Time Based, Action and Wearable Art

This lecture was a combination of 3 different subjects, but they have ongoing link.

Time based art is usually controlled through media- film, video, photography. It's a modern contribution to "art". Through time based art, artists are able to cross boundaries they couldn't before. Recording events, and distorting them. It's easy to change the atmosphere of time, through using a mediation. A photograph often looks very different on paper, than at the time itself. Aswell as time itself being involved in the meaning of this artform, it's also about the time it takes to witness the artpieces, so a time period or a journey needs to occur to understand the work.

Tony Oursler, uses media art to communicate strong and personal messages. He's been building on this for over 30 years, you could perhaps consider him as one of the inventors. He concentrates on using instillations in his work, then media as a way of recording. 'I get angry quickly' is one of them.

This use of portraying an artfrom, isn't one I'm particually interested in, and I don't think it has a strong link, or potential link with textile art. However it's contemporary feel and approach perhaps can, as Tony Oursler uses media to portray his thoughts, which many textile artists do, but through fibre.

We were then introduced to guerilla art. Like time based art, guerilla art is about breaking limitations and creating the unexpected. Quite often it can break through limitations such as the law. Guerilla can be translated through lots of things, grafitti, leaflets, posters, clothing. Street art can be a part of this. Guerilla art seems very mysterious, and secretive, as the creators are nearly always unknown. I think this makes it quite scarey.

'Blast Theory', 'Can you see me now' is a networking game, controlled by the GPS system. The online game is newly developed, and is being developed further still to reach a high level of interaction with technology. It's like online or video game, but brought to life, on location and not on a screen. This is considered guerilla art because the players uses satelite and GPS systems not legally open to them.

While that is for fun, some guerilla artists have important issues they want to address. The Guerilla girls protest feminine issues. Ironically these girls wear gorilla masks as their trademark. They've been known to create pointient billboards using graphic style artwork to share their issues.

Grafitti artist, Banksy, could be considered part of the same movement. Grafitti itself is seen as defacing, and sometimes destroying. However it can be seen as art to some viewers. Banksy seems to have become a legend before his time. What seems to exite people, is his mystery. Regardless to his creative talent, it's fascinating how he manages to create these grafitti works, in such public areas, so secretivly. I have looked at Banksy's work in my own research for photography as I am interested in layers in bricks, pavements and walls.

Lastly and briefly I was introduced to wearable technology. I didn't quite understand what was meant or implied by this term, but I've percieved as being gadget like. Wearable technology is the latest current version of technology, starting from the beginning of computer technology where maniframes used, right up until it being integrated into our clothing.

After witnessing a perception of the 'Top 21 Wearable Technologies' it became obvious that these garments have been put in place for our convenience, not our needs. It seems to be more a a design feature, rather than art work? I dont think that wearable technology necessarily means modern and limited. Things we take for grantid like; glasses, hearing aids, pedometers could be considered. Technology is developing every day though, and the "latest" wearable technology will constantly change, just as phases do.

Land Art

Earth art links the landscape with artwork. It first became popular during the 60's. Artists involved in this movement, usualy work with the environment, not against it. Some work can be breathtaking and extraordinary, purely for the size of them. Due to them being so large, often they're only visible from helicopter or aeroplane or any other form of great height. Different viewpoints or locations, can alter how the artwork is viewed.

Land art, comes in many forms. I find crop circles very interesting. The conflict between the unknown, but also the protests. For example, Green Peace use crop circles to get their messages across. Crop circles are intricate works, that are precise and very accurate, sometimes in a symmetrical design, and sometimes as an image format.

Although earth art as only recently took off, as a 'movement', there are many historical landmarks that could be considered to be land art. Stonehenge might be considered as one of them. It's still uncertain what Stonehenge's purpose was, as now it's whethered down. It has been linked with telling time according to sunlight.

Living near Westbury White Horse means I've seen how man made landscapes can be viewed from a distance. It's partly there as a landmark, a symbol of Westbury. For me the link is there, with the countryside. Horses generally live in rural areas, like in Wiltshire, hense the link.

In this lecture, there was quite a few links with the place I live and grow up, so it made it more interesting and personal, in my case. This could be again, because I live in a rural area, where there is a lot of open land to create large earth works, as aposed to a city, where ther isn't.

Although I live near these important and interesting landmarks, there are many that I would still like to witness. Micheal Heizer's work is completley different. A lot of it has a contemporary feel, and out of the ordinary. It seems that he's worked both in the environment, and in gallery. Quite a contrast as usually they would be observed as being so different. Pulling that off, shows talent.

