The show explores how a camera may be seen as an “passive” (shooting an image without strict framing or intention that forces the viewer to think about the camera’s presence) form of documentation, particularly utilized in 1970s performance art

-Valie Export’s “Interaction” piece exquisitely documents variations of performances where she adheres her body to different landscapes/ground. In her images it is easy to appreciate the action because the position of the camera captures these performances in a particular angle that is neither loud nor disruptive, but still intentional.

-Eleanor Antin’s “100 Boots” 1971-73 piece documents her installation of boots in a seemingly passive form intentionally to make it appear as though the boots might have just been stepped out of. It becomes much more political once you realize that the people wearing these boots are missing and their lack of presence is suddenly very daunting. In this way the image does not appear to have very “active” framing until you realize that it is a setup.  

-Bas Jan Ader’s “Broken Fall” 1971, utilizes the camera’s aspect of time passing as well as time stopping in a frame, as an important part of his performance. The viewer feels the weight of the artist’s body slowly on its way to falling as it is frozen in movement.

-John Baldessari’s piece, “Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (Best of Thirty- Six Attempts), 1973 uses both the passive  and active (knowing what you want from the image) acts of capturing an image to playfully perform a process.

Photography can actively be seen as a mechanism of drawing or mark-making

 

-Bruce Nauman, “Light Trap for Henry Moore No.1” 1967, uses the exposure of light to physically draw out his space in his piece, emphasizing the idea of light drawing or painting. Nauman physically makes his mark, placing himself into the frame.

-Alighiero Boetti’s piece, “AW:AB=L:MD (Andy Warhol: Alighiero Boetti=Leonardo: Marcel Duchamp)” brings a strong element of appropriation as mark making/ photography into the show. In addition to drawing on the silkscreen, he’s also created a relationship to Andy Warhol in the title, by using a quantification/math like equation to deliver the piece. While also creating a ratio of them to Leonardo and Marcel Duchamp (first name vs. last name basis also implies a respect towards history or importance), the piece ties in a large geometric relationship to history and time.  This type of drawing or mark making advances photography to a very different and intriguing level.

Ed Ruscha’s piece talks about map making, plotting as a type of photographic markmaking. Although in the past photography was used as a way of marking time and space, by adding a third element of place it is interesting that it physically adds another dimension to our ideas of plotting humans, locating them into the world.

Dennis Oppenheim’s piece “Stage 1 and 2. Reading Position for 2^nd Degree Burn Long Island. N.Y. Material...Solar Energy Skin Exposure Time. 5 Hours June 1970,  cleverly reflects the act of photographic image making by taking a photo of a direct exposure of his body to the sun as the light that imprints an image. The relationship is very dynamic because we must also realize that the majority of images were exposed to film with the same exact source of light, that from the sun. It playfully uses the sun as a light source but reminds us that it is dynamic and that the artist has no chance at beating it. In addition it is humorous that he openly accepts that he does not have a chance against it and decides to ‘sun bathe.’

           

             

Annette Messager’s “Voluntary Tortures” 1972 exemplifies the many complex layers of photography.

-From a distance the piece appears plainly as an interior design wall decoration.

-The interplay is created in this way by combining these images of women who are re-designing themselves in some way but with a “surrealist fascination for grotesque.”

-In addition, the idea of the woman designing herself in the image is starkly contrasted with the idea of home decoration and presentation as an image of one’s family or self.

-The black and white imagery not only adds to the stark contrast formally, but also depicts the idea of “black and white” ness and what it means for ad/media imagery to become overly simplified in this manner.

Photographers are very much interested in their images existing in a realm of intentional space and installation.

-Giuseppe Penone’s piece plays with the idea of the photograph by projecting light onto an already treated surface, that we may also deem as sculpture.

-Gordon Matta Clark’s piece, “Pipes” 1971, literally removes the surface of the wall to depict what the image is revealing. The imagery and its implantation into the surface seems natural and yet very physical when you think about what has been done to install it.

-Marcel Broodthaers’s piece “Portrait of Maria Gilissen with Tripod” 1967 connects the floor to the wall piece creating a tension in the space, a direct link to the paintings of Rauschenberg.

-Sol LeWitt’s piece, The Area of Manhattan between the McGraw-Hill Building, Columbus Circle and Tompkins Square, 1977, the physicality of the three points of the frame as well as the prints are very sharp, creating a consistent and mirrored effect of each layer.

Midterm Proposal-

I will continue working on the “Shelter” piece by executing it in other small and enclosed spaces.  i.e  Under tables, utilizing sofas etc.

My interest in emergency preparedness, and the kits produced by its culture, is derived from the notion of a product that is perfect and reliable. In a time of extreme need, any person is supposed to relay their trust and safety on this product, as if it is an  utopic cure-for-all. The idea of the product is built on the idea of supposed trust that it becomes unrealistic. It quantifies an amount of meals for an emergency situation (different quantity kits can be purchased,) as if a person has the ability to rationalize the amount of time they would need an emergency kit for. The irony of the product is that because it quantifies an emergency situation, it is plausible that in the event that a person would actually use this emergency kit, the amount would never perfectly suffice. This then eliminates the entire idea that the product is built on reliability when in actuality it is not.

I render this constant reminder of emergency preparedness and its breeding through the culture of fear as heavy psychological baggage. This idea of constantly wanting, needing, thriving to be prepared for emergency weighs down the mind and does not leave it to be free to live. My work’s main emphasis is to explore this difficult space of balance between wanting and understanding the need to be “prepared,” while also feeling that it weighs down on us. I aim to examine these ideas through creating spaces (manifestations of these include: objects, photographs, performances) that appear absurd or strange. This notion of absurdity allows me to playfully that show the struggle between needing to be prepared and avoiding the mental weight are not binary divisions. Although it is a balance, none of these issues are simply one extreme or the other, human emotion gets easily and understandably caught up in these ideas of risk, mental health and fear.