenticity of the pure idea."

Yves Klein IKB 191 (1962) Yann Marussich Bleu Remix (2008)

Award of Distinction Prix Ars Electronica 2008: Hybrid Art

In his performance entitled Bleu Remix, blue fluid flows out of Yann Marussichs mouth, nose and the pores of his skin, whereby the artist regulates the quantity of fluid that emerges via his circulatory system. In Bleu Remix the artists invites visitors to experience a new and intimate voyage through his body. http://youtu.be/K3qRJQPe1OM http://www.aec.at/news/ “(April 1958), Klein chose to show nothing whatsoever, called La spécialisation de la sensibilité à l’état matière première en sensibilité picturale stabilisée, Le Vide (The Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, The Void): he removed everything in the gallery space except a large cabinet, painted every surface white, and then staged an elaborate entrance procedure for the opening night; The gallery's window was painted blue, and a blue curtain was hung in the entrance lobby, accompanied by republican guards and blue cocktails. Thanks to an enormous publicity drive, 3000 people were forced to queue up, waiting to be let in to an empty room.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein

Yves Klein Le Saut dans le Vide [Leap into the Void] (1962) I am too sad to tell you (1970) http://www.basjanader.com/ Bas Jan Ader Fall II (1970)

16mm. 9 seconds. http://www.basjanader.com/ Office Hours

Dr David (Jhave) Johnston

Wed. 5-6pm Office: CMC 7089

In Synergy Lab on 7th Floor Call 3442 5726 (I will let you into area) USE THE CLOUD.: Lost or late Assignments will not be accepted without prior approval Moholy-Nagy (1920)

"The illiterate of the future is the man without a camera." REVIEW What is time-based media? Étienne-Jules Marey Motion studies (1880s)

“His revolutionary idea was to record several phases of movement on one photographic surface.” Nude Descending a Stairs (1912)

His revolutionary idea was to paint a nude as a set of robots, then quit painting and put a toilet in the gallery. Karl Sims Evolved Virtual Creatures, Evolution Simulation (1994)

His revolutionary idea was to grow art using code.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBgG_VSP7f8 REVIEW TECH TRAJECTORY Athanasius Kirchner – magica lanterna – 1600s

Eadweard Muybridge Motion Studies (1879) 4 x 5 film camera early 1900s Sketchpad Ivan Sutherland (1963)

Reactable Multi-touch sound synthesizer http://www.reactable.com/ (2005 - ) Beyond (& before)

Alternate Title

SM1701. Contemporary and New Media Art

Professor: David (Jhave) Johnston david.jhave.johnston --at-- cityu.edu.hk

WEBSITE: http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/sm1701/2012_FALL/Jhave/ FIGURATIVE ECCENTRIC

Joseph Cornell Defence D’Afficher Object (1939) -- collage in box FIGURATIVE ECCENTRIC

Joseph Cornell Object (Roses des Vents) (1942-53) http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/ FIGURATIVE IDEOLOGUE

Sergei Eisenstein Battleship Potemkin (1925) -- still from film FIGURATIVE TRAUMA

Francis Bacon Head VI (1949) FIGURATIVE TRAUMA

Francis Bacon Self-Portrait (1971) FIGURATIVE TRAUMA

Francis Bacon Second Version of Triptych 1944 (1988)

ABSTRACTION

Jackson Pollock Number 1 (1950)

ABSTRACTION

Barnett Newman Adam (1951) ABSTRACTION

Mark Rothko Orange and Yellow (1956) ART AS LIFE

Allan Kaprow “claimed that Pollock was less important for his paintings as material objects than for the kind of choreographic approach to painting that the artist instigated.” http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/05/art/allan-kaprow-19272006 ART AS LIFE

“This led Kaprow to explore a concept, close to Dada, in which involving groups of participants—which came to be known as “”—became a new art form.” http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/05/art/allan-kaprow-19272006 ART AS LIFE

