Week Five: Barthes + Lethem

Analyzing the role of literary authors in comparison to the aura of artists and their processes throughout history

In the 1977 essay titled, “The Death of the Author,” by author Roland Barthes, the definition and role of the author is questioned as it pertains to social ideology, psychology, and “literary performance.” As a contrast to the author, the connotations of an artist can include impacts on society, the actual artmaking process, and their visual performances.

Barthes opens his essay by analyzing Sarrasine Balzac who describes the characteristics and possible psychology of the woman, which allude to her boldness and femininity at the same time. Barthes writes that women tend to incorporate a mixture of “irrational whims, impetuous boldness, and delicious sensibility,” and these concepts are investigated further as real facts or as conclusions from society. By analyzing these points from Balzac, the reader understands that the purpose of the author is to remove “every voice, of every point of origin.” In doing so, the writing or visual performance becomes neutral and easily applicable to more individuals within each cultural community.

Furthermore, Barthes explains that through this removing of identity, the author inscribes himself more freely while creating an aura of disconnection with the reader. By eliminating his or her own voice, the author’s death becomes reality and the true writing occurs. Barthes refers to this moment as a “phenomenon” that spans numerous ethnological communities and historical events because the role of the author becomes more of a storyteller or raconteur. 

In addition, Barthes discusses the “narrative code,” which evokes the nurturing aspect of the artmaking process for any artist working with different media such as paint, sculpture, design, performance or even creative writing. By explaining their process more in-depth, the reader acknowledges the mysticism or anticipation that occurs with storytelling and creative processes. With a mastery of this code, Barthes states that authors span numerous literary writings to cater to their audience while revealing themselves in autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries.

Barthes continues by discussing the author’s gesture to create his own narrative vocabulary and translate it well to his audience, however, this is accomplished by collecting words from other dictionaries, which existed previously throughout history. In comparison, perhaps the work of an artist becomes more derivative of the past than realized?

Another essay titled, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,” by author Jonathan Lethem, discusses the appropriation of literary processes and the cyclical nature of writing, which translates differently over time.

Lethem’s essay opens with a story of a cultivated older man who becomes enamored by a younger female after traveling abroad and staying in a nearby town before continuing his journey. In this example, Lethem speaks on the context of the story and how history potentially plays an important role on a “hidden, unacknowledged memory.”

Lethem continues with an example on musician Bob Dylan who used appropriation as a tool to incorporate past writings of author F. Scott Fitzgerald and poet William Shakespeare into his love songs. By compiling these verses in his songs, Lethem states that Dylan poses a “paradox through resuscitation,” which urges the listener not to reflect on history, despite the insertion of these moments into modern culture and song lyrics. In doing so, does this gesture of translation authenticate contemporary music despite its historical connotations?

Perhaps the same concept may be applied to artists today, specifically those who are currently in an academic environment. As a constant learning exercise, artists of various media often select previous artworks from other artists throughout history in order to translate them into a new perspective. Is this a form of plagiarism, which exploits previous intellectual properties for personal gain?

Lethem also discusses the theory of “fugitive traditions,” which encompassed visual and auditory media that transformed society by activating a series of historical movements. Furthermore, Lethem explains the understanding of surrealists and how a “crisis of enframing” occurs with an object and its function in society. By analyzing these objects, Lethem notes that surrealists placed these items in opposite media to make them defunct of their original purpose and reveals its identity as a formal item. This concept of “thingness” occurs when the formal characteristics intrigue the viewer to take a refreshed glance at an artwork rather than associate it with other preconceived notions. 

Week Four: Judith Baca

Investigating the influence of public art towards ethnic communities and memorializing history

In the essay titled, “Where Monument Where? Public Art in a Many-Cultured Society,” by author Judith Baca, the exploration of public art continues as it reaches into the barrios and ghettos of ethnic communities. According to Baca, these communities are instead losing their sense of identity when a new monument or artwork is thrown onto a plaza because it is not accurately representing the surrounding community.

