----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
Hi Byon,
You bring up two important features that I think will be major topics this
month. The first I will snip from your last post
<snip>
I don’t think that the audience generally gets it. That is why the humor and
playfulness of it is so crucial. I have a terrible relationship to my audience
I think in that I don’t know who they are. This not knowing stems from spending
so much of my career so far either doing public workshops or strict gallery
shows in niche spaces without much in between. The general public seems to
react favorably to the humorous or realteable, like GARRy. There is something
concrete to anthropomorphize in a work like GARRy, so it is easy to latch on
to. Especially when I program it to follow people. Gallery goers can’t help but
have empathy for this pathetic plant/robot hybrid as it slowly struggles to
navigate space.
<snip>
Artist’s working between the realms of Biology and Art have historically had a
problem with the public and how their work gets understood. I am thinking of
Steve Kurtz who was a guest here at Cornell several years ago when he was in
the midst of an arrest by Homeland Security for what was an art installation he
was preparing as part of Critical Art Ensemble for Mass MOCA’s The
Interventionists exhibition.
See this clip from a film that artist Lynn Hershman did on Steve:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikNO1ANHIQs
Kurtz’ project in Food GMO was misinterpreted as biological terrorism. His
home studio/lab of microscopes and biological mediums looked to Homeland
Security as the center of a possible cell for bioterrorism. Though the project
was to be highlighted at MassMOCA taken out of context it became to be
understood as something quite different and spun into the imaginary of an
unintended “public.”
<snip>
Curious Byron if anyone has misinterpreted GaRRy in ways that were unexpected?
<snip>
As for humor, I think it has an immense ability to break down a viewer’s wall
of disengagement. When you hit them with something that is humorous and kind of
pathetic they become vulnerable to everything else that you embed within the
work. They may not get the overarching concept right away, but with time as
they start to laugh or empathize with the work, they start to have a deepened
relationship with it. I like art that doesn’t build up a wall of “expertise” or
excludes, but instead invites them in. With time the hidden meanings are
revealed, or at least people are more likely to accept the underlying concepts
because they’ve connected with the piece. It’s like a weird little broken
friend.
<snip>
During Steve’s lecture at Cornell I could not help but remark on the
light-hearted laughter that permeated his entire lecture and presentation. I
guess that is how Steve is but given the fact that he was in the middle of a
major legal crisis it was a bit jarring for me.
Byron, I”m curious how you are handling the Estrogen Project. I would love to
know more about that project and if you have links for either would you post
them as links?
What a great way to start off our discussion this month and if there are any of
our subscribers who may want to comment we would love to hear from you.
Thanks Byron. Renate
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