“By 1959 Kaprow was exploring a direction in art where idea and process were considered more important than the object.” http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/05/art/allan-kaprow-19272006 ART AS LIFE

Allan Kaprow (1958): “I am convinced that painting is a bore. So is music and literature. What doesn’t bore me is the total destruction of ideas that have any discipline. Instead of painting, move your arms; instead of music, make noise. I’m giving up painting and all the arts by doing everything and anything.” http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/05/art/allan-kaprow-19272006 “There was no structured beginning, middle, or end, and there was no distinction or hierarchy between artist and viewer. It was the viewer’s reaction that decided the art piece, making each a unique experience that cannot be replicated.”

Allan Kaprow. “Happenings” (1960s) http://nazarenaluzzi.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/allan-kaprow/ Fluxus —a name taken from a Latin word meaning “to flow”—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus Fluxus

George Maciunas (1963) Exposition of Music-Electronic (1963) Nam June Paik Magnet TV (1965) Nam June Paik «Zen for Film» (1964)

“In an endless loop, unexposed film runs through the projector. The resulting projected image shows a surface illuminated by a bright light, occasionally altered by the appearance of scratches and dust particles in the surface of the damaged film material. As an analogy to John Cage, who included silence as a non-sound in his music, Paik uses the emptiness of the image for his art. This a film which depicts only itself and its own material qualities, and which, as an «anti-film,» is meant to encourage viewers to oppose the flood of images from outside with one’s own interior images.”

Heike Helfert on http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/zen-for-film/ and A House of Dust, a poetry project (1967) an early example of a computer generated poem, creating stanzas by working through iterations of lines with changing words from a finite vocabulary list. Situationalists

The Society of the Spectacle is the "historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonization of social life.” Guy Debord (1967)

In psychogeography, a dérive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, on which the subtle aesthetic contours of the surrounding architecture andgeography subco nsciously direct the travellers, with the ultimate goal of encountering an entirely new and authentic experience. Situationist theorist Guy Debord defines the dérive as "a mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances."

Homework: go home by a different route.

Joseph Kosuth One and Three Chairs (1965).

Wood folding chair, mounted photo of a chair, definition of a chair. EXERCISE:

Physically align yourself in the room according to which type of art you identify with most. If you are undecided gather in the center. Be prepared to defend your choice.

Conceptual Figurative

Abstract Intuitive http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/hearts-beats-dust/ Filzanzug (Felt Suit) (1970) Vasulkas 'Isometric Projection -13’ (1974) Guess: what is going on here? “A mirrored sphere, positioned in the middle of a crossbar reflects the image of surrounding space. Two cameras, attached to each end of the crossbar are looking in at the mirrored surface. The crossbar — now an assembly of mirrored sphere and two cameras — slowly rotates on the turntable with cameras orbiting the sphere. Since each camera sees half of the reflected space, the whole Steina Vasulka space becomes observable.” All Vision (1976) Robert Irwin Black Line Volume (1975) Sol LeWitt 'Isometric Projection -13’ ink and pencil drawing on paper (1981) Vasulkas The Matter (1983) Is it if it happens in an art gallery? Dan Graham Opposing Mirrors and Video Monitors on Time Delay (1974/1993) Dan Graham Time Delay Room (1974) «On monitor 1 a spectator from audience A can see himself only after an 8 second delay. While he views audience B (in the other room) on monitor 2, this audience sees him live on the monitor whose image can also be seen by audience A. The same Situation is true for audience B. A spectator may choose to pass from one room and audience to the other. To Dan Graham walk the passage-way takes about 8 seconds. A Time Delay Room member of audience A entering audience B's (1974) room would now see the view of audience B that he had just seen 8 seconds previous when leaving the other room: but he is now part of that audience 8 seconds later. As 8 sec-onds have passed, the composition of the continuum which makes up audience B, has shifted äs a function of time - he has joined it while other present members have arranged their relative positions within it or left and joined the other room.» Thinking about Graham’s video feeds is a bit like looking at