At the beginning of her essay, Baca explains that public art tends to mean different things to different people; this is mainly due to a variety of experiences from each individual. Furthermore, each person within a community has a different expectation or vision as to what is called art. Baca compares examples of Renaissance era Italian frescoes, which are considered traditional concepts of beauty. However, she also notes how an observer may enjoy site-specific works from Christo and Jeanne-Claude because of the impact onto the outdoor landscape.

Throughout her essay, Baca states how monuments uncover the past and become a part of our present experiences, and then ultimately an inspiration for the future. She notes how a clump of mud can turn into “a building block of society” where something that was previously disregarded actually built a foundation for the community. In addition, Baca explains the importance of revealing “memory which is contained in the ground” because it marks the passages of ancestors through history and space.

Baca continues by asking rhetorical questions as to what the current generation will memorialize or want to remember. Previously, public art meant displaying cannons from the Civil War in a public park. After removing the dirt and grime of history, the design planners begin to polish the piece and situate it in a central location. Does the meaning of the work change because of the process and physical removal of history?

With numerous events throughout history which recognize forefathers and ancestors, Baca questions if re-imagination of history is truthfully occurring where children and families enjoy picnics in the park. Often, these monuments provide a snapshot of history that sparks our activism and patriotism. However, are triumphs, victories, and adversity resonating with the current generation of tourists who sit on top, vandalize, and take photographs of these artworks on display?

Week Three: Suzanne Lacy

Analyzing the concept of “new genre” public art and its influence outside the museum and on the public audience

In the essay titled, “Cultural Pilgrimages and Metaphoric Journeys,” by author Suzanne Lacy, the concept of “new genre public art” is introduced to the reader as a system utilizing traditional and non-traditional media for a broad and diversified audience. According to Lacy, this system allows the artist to communicate with the audience about the issues directly relevant to their lives rather than creating artworks that do not engage the community. Throughout her essay, Lacy reiterates that art should exist as a response to nature, politics, society, and culture rather than conform to economic domination.

The overall effectiveness of an artwork enhances when an “aesthetic sensibility” is added to accommodate the audience. Some examples that Lacy introduces include race relations, homelessness, aging, gang warfare, and cultural identity. She also mentions toxic waste, which is a common topic today addressed by numerous artists due to the global warming crisis and political agendas. With public art, artists are turning towards creating installations, performances, mixed media, and more conceptual pieces to present to the community. Lacy’s essay emphasizes the importance of experimentation with form and content to engage others into the artworks through social strategy and effectiveness.

In addition, Lacy raises awareness to the location of the artworks and how access can affect the piece. She mentions the example of a sculpture situated in a public plaza and how the every day audience reacts to the addition in their town. Public art today involves more than just an artist creating a piece, it requires collaboration between a team of architects and designers for “greater public accountability.”

Lacy addresses a specific example includes Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc, which frustrated hundreds of office workers because the enormous sculpture took over the square. Perhaps, they were more angered about walking around the entire structure of the piece rather than its placement on the plaza. Ultimately, Serra’s artwork was removed after receiving much dissatisfaction from the public. However, what if Serra considered this reaction or became surprised by this negative feedback? In fact, Lacy discusses how that relationship between the townspeople and the artist becomes part of the artwork itself. The reaction of the audience needs to be considered with each piece and documentation of this rapport adds to the artwork for future projects.

Lacy states in her essay how new genre public art also entails other forms of intervention such as running for political office or reducing gang warfare in different communities. Just as a large steel structure can intrude on a plaza and cause uproar, so can political action or crime intervention. By engaging in these activities, both the artist and public are raising awareness to these daily issues. According to Lacy, by documenting this process, the artist demands more democratic participation from the public rather than pursue private interests.

According to Lacy, public art is making a shift towards the real environment where “incorporated weather, behavior, and ecology” are equivalent to the meaning of life. In her essay, Lacy discusses how the importance of exploring the “subconscious of cultural identity” and feminist art education. She states that by incorporating the primary audience into the work and educational programs will cater to that real environment wherever it is located. Within her essay, Lacy mentions the term “community of origin” to describe where public art takes place and who it represents in those locations.

