Wednesday, November 13, 2013

"Performance at the Whitney Museum"


               During my trip to the Whitney Museum, I was introduced to the "ritual of rented island" exhibit that featured a historical show consisting of artists who participated in the New York performance art scene from 1970-1980. Most work found in this exhibit were created by artists that referred to important social, political and cultural forces of the time. American imperialism, the war in Vietnam, sexual-gender inequality, american pop culture and its commercialization. Overall a unique experience compared to the other museums and art galleries I've visited thus far.

              During my first encounter in this exhibit, I came across this black and white video taping of approximately 64 minutes in length named "Claim". In the video Vito Acconci is performing a mass hypnosis on himself in his basement. Vito Acconci is blindfolded, seated on a chair at the front of the stairs while holding two metal pipes and a crowbar at the same time talking to himself aloud. What I get out of this particular piece from the exhibit is that it can possibly have some sort of social reference to it, by showing people how he hypnotizes himself for three hours and eventually starts to believe the things he says. He mentions the Vietnam war as a kind of mechanism relating to this piece. All I know is if I had walked into a basement with someone chanting the same insane lines over and over again I'd probably call the cops or get him/her help immediately.

           
              Secondly, I saw a black and white video of Julia Heyward who was a performance artist. She was performing "Shake!Daddy!Shake!" at the Judson Memorial Church. She is also known for other songs she's created like "It's a Sun!". Her songs usually related to her past of her life and relationships as well from the south. I would also consider her art performances under the social category because of how people in general can most likely relate to her music. Julia Heyward also had a different way of displaying her audience by splitting them up with boys being on one side and girls being on the other side to ironically stress the social roles of men and woman. Had I attended any of her performances I'd probably wouldn't think right then and there how much of an influence she might possibly be.

             For the last piece I came across in this exhibit, i saw a digital video of nothing more than the Statue of liberty from afar. The artist recording this historical landmark is Laurie Anderson. There wasn't a whole lot of information on this piece as to why it was even recorded in the first place. It's simply just a digital video of the statue of liberty from a long range distance while you see the water calmly ripple back and forth and the birds fly across the screen gliding over the water. Obviously the Statue of liberty stands for many things and freedom is one of them. This can relate to anything political, referring to perhaps the immigrants who came to these lands and seek new life as well as a fresh start, only to be deemed castaways by certain politicians who don't agree with them occupying american soil.

              Concluding my field trip at the Whitney  Museum, I have definitely seen some different art films, clips, and model creations that caught my attention. While it wasn't my best experience as compared to the other art galleries or museums, maybe in the future i can explore some other exhibits and floors to change that a little. Perhaps my favorite piece from this exhibit is the "Claim" Excerpts due to the eerie and disturbing vibe from that video alone.

Vito Acconci
"Claim"
video recorder
September 10,(1971)

Julia Heyward
"Shake! Daddy! Shake!"
Recorder
(1976)

Laurie Anderson
"Untitled"
Digital Recorder
(2013)
             
             

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