M.C. Escher Ascending and Descending (1965)

And the other echo (for both Graham & Vasulkas) is mirrors

M.C. Escher Hand with Reflecting Sphere (1935)

Wolf Vostell TV DeCollage (1958 - )

“ altered TV pictures as they were being broadcast, he was now able to compose the temporal sequence. Since no video equipment was available in 1963, Vostell instructed camera-man Edo Jansen to film distorted TV images off the TV screen.” http://www.transmediale.de/content/sun-your-head :

“Marcel Duchamp has declared readymade objects as art, and the Futurists declared noises as art -- it is an important characteristic of my efforts and those of my colleagues to declare as art the total event, comprising noise/object/color/& psychology -- a merging of elements, so that life(man) can be art.”

(Rush, New Media in Art, 117) Duchampiana: Nude Descending a Staircase (1976)

Super-8 film transferred to video and color- synthesized video (color, silent), four monitors, and plywood,

AUDIO INTERVIEW: http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/53/audios-all Fabrizio Plessi

“upturned twenty-six in rusted metal containers and plunged shovels into their screens.”

(Rush, New Media in Art, p.140)

EXERCISE (group discussion):

Replace any and/or all of the words ‘TV’, ‘material’, ‘artist’, ‘poetic’ and ‘ideas’ in the following statement to construct a contemporary claim about art in new media.

Fabrizio Plessi :“The TV is a material the artist submits to his poetic ideas.”

(Rush, New Media in Art, p.140)

Tiananmen Square, docu (1991) Tiananmen Square, docu (1991) (Tiananmen guanchang) Video series (eight episodes)

“Invited to be screened at the International Film Festival, the series had to be pulled following pressure from Beijing, but was eventually shown in various Western countries. The series was produced by the ‘Structure, Wave, Youth, Cinema Experimental Group of China’ (SWYC) (Zhongguo ‘Jiegou, Lanchao, Qingnian, Dianying’ shiyan xiaozu), an informal collective of young filmmakers founded in 1989 and devoted to the production of documentaries the series documents various aspects of life in the streets, alleys and courtyards surrounding the Square: survivors of the imperial era, street performers, grandmothers cooking for their families, small entrepreneurs, young women in modelling schools, foreigners, and so forth. Starting with a close-up of a giant portrait of Mao being painted and hung over the Square, the series is a collage of archival footage and documentary material, weaving a permanent dialectic between the present and the past, daily life and history.” http://contemporary_chinese_culture.academic.ru/775/Tiananmen_Square,_docu_(1991)

Shi Jian & Chen Jue I Graduated! (1992) interviews with Tiananmem generation graduates collection of MOMA

(1989) (2005) (2011) Judy Chicago The Dinner Party (1974)

A table set for 39 feminist heroines with 39 plates in shape of female genetailia.

Lynn Hershman Leeson LORNA (1983-84)

-- first interactive laser videodisk Lillian Schwartz Pixillation (1971)

Produced while artist-in-residence at Bell Labs with Kenneth Knowlton. http://youtu.be/DDEnrlBymcU Lillian Schwartz Mona Leo (1987) Vera Molnar Parcours (1976) Vera Molnar 196 Squares Series (1975)

“The images I 'create' consist of a combination of simple geometric elements. I develop a picture by means of a series of small probing steps, altering the dimensions, the proportions and number of elements, their density and their form, one by one in a systematic way in order to guess what kind of formal modification challenges the change in the perception of my picture: perception being the basis of aesthetic reaction. My final aim, in common with so many painters of history, is to be able to create valuable works of art in a conscious way.” http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/sec11.php Vera Molnar 196 Squares Series (1975)

“All these considerations are to explain why the use of the computer is imperative for my purpose. Using a computer with terminals like a plotter or/and a CRT screen, I have been able to minimize the effort required for this stepwise method of generating pictures. The samples of my work I give here in illustration were made interactively on a CRT screen with a program I call RESEAUTO. This program permits the production of drawings starting from an initial square array of like sets of concentric squares.” http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/sec11.php Mary Lucier Dawn Burn (1975/1993)