Lacy provides an example of a muralist who paints images onto concrete barricades, walkways, and buildings throughout the city to reach people of the barrios and ghettos. In this case, access to a museum or gallery is limited and therefore, access to a diverse collection of art becomes limited. In order to engage the audience, muralists bring their aesthetic sensibility into the neighborhoods. Many times, artists will interact with their audience and inspire them to participate. This form of engagement has influenced graffiti artists to become more than the label as a criminal performing vandalism. These artists are representing their community and often highlight the triumphs and sorrows of the barrios and ghettos that others overlook.

By highlighting adversity within the labor communities, the artist expresses the stories of the people who often become voiceless due to social and political agendas. Towards the end of her essay, Lacy discusses how the community faces violence, racism, censorship, and ecological damage and how the role of the artist evolves to include these “conclusions from different vantage points.” Perhaps through public art, we can realize the true desire to activate each other whether it is through the role of the critic, architect, or viewer. Otherwise, artists can at least take all these viewpoints into consideration during the artmaking process and document it as well. Many times, a public artwork becomes more exciting based on its conceptual process and drawing phases. The work encourages more feedback and the process is better understood since it is open-ended and tangible, which coincides to the characteristics of the artwork standing at the center of a plaza.

Week Two: Duncan/Wallach, Andrea Fraser + Daniel Buren

Analyzing the architecture of museums, galleries, and artist studios through comparisons of tradition and taste

In the essay titled, “The Museum of Modern Art as Late Capitalist Ritual: An Iconographic Analysis,” by authors Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach, the reader acknowledges that museums tend to serve as “ceremonial monuments” based on their architecture and grandeur. Both authors compare the façades of museums to “temples, churches, and palaces” with large staircases and windows as well as labyrinth-like hallways and rooms. For example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City embodies these characteristics with dozens of palatial steps and golden-colored railings to the entrances. The doors themselves are also gargantuan in size and detail.

In contrast, the authors discuss the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), which has some shrine-like qualities in its interior, like elevated ceilings and windows but for the most part, the MOMA resembles other “megalithic” businesses in the area. The museum, which provides homage to the Bauhaus style with its post-World War II construction, remains simple and clean with its exterior and interior layouts. However, Duncan and Wallach state that the MOMA represents more individual choice and freedom because this is a major theme of museum. Rather than providing grand steps to the entrance, the authors note that transparent glass doors serve as “glass membranes,” between the museum and outside world—specifically from the busy streets of New York. In doing so, the museums invite all types of visitors rather than just the “regular and informed visitor.”

According to Duncan and Wallach, the idea of a museum appears to “affirm power and social authority of the patron class,” which still holds true today. Businesses and patrons who can pay and afford annual museum memberships often receive special privileges for private art viewings or events. In doing so, it appears that the upper class experiences a “higher taste” for art because they can view it from balconies where they are served champagne and listen to classical music. Rather than encourage the public to interact and present abstract works, the museum maintains traditional collections and perspectives.

With essays and performance scripts from Daniel Buren and Andrea Fraser, readers understand that museum patrons and sponsors appear disengaged with the artists as well as the public. The authors collectively mention how museums are similar to cemeteries with displaying artworks. In order to hang any paintings or framed works, these pieces are often mapped out, measured, leveled and then ready to hang. Such a process could be representative of gravestones and markers on the ground versus the wall. 

Duncan and Wallach also address the issue of how museums must combine numerous artworks into one show to make sense and therefore, curators often reference “authoritative literary sources” to justify their decisions. In this neutral space, curators face several challenges while examining myths and traditions, various “sacred texts,” as well as the potential or retraction of corporate sponsorship. Both authors shed light that this task is not easy because there is so much content to take into consideration, which can also lead to “spatial disorientation” for the curators and museum viewers alike.

