Absolutely. Though in the world of internet trolling even women who do conform to beauty standards get that sort of feedback if they say the wrong thing in the wrong place (talk about sexism in gaming for example)
I suspect that if Moire was fat or old she wouldn't have been allowed to show her work in that art fair. It's funny how this display of female nakedness is supposed to show the institution putting it on as open-minded and progressive, but what we get is always the same old body type. Considering the variety of shapes and sizes humans come in, how come anything except young, thin, pretty females is unacceptable, even obscene? On 24 April 2014 12:32, marc garrett <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Isabel, > > I agree with you when you say “This particular work just strikes me as > sad, and not at all emancipatory.” > > > > Just a thought regarding the idea of the female body as a product in > this context: > >this may be grossly generalizing (please correct if wrong) but I've > noticed before > >that female artists who show themselves naked in their work almost always > have > >conventionally beautiful bodies. > > You say “I've noticed before that female artists who show themselves naked > in their work almost always have conventionally beautiful bodies”, > > This does seem to support my argument that women’s bodies are more readily > accepted in mainstream culture if they conform to its ideals of what a > female body is meant to look like. Thus, she becomes part of a cultural > commodity - Moire’s body is a product to sell as art and as part of a > larger, systemic objectification of woman and this can extend to men as > well. This was well critiqued recently, by Susan Bordo in ’Unbearable > Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body’ when she looked at the > historical and current representation of women in history and in popular > culture, offering a deep insight into western culture’s objectification of > women's bodies, from a male classical gaze right up to the neoliberal gaze > in contemporary culture. > > A recent example of how women have trouble in mainstream culture when not > fitting into conventional tropes of how women are supposed be, and indeed, > should look like, is the incident with Mary Beard, after she was on the > panel of Question Time on the BBC.” My appearance on Question Time prompted > a web post that has in the last few days discussed my pubic hair (do I > brush the floor with it), whether I need rogering (that comment was taken > down, as was the speculation about the capaciousness of my vagina, and the > plan to plant a d*** in my mouth)," writes Beard. > http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/21/mary-beard-suffers-twitter-abuse > > This reflects a society smothered by top-down orientated mediation, > dictated by a celebrity culture replacing critical awareness and a much > needed questioning of how things really are, where the subtle and not so > subtle domination by market interests of cultural production (at all > levels) and its vapid dialogue, denies us all access to a wider spectrum of > creative expression, especially those that engage in subjects that conflict > with the agendas of those in power. And Moire's performance has no conflict > with those in power because women's bodies are already owned in history and > in the media, and her artistic actions add to the already > disenfranchisement of not only women but also critical art on the whole. > > Wishing you well. > > marc > > > Hi, > > Just a thought regarding the idea of the female body as a product in this > context: this may be grossly generalizing (please correct if wrong) but > I've noticed before that female artists who show themselves naked in their > work almost always have conventionally beautiful bodies. perhaps this is > why they feel comfortable showing them? > This particular work just strikes me as sad, and not at all emancipatory. > > > On 24 April 2014 11:29, marc garrett <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Hi Mark, >> >> Thanks for sharing your latest essay ‘Angry women (still?)’ to the list… >> >> I do have a some thoughts on the matter. >> >> My first impression was on hearing about “Artist Drops Paint-Filled Eggs >> From Her Vagina To Create Art” was, so what? It’s boring… >> >> Then you posted on the list regarding your essay on the matter. >> >> I’d say your representation of birth in your essay needs a bit more >> unpacking. Because saying “child birth as the one true creative act of >> humanity”. Leaves us with so much unresolved and unanswered, it’s all up in >> the air. For instance, it would be less ambiguous if there were examples in >> your text that included other female artists ideas on the subject, with >> their own societal and artistic contexts adding resonance to the questions >> you ask. >> >> Moire’s performance is bound within a psychological, ‘passive aggressive’ >> desperation. It is ‘not’ an act of female liberation; for her or any other >> women, it is an act of an individual submitting to ‘mediation’ as part of >> the spectacle. It does not challenge anything other than liberation, >> emancipation and feminism itself. >> >> In fact, it dis-empowers women artists and puts them in direct >> competition with her. I can almost hear the many ‘shallow’ curators (male & >> female) in the traditional realms of the so called 'contemporary' art world >> - thinking to themselves - oh yes, this will get media attention. >> >> It is ‘not’ an act of female empowerment precisely because female >> expression in wider society is only allowed to have presence as celebrity >> or via their bodies and not their minds. Unless they already come from a >> privileged background then they can be involved in social commentary in the >> New Statesman or the Guardian etc ;-) >> >> There is no reclaiming of the female identity or female emancipation >> here, or related societal liberation if it is wholly reliant on ‘female’ >> body as a product, a commodity within a framework of contemporary art and >> mainstream culture dedicated to neo-liberalist values. It is a >> contradiction. >> >> To me, it just looks like Moire is performing an art version of Miley >> Cyrus’s Twerking. Which I suppose is OK, but it means nothing other than >> desperation to be seen in terms that only relates to the individual's own >> desperate desire to be seen by many, but is this really enough? >> >> Wishing yo well. >> >> marc >> >> >> >> >> Hi NetBees >> I know a few of you will have seen/read about Milo Moire's Plopegg piece >> for the 2014 Cologne Art Fair. I'm not sure what I make of it, so wrote a >> short jumbled lot of thoughts about it (see second link below). I was >> wonder what others make of her work? >> >> >> http://designtaxi.com/news/365200/Artist-Drops-Paint-Filled-Eggs-From-Her-Vagina-To-Create-Art >> >> http://www.memecortex.net/blog/?p=1094 >> >> >> Cheers all, >> >> Mark >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> > > > > -- > http://isabelbrison.com > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing > [email protected]http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > -- http://isabelbrison.com
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