“Mary Lucier recorded a sequence of seven sunrises over New York's East River on video. As the sun rose, it's light exceeded the maximum allowed intensity of the picture tube and etched a permanent scar in it's light- sensitive surface. Each day a new scar was added to the previous ones as it followed the ever changing path of the sun across the sky. The work is shown on seven monitors, each marked with an additional burn from the preceding day.” http://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=node/144

Mary Lucier Bird’s Eye (1978)

“A precursor to Lucier's later works, in which light is used as metaphor, Bird's Eye is a formalist yet evocative exercise in which Lucier explores light in relation to the material properties of video. Aiming a laser directly at the camera's eye, she burned the vidicon tube. Changing the focal length of the lens and moving the laser, she records the optical effect of the camera's light perception and absorption. The resulting configurations, accompanied by Alvin Lucier's electronic score Bird and Person Dying, become an abstract calligraphy of light. Lucier's technologically based, visual records of refraction and reticulation refer to the Impressionists' empirical observations of changes in light over a measured period of time” http://www.eai.org/title.htm?id=1821 Mary Lucier Ohio to Giverny: Memory of Light (1983)

19 min colour video. Meditiation on Monet

Mary Lucier Noah’s Raven (1993)

Laserdiscs, monitors, speakers, forklifts, tree trunks, benches, polyurethaned fossil replica. http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag98/lucier/sm-lucir.shtml

Mary Lucier Last Rites (1995)

Interactive mixed media.

Rebecca Belmore Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother (1991)

Wood, megaphone, numerous installations at different places. http://www.rebeccabelmore.com/exhibit/Speaking-to-Their-Mother.html#null

Camille Utterback & Romy Achituv Text Rain (1999)

“an interactive installation in which participants use the familiar instrument of their bodies, to do what seems magical—to lift and play with falling letters that do not really exist. ” http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/ Camille Utterback & Romy Achituv Text Rain (1999)

“ letters respond to the participants’ motions and can be caught, lifted, and then let fall again. ” http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/ Rapture (1999)

Cinematic . Themes: identity, sexual repression. Shirin Neshat Women of Allah (2000)

Next few slides echo first lecture. You should know who this is. Ai Weiwei “Life is like that you have to take chances.”

http://youtu.be/-go2H9enz7Y

Who is this? What is he doing? When? Why? Ai Weiwei “Life is like that you have to take chances.”

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995). Middle view of a triptych of gelatin silver prints, each print 49 5/8”

Interview: http://youtu.be/-go2H9enz7Y Ai Weiwei Table with Two Legs on the Wall (Table from Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911)) (2009) “Ai Weiwei with rockstar Zuoxiao Zuzhou in the elevator when taken in custody by the police, Sichuan, China, August 2009” Wang Jin 100% Self-Performance (1999) Crazy lady? “In 1979, asked several (23) persons, friends, strangers, neighbors, to come and spend eight hours in her bed in order to keep this bed occupied twenty- four hours a day. These people had to accept to be photographed and to answer some questions.” http://pietmondriaan.com/tag/sophie-calle/ Gabriel Orozco La DS (1993) http://youtu.be/LwF9nTEB84k Mariko Mori Last Departure (1996) Tony Kemplen The End (2001)

“Plug-in electrical timers, of the sort widely available in DIY shops and supermarkets are connected together in series so that an extremely long delay can be set. Nobody knows when the world will end. A trawl through books and the internet suggests that 1000000000000 years from now is when scientists think the universe will expire. Surprisingly, only nine plug in timers are needed to set this enormous delay. Nine plugs with nine leads plugged into nine timers in nine sockets all arranged in a neat row in a protective clear box, are connected to another identical box which houses a neon sign simply reading ‘The End’.” http://www.kemplen.co.uk/the-end/the-end.htm