Sketches no.1

FIRST SKETCH:

The aspect of art that I see in this piece is the relationship between the eye and the world and the building blocks that again links to the world. The world is in the center of these two images. The eye represents that this piece is reflecting the current political issues of the state of Germany where people are hearing about the deaths of political figures. The image of the bullet-ridden bodies of Aldo Morgo's bodyguards killed during the Red Brigades kidnapping shown on the cover of CEAC 's publication makes the viewer open their eyes and to the people that were living and experiencing these events and to have these issues be brought to the public and as more of a direct approach and in your face. It's a political message but at the same time I think that the image of the dead bodies show that this needs to be subjective, in the regards that it wants to connect and engage people to understand both sides, the opposition and the support to get the full picture and to understand what is really going.

The building block represents the changes and breakdown of the political structure and even the language is changing and being created to have new meanings eg. The word STRIKE as meaning opposition is being built to form new systematic structures of power and to show that it is more of a rebelling stance.

Technology is linked through the image of the work which was the dead bodies of Aldo Morgo's bodyguards because I think it's a direct approach and to make people look and see the effects of the Red Brigade. It's a visual that people can see even if they didn't know the current state of the government at that time, this picture shows that there is some disruption.

I think that the text in this piece really serves as the content and frames the message that is being conveyed. The words strike that's in bold and in capitals is the key message and is meant to show the stance that CAEC is taking. They are showing and reflecting that this piece and the word STRIKE is against the status quo and a protest against the authoritarian government. There is few text in this piece but the text that is used is focusing around the people that are involved and the changes that is happening during this political unrest. The word, Post-Marxism is the new idea being brought forward which is understanding and seeing from the point of the oppressed not just the oppressor. The words, Red Brigade and torture is linked to the image because the Red Brigade is using methods that have great casualities such as bombings and mutilation. The text underlies that this was a time to reform and is a political change.

FIRST SKETCH: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY , ART, AND ACTIVISM

I think that the relationship is that technology (in terms of the photo) is making us aware of the idea of the political structure and how this is affecting how artists and artworks are reflecting this time of political unrest and change. The language that the artists is using is speaking to the idea of change also in terms of the word STRIKE.

The art is linked with activism because the bluntness of the photo image and the few words makes the activism powerful . The art is being the eyes of the situation and giving an insider look. The activism in terms of it being a poster and is similar to serve as propaganda helps to situate the artwork in context and in relation to what is going on in Germany and emphasizes resistance and change.

I think that the text and image of the art is powerful because it shows us the state of the political regime and again reinforces the idea of anti-authoritarianism. Even if you don't know the background of the work, there are strong links to what I think activism is about. I think activism is associated with authority, struggle such as war, resistance, and with change might come new ideas being brought forward which this artwork encompasses.

SKETCH TWO

Art: The cut-out figures are an abstract way to represent the disappearance for the dead and as a way of symbolic representation to conjure up the past of the rebellion that happened throughout 1976 and 1990 in Corrientes, Argentina. The commemorative service shows that that past still resonates and has relevance for them. It's a way of recording memory, in where we can be able to look back and that this event did happen. The mourners, the commemorative service, and the cut-out figures show the physical presence that these deaths were a part of the resistance and political era of that time.

Activism: The history behind the cut-out figures show how activism can be successful and unsuccessful. The history involved protestors that protested on the bridge to having full paid wages and when the National Guard army came to attack, they had to retreat in 1967. However this shows a temporary triumph and that the issue wasn't resolved but to the protestors, it was a win for them. However in 1990, there was another rebellion by the National Guard Army and there were a great number of deaths that the protestors on the bridge had to fall back and stop protesting. However the protest had brought other people that joined in the protest because of similar interests of wanting better living conditions. Even in the present time, the survivors are joined because of a similar experience and to remember the past and even that it happened in the past and the survivors have maybe moved from their home to different places, this remembrance of the disappearance, brings these survivors together in the present.

Technology: Technology is shown in terms of a video recording for example or a photo, it can be a way to archive histories and memories in which our mind can't do over time when memories become vague. The photo shows that although this event happened in the past, through photography, we can see it in the present and bringing those histories out in the present.

SKETCH TWO: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ART, TECHNOLOGY, AND ACTIVISM

The art of the cut-out figures serves as an archive of history and memory and reconstructing the past that has permeated into the present with the survivors who are mourning for their loss relatives. The idea of the cut-out figures represent the bodies in an abstract way by being a ghost of the past and at the same time is a physical representation of the quantity of deaths and gives a physical presence to the event. Again the cut-out figures link to activism because it shows us that the activism wasn't successful in that the protestors didn't get their full paid wages and couldn't protest because of fear of the power that the National Army Guard showed in terms of causing so many deaths so fast.

Activism and technology is shown how media can manipulate the information that we receive from sources that we take as telling us true facts such as the news. The newspapers digitally altered the photo which changed the context of the incident by seeming to convey that the protestors had caused the fight and that the National Army Guard didn't retaliate when it was the National Army Guard who initiated this attack first in 1990. The witnesses knew that the newspapers were lying.

This piece was more about the art that was emphasized in which that history of 1990 and 1967 and the activism in terms of fighting for civil rights was brought back to the survivors, but to the viewer, who wouldn't know about the history as much that is embedded in this piece without research, would probably look at this commemorative service and the cut-out figures as the crosses and poppies in Flanders field and Remembrance Day for those dead soldiers. The cut-out figures serve as a way for remembrance.

Images are from this book called Mining the Media Archive: Essays on Art, Technology, and Cultural Resistance by Dot Tuer on page 54, for the Strike image in the chapter, The CEAC was banned in Canada and on page 191, for the image with the cut-out figures, was in the chapter An Anatomy of Insurrection.

Tuer, Dot. Mining the Media Archive: Essays on Art, Technology, and Cultural Resistance. YYZ books: Toronto, 2005.