What Can a Body Do? Inscribing and Adjusting a Disabled Experience in Contemporary Art By Amanda Cachia Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Art in Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts Date of submission: ____________________ Thesis Director Signature: _______________________ Dr. Susan Gevirtz Program Chair Signature: _______________________ Dr. Tirza Latimer Internal Advisor Signature: _______________________ Dr. Stephanie Ellis New Ó Amanda Cachia, 2012 page TK TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 List of Figures 6 Thesis Dedication 7 Acknowledgements 8 Thesis Abstract 9 Prologue 14 Introduction: What Can a Body Do? A Multiplicity of Challenges 20 Disability and Reassigning Meaning in Visual Culture 30 Chapter Outline & Key Terms 36 Chapter I: Grappling with a Disabled Identity and Theme in Curatorial Practice 48 Chapter II: Disabled Bodies in Visual Culture: Past, Present, Future 51 Dismantling Historical Representations of Disabled Bodies 64 Complex Embodiment: A Place for Disability in Contemporary Art Discourse 69 “Heightened” Perception 77 Coherence and Incoherence of the Body 83 Ordinary Objects, Ordinary Bodies 85 Chapter III: Anthropomorphic Ficus Trees 87 The Anthropomorphic Imagination in Art History 93 TOGETHER together 103 The Fallen, Hybrid Garden Gnome 108 Chapter IV: Stainless Steel Lines of Flight 113 Please Adjust 130 Conclusion: Disability as Generative, Dynamic Physiology 135 Epilogue 137 Bibliography LIST OF FIGURES 81 Figure 3.27 Gary Hill, Inasmuch As It Is Always Already Taking Place, 1990 82 Figure 3.28 Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document, 1973-79 1 BwO diagram drawing by Amanda Cachia 82 Figure 3.29 Corban Walker, Please Adjust, 2011 Introduction 82 Figure 3.30 Laura Swanson, TOGETHER together, 2009 15 Figure 1.1 Laura Swanson, Double Portrait, 2007 84 Figure 3.31 Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917 84 Figure 3.32 Laura Swanson, Untitled, n.d. Chapter I 38 Figure 2.1 Medusa’s Mirror: Fears, Spells and Other Transfixed Positions, 2011 Chapter III 38 Figure 2.2 Medusa’s Mirror: Fears, Spells and Other Transfixed Positions, 2011 87 Figure 4.1 Doris Salcedo, Untitled, 2007 39 Figure 2.3 Medusa’s Mirror: Fears, Spells and Other Transfixed Positions, 2011 89 Figure 4.2 Louise Bourgeois, Cell: You Better Grow Up, 1993 39 Figure 2.4 Medusa’s Mirror: Fears, Spells and Other Transfixed Positions, 2011 90 Figure 4.3 Louise Bourgeois, Femme maison, 1946-47 40 Figure 2.5 Installation of Neil Marcus drawing, Medusa’s Mirror, 2011 92 Figure 4.4 Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970 42 Figure 2.6 Ryan Gander, The Artwork Nobody Knows, 2011 93 Figure 4.5 Laura Swanson, TOGETHER together, 2009 42 Figure 2.7 Marina Abramović, Thomas Lips, 1975 94 Figure 4.6 Laura Swanson, TOGETHER together, 2009 (lampposts) 42 Figure 2.8 Chris Burden, Shoot, 1971 95 Figure 4.7 Laura Swanson, TOGETHER together, 2009 (ficus trees) 96 Figure 4.8 Marina Abramović & Ulay, Imponderabilia, 1977 Chapter II 102 Figure 4.9 Doris Salcedo, Widowed House IV, 1994 52 Figure 3.1 Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656 104 Figure 4.10 A typical garden gnome 54 Figure 3.2 Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, n.d. 105 Figure 4.11 Santiago Forero, A Story About Gnomes, 2009 54 Figure 3.3 Diane Arbus, A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, 106 Figure 4.12 Ana Mendieta, Untitled (Grass on Woman), 1972 N.Y.C., 1979 56 Figure 3.4 Walker/O’Neal logo for Size DOES Matter, 2010 Chapter IV 59 Figure 3.5 Munchkins, The Wizard of Oz, 1939 113 Figure 5.1 Corban Walker, Please Adjust, 2011 59 Figure 3.6 Oompa Loompas, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1971 114 Figure 5.2 Sol LeWitt, Cube construction, 1971 60 Figure 3.7 Katarzyna Kozyra, The Midget Gallery Goes to Frieze, 2009 114 Figure 5.3 Agnes Martin, Tremolo, 1962 60 Figure 3.8 Katarzyna Kozyra, The Midget Gallery Goes to Frieze, 2009 117 Figure 5.4 Robert Morris, Untitled (L-beams), 1965 62 Figure 3.9 Freaks, theatrical release poster by MGM, 1932 119 Figure 5.5 The Dogon Egg from Deleuze & Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus (1987) 62 Figure 3.10 Peter Dinklage in GQ Magazine photo shoot, 2011 120 Figure 5.6 Corban Walker, Please Adjust, 2011 (detail) 67 Figure 3.11 Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Architectural View, c. 1490-1500 122 Figure 5.7 Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1487 71 Figure 3.12 Joseph Grigely, Songs Without Words (Eartha Kitt), 2009 122 Figure 5.8 Le Cobusier, Modulor, 1943 72 Figure 3.13 Christine Sun Kim in her studio, 2001 124 Figure 5.9 Corban Walker, Mapping #4, 2000 72 Figure 3.14 Christine Sun Kim, Seismic Calligraphy, 2008 124 Figure 5.10 Corban Walker, Mapping #4, 2000 72 Figure 3.15 Christine Sun Kim, Seismic Calligraphy, 2008 126 Figure 5.11 A viewer circumnavigating Corban Walker’s Please Adjust, 2011 72 Figure 3. 