In the 1991 performance script titled, “May I Help You,” by artist Andrea Fraser arranges a makeshift exhibition space where individuals serve as docents for unsuspecting viewers that enter the space. According to the script, the docent repeatedly asks rhetorical questions to the viewer and continues speaking with barely any hesitation. Their own ideas are spewed out and often become random thoughts from a stream of consciousness. One word sparks another idea and the viewer appears confused without providing any real interaction.

At one point, the narrative becomes intriguing because the docent said, “Pleasant things are non-necessary things--that’s our inheritance.” In stating this, Fraser provides insight of how museum patrons and sponsors may view craftsman, artisans, and laborers as a lower class because they are more concerned with production rather than exposition. Fraser’s docent appears hypocritical when she notes how the museum encourages “prompt payments” and continued financial support, however, she enjoyed free admission for serving as a volunteer.

In another one of Fraser’s performance scripts titled, “Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk,” she addresses the interior layout and exterior landscapes of a museum. By providing insight to sculptural gardens and how important it is to spend time with art, Fraser enlightens the reader about tradition and disorder. At one point in her script, Fraser notes, “If we do not possess art in a city, or beautiful sports in the city, we cannot expect to attract visitors to our home town.”

Based on essays from these authors, it appears that museums and galleries are not interested in chaos and disorder because it does not work well and create a coherent theme for an exhibition. For the museum in Pennsylvania, Fraser discusses how the area is full of laborers and technicians who come from an industrial and rugged region. By having them visit the museum with its neat carpet and displays, Fraser provides a contrast between “dirt and disorder” to a “spotless” scene.

In Daniel Buren’s 1970 essay titled, “The Function of the Studio,” the author addresses the concept of an artist’s studio as well as how the space is used and acknowledged. Buren mentions the clear distinction that society places on studios as rooms for “production” whereas museums are for “exposition.” The author notes how visiting an artist in his studio still provided just as much mystique and excitement as a museum despite the environment among tools, supplies, and other machinery.

By investigating essays written by Buren, Fraser, Duncan, and Wallach, the reader gains more insight on the decisions behind curating a museum space or gallery and how important production is to certain communities surrounding exhibition spaces. A docent in one of Fraser’s performance scripts states how there is “no discovery in auctions and museums” because at that point in an artist’s career, the excitement of the work fades because it no longer takes risks.

After a lengthy process to become part of a museum collection, an artist appears overanalyzed and familiar to the viewer. Instead of questioning: “Is this Art?” the artist’s retrospective becomes a collection of souvenirs and trinkets of their artmaking process. Furthermore, the essays note how “history records the mundane experience” by breaking down its form and understanding its visual language. In doing so, the viewer gains more training in taste because he or she becomes more cultured and sensitive. Since museums highlight traditional systems and propaganda, perhaps art appreciation becomes more of a learned phenomenon where a taste is acquired and cultivated rather than derivative from pure aesthetics.

Week One: Hans Haacke + Jackie Stevens

Investigating the (financial) meaningfulness of art within museums and galleries

In his 1986 essay titled, “Museums: Manager’s of Consciousness,” author Hans Haacke addresses the idea of industrialization within museums and galleries throughout the world. Previously, these buildings and spaces served solely as opportunities to display artworks for public viewing. Now, the concept involves a process tainted with social expectations, traditional beliefs, and cultural concerns.

By observing the architecture of a museum, a viewer acknowledges the large, towering columns and marble staircases. Based on its architecture and grandeur, museums now resemble holy sites where artists may endure either repentance or salvation for their work. This perception ties into Haacke’s essay where he states that directors and curators of museums often force their own propaganda into the work.

The infrastructure is also mechanized with arts managers acting as chief executive officers running a business, which involve large amounts of money and personal interests. Their organizational goals involve budgeting time and finances as well as providing price categories for each artwork. Haacke’s essay brings up questions such as: How is art valued? How much is an artwork worth? Why do social mentalities influence this decision?

According to Haacke, these institutions involve a tangled political system where open interpretation in the social arena does not exist but rather a museum director will make decisions based on ideological bias. Often, a board of trustees serves as the ultimate authority but their credentials could be questioned. Is senior leadership within museums trained in the arts or in financial motives and management?

