Hi Isabel,
> 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)
You've got a point there...
I remember when Anita Sarkeesian the media critic and the creator of
Feminist Frequency presented her critical vids, such as 'Ms. Male
Character -- Tropes vs Women' (http://go.shr.lc/1k9vs8A), there was an
immediate offensive response by thousands of young men, it was
astonishing. It was as if the Sun and Daily Mail newspapers had released
the most evil, trolling zombies, that were once previously hidden away
in the darker never regions of their smelly cupboards ;-)
> I suspect that if Moire was fat or old she wouldn't have
>been allowed to show her work in that art fair.
I had not thought of it in this way, and it does seem obvious now.
Perhaps, if it was an older woman or one not fitting the standard
template perhaps it would be more interesting...
Wishing you well.
marc
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]
<mailto:[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]
<mailto:[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
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