16 Park McArthur, Mobility: New York, 2010 74 Figure 3.17 Rebecca Horn, Finger Gloves, 1972 74 Figure 3.18 Carmen Papalia, Blind Field Shuttle – CCA, 2012 75 Figure 3.19 Ann Hamilton, body object series #17 – toothpick suit, 1984-2006 75 Figure 3.20 Ann Hamilton, body object series #5 – bushhead, 1984-1993 75 Figure 3.21 Carsten Höller, Upside Down Mushroom Room, 2000 76 Figure 3.22 Félix González-Torres, “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991 78 Figure 3.23 Laura Swanson, Revelation, 2009 78 Figure 3.24 Corban Walker, TV Man, 2011 80 Figure 3.25 Carolee Schneemann, Interior Scroll, 1975 80 Figure 3.26 Yayoi Kusama, Untitled, c. 1970 6 7 Acknowledgements The development of my thesis for my Masters in Visual and Critical Studies is one of the most profound years of my life. My encounter with disability in all its forms permeated many levels of my thesis year: socially, professionally, academically. I came to understand the world in new, rich ways thanks to my new friends and lover in the world of the disability community. None of this would have been possible without my friend Joseph Stramondo. It was Joe who first got me thinking about the contribution I could make to the disability studies field, and how I might marry my passion for contemporary art with an area of my life that is so personally and socially significant. My thanks go to my new friends, Chun-Shan (Sandie) Yi, Sunny (Sunaura) Taylor, Carmen Papalia, Sadie Wilcox, Neil Marcus and Bethany Stevens. Without your powerful, beautiful bodies, I could not have had the courage to move forward in this community. Thank you for nurturing and encouraging me. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Joe and Frances Cachia, Thanks to my thesis committee: Susan Gevirtz, Thesis leader, Stephanie Ellis, my internal thesis advisor (who recommended Laura Swanson to me,) Tirza Latimer and Joseph Grigely. I also wish to thank Judith Serin for helping me to become a better writer and to my late fiancé, Cory Malone, for making all this possible. during my Fall writing mentorship and to Vivian Bobka for being an incredible editor in the spring. Also thanks to Julian Carter and And to Ryan: my body without organs. Michele Carlson for Sightlines and Thesis Symposium work and to Defne Beyce for the design of the poster. Shawn Hibmacronan and Adrien Segal, thanks for a lovely custom-built podium (and to Alison Smith for recommending Shawn). I’m also grateful to Susan Weiss and Barbara Templeton for helping me with transcribing all my lengthy interviews and with additional editing. To the incredible disability scholars in Berkeley and across the USA, I owe my gratitude: Katherine Sherwood, Ann Millett- Gallant, Georgina Kleege, Catherine Kudlick, Petra Kuppers, Anne Finger, Carrie Sandahl, Riva Lehrer, Ann Fox, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Tobin Siebers. To VCS: Tirza Latimer, Kate Moore, Lindsey Westbrook, Jim Norrena, Melanie Corn and ShawnJ West, plus Indira Allegra, Patty Lessard, Ric Owen and to all who supported my round-table event on Feb 17. I also thank VCS for the research grant to attend the Venice Biennale for the Vernissage and opening reception of the Irish Pavilion and my fellow class-mates for their general support. In assisting with Corban Walker’s work, I thank Emily-Jane Kirwan, Pace Gallery, New York, Eamonn Maxwell, Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland and Sarah Goulet, Press Officer, Pace Gallery. I also thank Stephanie Roach, Director of the FLAG Art Foundation in New York for her generosity in sharing with me information about Size DOES Matter. To my sweetheart Ryan Gambrell: thanks for listening and for being such an integral part of this process. You were on this journey with me in equal measure. Last but not least: Laura Swanson and Corban Walker. Thank you for our rich and detailed conversations. You inspire and give me the conviction and the courage to move forward in my vocation to inject the art world with a heightened, complex visibility of disability. I am deeply grateful to both of you for your trust, commitment to and belief in my project. 9 Thesis Abstract Laura Swanson and Corban Walker challenge dominant culture’s perceptions of scale, size and proportion as they inscribe their site-specific sculptures with their experience of dwarfism. In doing so, they adjust and destabilize an often reductive representation of the disabled body as they move towards complex, embodied forms. The artists move away from problematic figures such as the midget or the freak as portrayed within historical and contemporary Western visual discourses, particularly in popular culture, the entertainment industry and canonical art history. Instead, their work emphasizes that many embodiments are each crucial to the understanding of humanity and its variations, whether physical, social, or historical.