Lifetime Of Textiles

In the first lecture for this module we started off with a very open theme. The idea was with the contact of textiles through a lifetime, from birth to death. We were asked to describe our lives in this way. We were divided into small groups and drew out a timeline to show the textiles we have been in contact with. This task was very interesting, and quite surprising. We listed textiles from our first baby grow we wore, to the carpets we’ve placed our feet on.

The course I am on now, encourages creativity personality within textiles, which made me realise how much I had forgotten about textiles as a necessity. We need “textiles” in order to go on with our every day life. They provide luxury items, such as; handbags, jewellery and cushions. However they also provide things we would otherwise take for granted, such as shower curtains, dishcloths and nappies.

Although everybody has to touch textile items at some point through their day or life, different countries, religions and cultures handle slightly different forms. Some cultures have certain textile properties near them as a ritual. For instance in Iceland, it would be necessary to wear extremely warm clothing in order stay alive, let alone comfortable. A complete contrast against countries like England and America who wear clothing mostly for fashion, having the choice to wear what they choose.

Many factors led me to ask the question, “What is textiles?” Textiles is such a wide spread term, usually meant for anything tactile. Generally knitted, woven, constructed fabrics would come to mind when you textiles. Textile artists use a range of mixed media in their ‘textile’ approach to art, wood, nails or even flies?! Therefore textiles seem to mean different things to different people and their professions. My evaluation of the world 'textile', would be a substance that is usually attractive or textural, and generally has a purpose.

After completing the timeline, our group came to the conclusion that up until the age we are now, we’ve all be in contact with relatively similar fabrics and materials. The age we are now is the age where we have more choice in what we come in contact with. In our childhood, we tended to use things because it was appropriate for children, or we needed to. When you reach the start of adulthood, there are many more decisions laid out and options to take. We can decide for ourselves, what we want to come in contact with in our lives.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloth_800.jpg

Body Canvas

Today, I learnt more about using your body as a canvas. Your body can be very versititle, and can tolerate more than is expected. People, cultures and religions put human bodies through all sorts of wierd and wonderful "transformations", often going through painful journeys to achieve it.

Some forms of body art are still moderatly mild, such as body painting. Body painting can be permanent or non permanent. Tattoos have become more and more popular, especially with youth. Often tatoos can come from tribal influence, mauri and henna being forms of this. Some cultures even scar themselves for beauty.

Body art isnt necessarily worn on the outside of the body. People experiment with the inside too. Cosmetic surgery, could be considered a form of this. Cosmetic surgery is usually done out of vanity, not to make a statement. There are exeptions though, as some artists consider transforming the body in this serious way, a matter of transferring their idea or conception. Orlan, is a performing artist. Her work is based on transforming the body during surgery. She records live footage, the process of the operations, the journey. Through this Orlan also deals with feminist issues and the appreciation of the human body.

'Body Worlds', an ongoing collection by Dr Gunther Von Hagens. He blurs the usualy firm line between science and art. His work is supposidly for biological research, for other people to view first hand. Hagens uses bodies that have been donated to him, for his experimentation. There have been disputes as to whether this alegation if ligitamate or not. His research of the body has to be taken out in China, as it's the only country it's legal to do so. His end result of work, is generally about the layers within the body, and the function of these layers. It's not for the squeemish!

Using the body as a canvas can often be linked with performance art. As performance art is usually done so in a drama form, having the body exaggerated, sculpted or decorated adds to the performance of that person. Media is often used to record the evidence of body art, whether it's the process or just the end result.

Body art is lifechanging, and must be very important to someone, to have it on their body, a constant reminder, a permanent fixture. People do often live to regret the changes they apply to themselves, often done in youth and nievity. Body sculpting is a serious commitment, and one I've never shared much interest for. I have never been so fond of something, that I've been prepared to live with it for the rest of my life. This is could change though.

Body Adaption

Body adaption has existed in contmeporary artwork a lot in the last century. A lot of the time body adaption can be expressed through performance art, ranging from dance, through to plastic surgery. People don't always experience body modification by choice though, often disabilities lead that way, like wheelchair's or spectacles for example.

Rebecca Horn has had a huge influence on body modification, she often works with extension of the body. A lot of the time this was related to her own poetry. She has worked with this concept for over 40 years now. She was especially creative with this theme in her early work, an exploring period for the young artist. Her art creations are very personal to her, she's expressing her imagination through each extension. A lot of the work is worn by herself moving film, where she usualy gives a performance realting the body modification/accessorie she's wearing or using. Therefore the film ends up being just as much, or even more so, the finished work.

