Interventionists: Chapter 2
“Through the assistance of slap-stick comedies most enduring prop, the pie, the BBB have managed to embarrass most of the most powerful figures in the world. Targets of their pie throwing include: Microsoft founder Bill Gates, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, ex-president of the World Trade Organizatin Renaldo Ruggiero and Hilmar Kabas of Vienna’s Freedom Party” (page 46)
I enjoyed reading about this project, mainly because it is so lighthearted at first. I do see a tremendous value in the meaning of this project. I think it's important to show that these people are in a position of power; and at the very least have a laugh at their expense, while they constantly profit at our own.
“The Surveillance Camera Players is a group formed in New York City in November 1996. They protest the use of surveillance cameras in public places because they believe these cameras violate a constitutionally protected right to privacy. The SCP manifests this opposition by performing specially adapted plays directly in front of these cameras. They use their visibility – through public appearances, interviews with the media, and the website – to explode the myth that only those who are “guilty of something” are opposed to being surveilled by unknown eyes.”
I found this to be an interesting project, as i personally dont have an issue largely with surveilance cameras used for security. However, I suppose once you create a product for monotoring people, its hard to tell who genuinely needs it and who is using it for a darker purpose. I also found interesting that there are people who like the work enough to go on guided tours of surveiled areas, which the Surveilance Camera Players conduct.
Seeing Power: ch 3 and 7
“The game is up: we see through the pyramid schemes of the temples of cultural elitism controlled by the 1 percent. No longer will we, the artists of the 99 percent, allow ourselves to be tricked into accepting a corrupt hierarchical system based on false scarcity and propaganda concerning absurd elevation of one individual genius over another human being for the monetary gain of the elitest of elite.”
I thought this was a powerful response to the exclusiveness that museums were clearly partaking in. I think it is very apt that this came as an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, as regular people should have space readily available to them as the well endowed. Many artists are strugglung because they arent well known and have a hard time entering spaces. With a breakdown of social barriers more artists could have significant exposure.
“These things collectively shape the language and understanding of how a person’s idea of art is constituted. Let’s call this an infrastructure of resonance: the set of material conditions that produces a form of meaning. It is, to put it as directly as possible, the collection of structures (newspapers, social networks, academic institutions, churches, etc.) that shape our understanding of any given phenomenon— including ourselves. Anything that circulates meaning is thus a part of an infrastructure of resonance.”
I found this particular passage intriguing. It succintly explains why we develop our own opinions based on the filters our lives provide. The structures of resonance are different for everyone, and as such people respond differently to the same work of art.
Ch 7
“The loud and increasingly demanding presence of these labor protestors is hardly welcomed by the costumed members of the Chamber of Commerce. Why would an unsanctioned group join their parade? Why would they invoke the miserable labor conditions of the nineteenth century? This reenactment of a protest is, of course, a real protest, and it becomes increasingly inconvenient for the official parade marchers as they try their best to brush off the insurgent crowd’s booming demands for decent pay and work hours.”
I liked this passage because the protestors made the Chamber Of commerce feel as inconvenienced by the issue of their unfair labor practices as they themselves had. I think any good activist work should stir some uncomfortable questions; if it doesn't, then clearly no impression had been made.
“The crowds in Tahrir grew as Egyptians set up camp in the square. By January 31, Al Jazeera reported that the crowds had swelled to 300,000. People not only protested in the square— they slept, they ate, they sang, they held meetings. As they were located in the center of Egypt, neither the military, the press, the government, nor the surrounding citizenry could ignore them. The events of Tunisia and the follow-up events in Cairo triggered what is now known as the Arab Spring. They resulted in popular revolutions throughout the Mideast and the deposition of four leaders.”
I liked this passage because it highlights the change that can come from a simple nonviolent occupation. The peaceful holding of their beliefs leading to the deposition of four leaders, as well as other revolutions gives me faith in our ability as people to rally efforts when things are wrong and work to create change.
Interventionists, pages 98-108
“Lucy Orta develops conceptual and functional projects that extend and perpetuate her socially concerned aesthetic. She produces nomadic architecture as well as nomadic clothing. In Orta’s oeuvre, clothes become tools, and the body becomes activated. Among many of her radical fashion creations, she has developed architectural clothing lines that almost literalize tendencies hinted at in Wodiczko’s Homeless Vehicle”
I admire the idea Orta had to create something that not only addresses an issue we face, but also using the opportunity to devise a strategy. Albeit excessive, but the dramatic flair gives it the artistic integrity it needs to succeed as a piece of socially engaged art.
“Going “under cover” is not so much an entertaining game (although fun does play a part), it is a necessary tactic when trespassing onto the territory of other’s. Disguise is needed to blend into a different game. The Center for Tactical Magic has produced The Ultimate Jacket (2003). As a center strongly influenced by various schools of concealment and espionage (private detective, magician, ninja), they have produced a jacket as a means to augment one’s ability to act in various situations. The jackets contains over 50 secret pockets and allows the interventionist to slip from the identity of a worker to the identity of a ninja.”
I liked this idea, as it has that signature element of the yes men making a claim, fake item, what have you that is easily bought by those that it wishes to taunt. Truth be told while I was reading this excerpt, I thought to myself, I really like this, it’s definitely something the yes men would do, only for them to be mentioned by name as the creators of the piece.
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