Research Response #2

For this week since our assigned readings were related to the history and the upcoming of video art and its relation to feminist theory I decided that I would research those topics even further. With art and feminism and feminist issues being what I study and two of my strong interests I am always very interested and eager to learn about them especially when a crossover between the two is involved. Starting from around the 1960's feminist artists started to produce more work but what I found interesting was how the article I found talked about how it wasn't about what the medium or what type of art it was, but rather their goal was to "influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes." I think that makes perfect sense because like everything else happening for them then, they were still working toward the same goals and it didn't really matter how they got there as long and they did with whatever worked for them. Moving on with time, many popular feminist artists were mentioned that I had been familiar with their work like Eva Hesse, Judy Chicago, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Lucy Leppard and Cindy Sherman as well as the Linda Nochlin for her publication of "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" I am not really sure why, but I didn't really think that I would recognize as many as I did but I for the first time noticed that there is such a strong connection between the art choices of the women to what were the popular feminist goals at the time and not simply with the art movement at the time, which was how I typically learned about them. Even though I seemingly was more familiar with some of this history of feminist art than I thought I learned, or rather came to the realization of a lot that I hadn't before. Also I found it extremely helpful to learn about this in a way that lays of the history and evolution of the feminist art history movement in the way it was instead of the typical sources that are more artist specific and as a reader you are left to sort it yourself.

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-feminist-art.htm

Top 10 Artists

1. Cecilia Dougherty
2. Sadie Benning
3. Martha Rosler
4. Joan Jonas
5. Dara Birnbaum
6. Carrie Mae Weems
7. Lorna Simpson
8. Eve Sussman
9. Sue De Beer
10. Miranda July

Reading Response #2

I think the the Rosalind Kraus article was a good way to start a discussion of this nature with how she introduces the idea of the connections between art and ethics through "aesthetics of acknowledgement". There was a very large focus on mediums and the everyday use of mediums referring specifically to the 1) simultaneous reception and projection of an image and 2) the human psyche as a conduit. I think this is completely true but have never thought of this in a where the body is a 'material' and is used as a means to an end for the final idea or concept, which I think is shown strongly through the Boomerang (1974) example. I think having this idea flows well into Rosler's stance on how influential video and video art was in the 1960's. Having this platform allowed for me to connect more to the ideas of how video in the uprising of the mass media culture had. I really enjoyed the idea of "museumization", which was a new term for me and the power of television. I think most people could say t.v. had and influence but not think of it in the way Rosler says. Since I am extremely interesting in the topic of what Butler was talking about I really enjoyed her article and how she approaches the ideas of "the subject" in relation to women, "construction", "unity" and "the one" or the "other". Her way of using quotation marks makes her points extremely clear which I think helps and I think the through video would be a perfect way to explore or attempt to delve into these topics. With the amount of manipulation an artist has when working with video, there are essentially no limitations to how an artist can show "the one" gender or sex or making points about the appearance versus reality, objectification and really just the evolution of the idea of gender and sex.

What do you think the influence of art, or video art had on the thought evolution of the ideas of gender and sex, if any?

Research Response #1

For the beginning of this project I feel that since I do not know much about video art and haven't really worked with it too much that it would be most beneficial and give me more of a mind set to work with it by just watching some pieces of video art. I spent most of the time this week on flavorwire and bomb magazine just so I could have more of a base of what the videos turn out to be, how they capture work, how it's framed, and any other details that I might have been able to pick up on that I wouldn't have initially thought of myself.
I've realized after watching some different videos that I tended to be drawn to the videos that either have such a minimal about of things happening that it makes a viewer really try and figure out what is happening and why or makes them make their own connections and inferences. Or I really liked videos were there was an obscene amount of movement or noise or involvement happening where they viewer would have to decipher what the point is or what part of happening is most important or the main idea. When a video was extremely clear of what is happening and why its happening was when I felt that it was very plain. I found that there are so many more opportunities to manipulate the final piece of a video before it is seen. Now that I have more of an idea of how to possibly capture video footage and what it would be in final I think that looking into the history and upcoming of video art would help me understanding the essence of video art and the impact it can have which I think is now of the most important part of creating art.

Artists Selections

1. Martha Gever "The Feminism Factor: Video and its Relation to Feminism"
This reading is essentially the perfect combination of my art work and passion from which I draw my ideas from. The history and feminism of art from the past and present is an extreme interest of mine.

2. Margaret Morse "Video Installation Art: The Body, The Image and the Space-in-Between"
The idea of the body and how the body can simultaneously show one thing visually yet mean something else completely. I think the exploration of the body is something that has no limits and can be extremely interesting when explored.

3. Christine Tamblyn "Significant Others: Social Documentary as Personal Portraiture in Women's Video of the 1980s"
Again this is something that contains my interest in the how the body and self-imagery are displayed as well as the inclusion of women's roles in it.

Reading Response #1

I really enjoyed parts of the article from Jennings. I think the idea surrounding the abstract and abstraction are extremely interesting because they are just so varied. I particularly like they way Jennings uses the example of the abstract and when on page 3 Sanchez say "the moving image is already an abstraction, the abstract is all around us". That's not something I really thought about in that way before but I like how than furthers the idea of abstraction. Because it is such an interest of mine in my own work, I liked the part that was included about artists Jennifer West and Elaine Sturtevant. I think that their approach at a re-imaging or re-make of two very well known pieces of art produced by males is a definition of abstraction that is often overlooked or even excluded when it conveys the same style of work that other abstraction works.
I really enjoyed the part of the Jennings article that talked about Benglis's Female Sensibility and when she talks about how she treats her companion less as if she were a lover and more an abstract sculpture in formation. I think that is an interesting way to talk about the body as an art form of abstraction.

Because I have not really discussed the topic of transmission, I wonder how people view the relationship between the abstract and transmission specifically applicable to the work of still art and video art?