Horn's work is very abstract, and is often hard to understand the purpose. At the time of which she was working this way, her equiptment and way of transferring her ideas, i.e. film, computer, performance, was new to technology and the art world. Even the materials were modern, working with things like fibreglass. Unfortunatly these materials proved to be dangerous, and resulted in Horn falling very sick. She had inhaled a great amount of harmful fumes and particles, leaving her inhalation system in a critical condition.

At this part of her life, she felt very lonley, with both the condition and the loss of her parents, isolated. Perhaps it could be said her work is subject to this lonliness, exaggerating her features, features that made her feel inferior? When the illness was occurant she was almost helpless and only stable enough to sit up in a bed. So she could only manage drawing, writing, and slow stitch work. This gave her lots of time to think.

Some of her more well known works include pieces such as; Unicorn, and ther 'Finger Glove' work. Some of her pieces are preserved in the TATE gallery in London. Her costumes were displayed here in 1994, for the public to view. This proved so popular that the Museum had to close!

I think her work is very subjective to the individual as a viewer. Her work has a huge element of textile input, along with fashion and of course fine art. Her costumes act as a symbolism or a suggestive, rather than the garments being the finished work. The costumes are only a factor in it. It's hard to differ decoration, with masking. That's an interestin point because, we all "decorate" ourself in some way, whether it's clothing, make-up or even glasses. We subconsciously do this, without realising we're actually trying to cover our flaws, our ugliness. Poeple do this partly because of others too, if everyone else "masks" themselves, it leads you to do the same.

If I were to transform my body, or body part, in a form of adaption, it would have to be something I would give huge thought. Rebecca Horn seems to work with adaptions that make her seem of feel more confident, superior or mysterious. She alters the outer 'Horn' to change the focus of the inner 'Horn'. Personally, I think if I was taller, it would give me more confidence. However being small, has it's advantages, just as being tall. Also I think factors such as, height, gender, facial features, etc all add to you as an individual, and it helps others understand you as a person.

I think it would be interesting if you could perhaps accessorise a feature, that was transferable, rather than a permanent change. A bit like a super power. Perhaps an object like an umbrella, that would shelter you from bad luck, or problems.

Tapestries

Tapestries play a huge role in the recording of events during medievil times. Before the times of technology, creativity came into contact with many more daily activities, especially tapestries. They have a lot of thought that goes into each one, a process of artist, designer, maker, produced to a high quality.

The actual making process of a tapestry is long and careful. they're generally longer than they are tall, like a scroll. tapestries are made from warp and weft threads, the warp is the body of the work, the strength, and the weft holds the decorative element. Iy yt's been known that gold and silver have been used as weft threads, but generally it's wool or silk. Some even took upto 4 months to finish.

Tapestries tend to tell a story through a journey either literally or metaphorically. Generally tapestries have both these elements, especially use of alagri. An allegry is a meaning much more intense than a metaphor, it can usually be summed up in one word, such as; hope, fear, loss, etc. It wouldn't be portrayed as simply as one word though, it's likley there would be a series of images, figures and colours arranged in a way that tells this. They often have religious or biblical influence or symbolism.

There are 'common' symbols and figures used throughout the popular times of tapestry art, such as; unicorns, armies, difference in sex. A lot of them are set in landscapes, verdor and wars, infact their often commisioned for a war, by the rich. Although many were created because of the war, unfortunatley a lot were destroyed for the same reason. The french war was responsible for ruining many of the greatest tapestries.

Some tapestries became more well known than others, usually due to a public ocurance that led to the them in the first place. 'The Lady in the Unicorn', 'The Hunt of the Unicorn' and the 'Bayeux Tapestry' are all prime examples of this. One that's particually recognisable to me is 'Guernica'. It was originally painted by Picasso, 1937, on reflection of the bombing's of Guernica only a few months prior.

There is very little difference in the painting and tapestry. The tapestry still holds the strong atmosphere of death and distruction that the original did. Unlike a lot of tapestries 'Guernica' held dark, dull and morbid colours. A lot was more black and white, a lot like the bombing, things became clear, black and white. The tapestry does still hold original figures, such as horses and people.

After exploring the meaning and history of tapestries and the allegry's within them, a group of us decided to look at a modern day algari- either involving an aspect of our own personal life, or a recent event effecting life today. We used the recent American election as our inspiration. Barack Obama won the election, and we wanted to show how that changed and effected politics from now on. We focused on 'Equality'.