Sketch 1/ Response

For my sketch, I chose to find artwork that used a traditional medium and the metaphor of technology to convey an activist message. This first work of art is a pen and ink drawing entitled iGirl. This drawing depicts a woman, bare-chested, with a electrical device that has begun to meld into her body. The device is based on a heart monitor, but it the wires connect to an iPod instead. The work is supposed to represent the danger of our consumer culture, and our growing dependency/link to technology. The blackness that radiates from the plugs show the poisoning effect or dehumanization that occurrs when we increase our dependency on technology. The decision to incorporate the structure of a heart monitor into an iPod was made to bring in the idea of commercialism taking root in our bodies, around one of our most vital organs, that these frivilous technologies are becoming that central to our lives. This piece is mostly an activist piece and the technology present in it is simply a way to prove a point. What I've done to the drawing is taken a copy of the original and posted little green flags with 'tech' written on them. This was an attempt to make the techonology metaphor painfully obvious. Then I circled with pink sharpie the parts of the picture with what I percieve to be activist images (the blackness/the iPod) .

For my other piece, I chose a song by one of my favourite artists, Regina Spektor. This song found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQd1KYCgKU&feature=related is also an activist artwork that uses the metaphor of technology to prove a point. Obviously there are many ways to interpret a work of art but the way I saw it, it was making a statement about the consequences of being an artist/product who relies on a corporation (in her case Sire Records/Warner Music Group Company) to produce and market her work. Using the idea of this bionic, half-person, she is trying to say that, as an artist, she can't be completely human because she is also a product; she needs to be marketable and controlled. What I did as my sketch on the project, was to write out the lyrics by hand in kind of an artistic way. I left the scratched out letters and mistakes in there to highlight the fact that a person was writing it out, that it was not spellchecked or perfect. Then, following the idea I started with in my first art work, I highlighted any words that made me think of technology or consumerism in artwork. Again, this made the technological/activist presence in the song very obvious to the viewer.

Readings

Critical Art Ensemble

From this reading I basically took that the idea of civil disobedience on the internet is very often misjudged as a threat or unimportant. I believe that civil disobedience belongs on the internet as much as it belongs in the real world. The fantastic thing about ECD is that almost anyone can contribute and almost anyone can access it. In this way activist ideas can be flung around the world extremely fast. The audience is basically endless. However, even though this presents a pretty level playing field for marginalized groups to get their voices heard, ECD can be seriously misconstrued as a form of terrorism. It is unfortunately true that a lot of important parts of your humanity can be accessed online now. Our whole lives are documented and available to skilled hackers. If any ECD would threaten these electronic versions of ourselves, serious damage could be done to your way of life.

Kaprow

This reading to me was very interesting. The idea of The Artist vs. The Unartist made me think a lot about what defines art to me. I have always had a deep seated hatred for the weird perception of "Artist" and the gravitas and stigma around the title. The idea that, to be an artist, one must be this superior, important snob goes against what I believe art is. I think that art for arts sake is very important. Also I believe in the cathartic power of art, so if a particular art work means a lot to you, but is not based on some higher ideal, it should be just as important. Performance and abstract art is very important to me. I always love to find ways to express an artistic thought, or idea, in an unconventional way. There shouldn't really be a barrier between "art" and "non art", I believe that if it begins with a true artistic idea, even a playful one, then it should be considered art. That was my interpretation of the articles!

Katie