Hannah Wilke (Arlene Hannah Butter, 1940 –1993)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Body and Gender in Art, Photography and Public Media in Central and South Eastern Europe Prof. Dr. Suzana Milevska Central and South Eastern European Art Histories Tuesday 11.11.2014, Vienna Laboratory of Sound (Laboratorija zvuka), Body, 1979 Lazar Stojanovic, Plastic Jesus, 1971 (forbidden 1972-1990) Plastic Jesus, a film by Lazar Stojanović, was made as his diploma film at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade, but unfortunately banned before it reached cinemas. Tom comes to Belgrade to make a film, but fails to do so. Meanwhile, he begins relationships with several women and one of them kills him out of jealousy. Rather trivial plot, but what emerges around it is the reason why it was hidden from the public and its director imprisoned. Namely, Stojanović inserts archive shots of Ustahsas, Chetniks, Adolph Hitler and Tito thus comparing these totalitarian regimes. The film also brings up then taboo subjects such as homosexuals and promiscuity. It is also the first domestic film showing a naked man. Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (Dušan Makavejev, 1967) Marina Abramovic, «Rhythm 10» 1973 https://vimeo.com/108002924 Marina Abramovic, «Rhythm 10», 1973, Edinburgh Marina Abramovic, «Rhythm 0», 1974, Marina Abramovic, «Rhythm 5», 1974 Marina Abramovic, «Freeing the Memory», 1976 Ulay & Abramović, «Expanding in Space», 1977, Amsterdam Ulay & Abramović, “Imponderabilia”, 1977, Amsterdam Ulay& Abramovic, «Breathing In & Breathing Out (Death Itself)», 1977, Belgrade Ulay& Abramovic, «Relation in Time», 1977, 17 hours perf. Bologna Ulay & Abramović, «AAA AAA», 1978 Ulay& Abramovic, «Communist Body&Fascist Body»,1979, Amsterdam «Rhythm 10» 1973 A first version of this performance involving 10 knives was presented at a festival in Edinburgh in 1973. Preparation I lay a sheet of white paper on the floor. I lay twenty knives of different shapes and sizes on the floor. I place two cassette recorders with microphones on the floor. Performance I switch on the first cassette recorder. I take the knife and plunge it, as fast as I can, into the flesh between the outstretched fingers of my left hand. After each cut, I change to a different knife. Once all the knives (all the rhythms) have been used, I rewind the tape. I listen to the recording of the first performance. I concentrate. I repeat the first part of the performance. I pick up the knives in the same sequence, adhere to the same rhythm and cut myself in the same places. In this performance, the mistakes of the past and those of the present are synchronous. I rewind the same tape and listen to the dual rhythm of the knives. I leave. Marina Abramovic Rhythm 0 This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted. Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.” This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances. «Rhythm 5» 1974 I construct a five-pointed star (made of wood and wood chips soaked in 100 litres of petrol). I set fire to the star. I walk around it. I cut my hair and throw the clumps into each point of the star. I cut my toe-nails and throw the clippings into each point of the star. I walk into the star and lie down on the empty surface. Lying down, I fail to notice that the flames have used up all the oxygen. I lose consciousness. The viewers do not notice, because I am supine. When a flame touches my leg and I still show no reaction, two viewers come into the star and carry me out of it. I am confronted with my physical limitations, the performance is cut short. Afterwards I wonder how I can use my body – conscious and otherwise – without disrupting the performance. Marina Abramovic Marina Abramovic, «Rhythm 5», 1974 Duba Sambolec, Women Are Coming, 1976 woman figure made of colored polyester resin and chicken wire Ana Grobler in 2009 in the title of her own exhibition Women are coming!, SCCA Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana and showed photo-documentation of the work for the first time after it was lost for more than 30 years Women in Art-Women in Yugoslav Art, 1975, Feminist Research in Visual Arts History and Symposium Art as a Thinking Process 5-6 June 2011, IUAV -Tolentini, Venice INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS - general introduction on the history and relevance of feminist research in visual art - the methods and methodologies applied by various feminist researchers – artists or curators in the field of visual arts - the eventual implications on artistic research in general. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Widely accepted assumption: that there aren’t specific feminist research methods in any discipline, although feminist research itself is considered as a methodology INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Methods and methodology However, the general feminist methodology and feminist research practice in any discipline can be distinguished by: . the common questions feminists ask . the positioning of the researcher within the process of research and within theorizing, and . the intended purpose of the produced knowledge. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Main concerns The main political concerns of feminist artists are of course not unique to feminist art (e.g. inequality or unequal exchange). What is specific is that the feminist artists are concerned with: . understanding why inequality between women and men still exists and . investigating the main reasons for the male domination. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS As any other feminists, feminist artists also deal with the questions: - how to change inequality in representation and feminisation of poverty - how to achieve liberation for women. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS My proposal I want to argue that it is urgent to look at the feminist methodology and epistemology specific to the historic and more recent feminist art practice because although feminist art has been around quite a while, at least half a decade, there has been no substantial reflection on the anticipatory aspect and specificity of the feminist research methods in art. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS History This is especially relevant because . ever since the first feminist art projects emerged in the 1960s the research based art became prevalent among feminist artists and . even the first feminist projects comprised of many diverse and unique examples of research projects that in different ways explored and reflected the relation between personal and political. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS I find it productive to explore and appraise the specific research processes that have been instigated through feminist art and I hold that they make a relevant basis for unique artistic thinking. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Research questions How is a woman's gaze different from a man's? How does that difference influence the ways in which the two genders view the world? And how they view art? What constitutes obscenity and pornography? Where do they come from? What are their results? Are they always transgressive? What place do they have in art? INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Art practice based research principles and methods .Interdisciplinarity and performativity .photography, performative actions, video documentary etc. .social science’s methods (quantitative –statistics, polls, and qualitative – interviews, discourse and image analysis, etc) .activist performances INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS Artists and the relevance of the cultural contexts for to exemplify the cultural context as a relevant source for some culturally specific feminist art projects. Because feminism is not one unified project I will ultimately propose to look at several feminist research projects by the feminist artists from the Balkans in order to challenge the assumption of universality of feminist methodology and any unified theory of knowledge production in feminist art. INTRODUCTION ǀ FEMINIST METHODOLOGY ǀ RESEARCH METHODS ǀ ARTISTS 1974-79 39 famous women from history and mythology Wing I: From Prehistory to the Wing II: From the Roman Empire Beginnings of 1. Primordial Goddess Christianity to the 2. Fertility goddess Reformation Wing III: From the 3. Ishtar 14. Marcella American to the 4. Kali 15. Saint Bridget Women's Revolution 5. Snake Goddess 16. Theodora of 27. Anne Hutchinson 6. Sophia Byzantium 28. Sacajawea 7. Amazon 17. Hrosvitha 29. Caroline Herschel 8. Hatshepsut 18. Trotula of Salerno 30. Mary Wollstonecraft 9. Judith 19. Eleanor of Aquitaine 31. Sojourner Truth 10. Sappho 20. Hildegard of Bingen 32. Susan B. Anthony 11. Aspasia 21. Petronilla de Meath 33. Elizabeth Blackwell 12. Boudica 22. Christine de Pisan 34. Emily Dickinson 13. Hypatia 23. Isabella d'Este 35.