Quotes from Seeing power and interventionists

Christina Bodine
Art and Activism
Quotes from Seeing Power by NATO Thompson
Chapter 5 and 6

In this week’s reading, many quotes were very thought-provoking to me, but the quotes that stood out to me talked about who we are and what what we stand for and also, how we can be blinded by the law.

The first quote on Chapter 5 of Seeing Power can be found on Page. 118, where the source came from Andrea Fraser, a writer that answers this question—what does it mean for institutions to embrace their own critique?— in her article “From the Critique of Institution to an Institution of Critique,” Artforum’s September 2005 issue. Fraser wrote:
It’s not a question of being against the institution: We are the Institution. It’s a question of what kind of institution we are, what kind of values we institutionalize, what forms of practice we reward, and what kinds of rewards we aspire to.

What I got out of that quote is that we may have our beliefs or disbeliefs to many topics, but in order ‘Change the world’ sort of speak and make something great, we first have to critique ourselves and think what type of person you strive to be and what message you try to convey to other people.

The second quote is found on Page 122, where Nato Thompson wrote:
Divorced from the political economy that makes aesthetics possible, we ignore the critical infrastructures that provide its true meaning. We are getting less than half the picture if we conveniently avoid context.

This quote is followed by the example of the artist I chose to write about, Swoon. So Swoon, is a graffiti artist that paints a stencil a young African-America on a bicycle. His work is on the walls in Brooklyn instead of a permitted space, but Thompson brought that point out—what if his work was on a wall that is permitted space. Any person that saw the graffiti would likely to think that it’s illegal to do graffiti because their minds will be to the law and instead of the meaning that the work of Swoon is trying to make.


In Chapter 6, the first quote that I liked and feel everyone can relate to is found on Page. 143 where Nato Thompson wrote:
First of all, mutual curiosity is key—nobody wants to hear what they don’t care to think about…If an atmosphere of transversal mutual curiosity can be achieved, in which people are able to express themselves—as well as appreciate each other’s expression—then magic can happen. Without curiosity, magic dies.

I personally like this quote because it speaks the truth of trying to reach the audience of people. The one way to do that is talk what other people want to talk about and you have to also have to want to talk about that topic of—so finding a common ground.

The second quote is found on Page. 132, where it is written:
Better to change the spaces we travel through than to try to change our minds.
Today we are so much influenced by everything and everyone around us. Who can really say they are their true self? So for people to really change or define who they are, they first have to change what or who they allow to change them.

In Chapter 1 of the Interventionists, the quote I Found interesting was said by an artist Dre Wapenaar and he said:
“I think tents are great meeting points for people. To work on directing the quality of meeting is something I couldn’t do so much with sculpture. I use tents because tents speak a language, which is well known all over the world.”

His work is making tents for everything. It would offer a privacy yet comfort. His work spoke to many cultures, who till this day live in tents so it provides a safety net.