Just a light show, or art?

But isn't it just light?

The question that Villareal's art brings up for me is whether or not this particular piece really should be considered art. The beauty of the desing and the execution of the design are simply fabulous. I think that my attraction of light and the way it moves is mesmerizing. Is it art, yes, is it light yes, but the thing is it is fluid. It is dynamic, it is ever growing and evolving than any other piece of art that I have seen.. It is more substantial than a regluar lightbulb. It is fascinating for me to see the vision that he had in mind, and even the other designs he has created seem much more advanced than what he wishes to create at the NGA but nonetheless it is fascinating.. What I found when I arrived at the Gallery is that there were three people who were at the time constructing the site. It seemed that they would need substantially more people than that but they made it work. They in a way became a part of the piece because as you are traveling along the concourse you ARE viewing the art being created, not many times does a patron get the chance to really see the process. It becomes a strategic movement by the artist and the creators to work around the patrons and still make a piece that conveys the vision that they had in mind. In a way the construction seems to be part of everyday life, like the bustle of the waterfall in the cafe or even just the everyday noise of the Gallery itself. I also think that if you didn't know what was going on you probably wouldn't even realize that you were walking admist a beautiful creation. I can not wait to see the final product especially after seeing the other pieces that the has, it will be simply amazing. Almost as if it is a Norhtern Light Show, but in these neck of the woods.. :)

What is the audience?

In his writing "Diary:Audience 1966", John Cage creates this sort of future look at the role art will take and how it will interact with the audience. Or rather, how the audience will interact with the art. It is interesting to me to read that in his mind, the audience is not like one or two people. Or even that the audience is less apart of the art they are viewing. For Cage art and the audience go hand in hand, you can not have one without the other and it is like a "family reunion". This secret between two friends, because as individuals each audience member looks at different elements of the art in different ways. But going back this idea of art and the audience interacting. I think this is poignant statement. I mean today with the hustle and bustle of the world, sometimes it takes more than just looking at a painting in order to capture the audiences' attention. I like the idea of audience's participating more in the art than just taking this passive role in the viewing. For me art like Golan Levin, bring so much more to the art than if he had just created something and let it stand. I think it now adds to the flavor of the human interaction. Because each story created is something different, but only for a moment is the story even seen or comprehended and then like the blink of an eye the story shifts and a new idea is formed and a new story is created in its wake. The thing about audience interaction is that it gets the artist to participate more in art, and to have more reasons to want to go to a theater to see a show etc. Like I went to the Lion King off Broadway and it was a amazing. The opening act starts in the aisles of the audience. It brings more to life and allows you to kind of be a part of the show. Then of course the show moves to the stage, but you are already locked in. Simple gestures like that go a long way I think with taking art to the next level.

What do you see?

Years from now what will America and its Institutions look like? What will they represent? Today the vision of what our Founders created is much different than the reality in which we live. Follow me down the rabbit hole...





What we see isn't really what we get.
Or is it?














10 score and 25 years ago, one nation was created with a vision of PROMISE.
How does that vision stand today?













We hold these truths to be self-evident...
that all men are NOT created equal.









I USED to have a dream.








Free at last, Free at last

















STILL FIGHTING to be free at last










Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of IGNORANCE









THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HOCKEY MOM AND A PITUBLL? Lipstick












IT IS AN INSTITUTION OF FREEDOM:






We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity... BY BEING LEFT FOR DEAD WHEN THE WRATH OF KATRINA SWEPT THROUGH














IT is AN INSTITUTION OF JUSTICE:




No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until ' justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream OF FIFTY SHOTS TO PUT DOWN SEAN BELL**










....Like Alice you fell NOW tell me what you see?













O say, can you see by the dawn's early light..... O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?















** Sean Bell was shot 50 times and killed by NYPD the night before his wedding day last November. In June the cops were acquitted and Sean's murder has yet to be brought to justice. Google his name for more information.

What is killing America and How will it survive?

The multimedia piece a Season in Hell, brings up a lot of things to question about the political atmosphere of America. The piece in my opinion builds off of Dr. Martin Luther King's ideas that silent witnesses were to blame for the tragedies during the Holocust and the Civil Rights Movement, moreso than the ones who were actually the aggressors in both situations. The term silent witness means a person who watches these events happening but does nothing to change it.
I think that the piece a Season in Hell touches on this thought. Post 9/11 the American public and myself have been fed these images of what this almost " Brave New World," lifestyle is supposed to be like. We allowed ourselves to be disillusioned enough to give the President power to start a war that we will be paying for in the lives of our children yet to come. The piece argues that it was through the assistance of the media that we were conditioned to let things continue with the government as they were. It is in that release of power that we have slowly killed the foundation that America was based from.
Artist Randall Packer and his collaboraters create this entity through art that sort of says " I will no longer be a silent witness,". The character Orf reminds us and forces us to remember that we can not be held down, that we should not be held down, that it is our duty to keep our eyes open and to call to question those in power for the mistakes that they are making.
The piece even goes a step further in its foundation, the reasoning why it was created to say to Artists in general that this is a call to them to stand up and give America its life again. The role of the artist is to create a mirror of the times in which we live, to interrprut that in their best ideas. However, what we find is that this political media, this political art is being created by the same institution that is destroying America. When the other artists begin to take a stand poltiically it will slowly give America back her heart. I think that the piece was/is very powerful, it brings up so many questions as to what and who is behind this image of our country. Who is in control of the images we see? And who should be in control of the images we see? I think that the biggest thing that this piece does is give us the opportunity to really think, to open our eyes to the realities of the world and to really say " I am not going to forget."

Situational Tour

What a better place than the nation's capitol? The project asks that we pick a location in Washington, D.C that invokes some emotion or image of authority, ritual, ideology, and security. At first I was going to choose the Lincoln Memorial, I would have liked to see what Lincoln sees everyday, looking out on the mall, etc. Or how about what it would have been like "to be" the Lincoln statue during the March on Washington? All of these things were something that I had thought about, and the fact that this monument is like one of the most visited ones, just goes to show how much of a ritual visiting these historical landmarks are not just for Americans, but for the world as well.
Well like I had said, I WAS going to do my situational tour on Lincoln, but getting off on the Metro I got stuck, and well sort of found a new outlook on the life in D.C. I have now chosen to do my situational tour on the CAPITOL itself. That is right, CAPITOL HILL. In retrospect what other location is as ritualisic and an example of authority and security as this location. The Hill is rich in American culture and history. In and of itself the name alone and what it stands for demonstrate the key terms of this project.




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