Public Art class 11
April 9
Land/Earth Art
One of the oldest forms of endeavor is lines inscribed in the earth or elsewhere in the environment. There is a range of practices from serious excavation to temporary to
For eg., the lines on the plateau of Nazca, Peru [[1]]
Andy Goldsworthy [4]
Michael Heier Effigy Tumuli [5]
Jeanne Claude and Christo, Running Fence [6]
Maysles Brothers Documentary series on Christo [7]
power point in dropbox
Digital Art/ Public Art
[[8] Intention of essay is to examine how digital art has used electronic networks to redefine the notion of public space
Notions of public discourse, civil society have suffered as a result of emphasis on the individual - a key concept in the US form of democracy, one of the things we find most abhorrent or at least strangest in socialism/communism is the emphasis on the social agenda, the welfare of the masses – different societies have different perspectives on the balance between the individual and the community. Rosalind Deutsche has an eloquent argument about the failure of democracy
--An important element in all public art is varying degrees of audience participation and agency. Degrees of agency are measured by the ability to have a meaningful effect in the world and in a social context.
--Historically, video art and live video installations attempted to challenge traditional power relationships by allowing a much broader range of people to talk to one another – Hole in space, Nam June new year’s eve around the world Cable access – promised democratization Kit Galloway and Sherry Rabinowitz – Hole in Space, 1980 [[9]]
--are new media egalitarian in structure
--what is the encoded agenda in an example of hardware/software (political, for eg.) (they tend to make us, encourage, allow us to do certain things and not others) pd/GEM vs Watchout
--mass media fabricate non-communication, if one defines communication as an exchange
distributed vs. centralized – protocols that control communication (tcpip, http, etc.) peer to peer vs. client server networks are both/and, not either/or
digital media redefining the public space – how? Not shared territory but non-locality Exists outside of a single nation’s or state’s jurisdiction Commoners = communities of interest despite physical location
p. 9 – Fostering audience agency is an activist goal for many artists. Examples? Reasons? (any communal activity encourages cooperation over conflict) Loren Carpenter driving game, pong [[10]], [[11]] Mary Flanagan, Giant Joystick [[12]]
Turns (Margaret Lovejoy) Agonistics (Warren Sack) are open to outside information but still establish closed system in that the material is organized on the basis of specific parameters that cannot be changed by participants. Artists create context.
Artists invite Collaborative creation – Agora Xchange – Natalie Bookchin [[13]]
The Pool, Jon Ippolito [[14]]
Blast Theory – combines real and virtual locations in a game of cat and mouse
Tele-collaboration, telepresence Teleporting an unknown state – Eduardo Kac [[http://www.ekac.org/telepsim/telep.html[[
Critical Art Ensemble (tactical media) - addresses issues of corporate power, sometimes includes input from participants [[15]], [[16]] sometimes not as in Halifax Begs Your Pardon [[17]]