Throughout the country, universities are adding arts management to their curriculum in an effort to make the artwork of students more marketable. Haacke states that museums are constantly looking for more “censored” work and thus, the work becomes more appealing to corporate sponsorship and public grants. As a result, art students strive to receive recognition and funding from their sponsors by manufacturing what Haacke states as “social products.” Therefore, the traditional system continues where art students become more like public relations executives, in an effort to represent their work to the world. 

Haacke said that museums and galleries have a dependency on economic vitality and try to attract as many tourists and attention as possible. This is seen in museum biennales and retrospective shows, which receive a lot of hype to generate funding for both the individual artist but also the museum or gallery representation.

Artists are now marketing themselves with a greater street presence, using vibrant posters and print materials to advertise their gallery shows as well as expanding their audience with websites and blogs online. The show itself becomes a stage production with a paid staff who set-up, takedown, and accommodate viewers during the opening. Perhaps this is part of the grand scheme to draw in more attention and potential art collectors to purchase works. In his essay, Haacke describes a certain “dependency on economic vitality” that occurs with a successful show in a particular area. The entire community benefits from a collection that receives high appraisals and funding. According to Haacke, in these situations, “art for art’s sake” does not exist because the artworks created are solely for financial gain and strangely, that becomes a form of validation.

With Haacke’s essay on meaningfulness and propaganda, Jackie Stevens presents another example of personal agendas benefiting a third party. In Stevens’ 2000 essay titled, “Why are biotech companies suddenly sponsoring art about genes?” Stevens states that some artists, curators, and stockholders are avoiding market crashes in other countries by expanding artistic endeavors to “misunderstood industries.” In doing so, artists reach out to various science-related organizations in an effort to receive funding, space, and sponsorship.

Stevens also said the purpose of the show is to generate reassurance that public concerns are heard and being addressed. By placing an “industry-friendly spin” on hot-button topics, artists are generating more revenue for themselves and those who are invested in them. Towards the end of the essay, Stevens notes that the content of the show is irrelevant since the purpose is to exchange mediums and create financial gain for both parties involved.

According to Stevens, one stockholder in the arts said that he became aware of biotech stocks because he followed where the government was funding programs. As a result, he became conscious as to what products or services that had a future beyond the duration of the art show. One aspect is to provide morbid visuals to add a sense of shock value to the public. Stevens wrote that since the government spends funding on genetic research, it makes sense for artists to invest in the same realm. Suddenly, non-profit spaces become real estate as long as “educational” values are attached to the show and it somehow raises awareness to a social issue.

By generating “worthwhile associations” and using better marketing tools, artists become the public relations executives as discussed by Haacke in his essay. The value of the artworks themselves may diminish but at least the objective was executed to put on a production in the gallery space. According to Stevens, these shows feed into “troubling and dangerous corporate agendas,” rather than encourage pure artmaking that possesses a deeper meaning from the artist.
 
The two essays from Haacke and Stevens raise awareness to the financial appraisals that museums and galleries place on artworks, which are based on third party agendas. Both authors describe the cyclical nature of art shows where sponsorship and funding is required to become more successful and ultimately receive more validation from the surrounding community. Stevens wrote that by supporting art shows about genetics, collectors themselves buy into the deceit because they believe they are investing in educational endeavors that heal social issues.

Both essays investigate the political agendas of museums and galleries, which often cater to public grants and corporate sponsorship. By tying in a controversial or environmental issue, artists may succeed better when it comes to receiving funding from other organizations. Although more than two decades have passed since Haacke’s essay in 1986, the ideas still resonate that artists are becoming more and more inundated with marketing tactics and business-savvy practices in order to display their work to the general public. Rather than creating art as a response to nature or to emulate nature, artists become cut-throat businesspeople who abuse political power for economic gain. More recently, Stevens’ essay in 2000 examines how a financially-powerful third party gets involved by investing stocks without an interest in the artwork itself or its meaningfulness.

First Blog Post

This blog will feature writings and discussion from our Critical Theory and Criticism class on Thursday nights. Any and all comments are welcome! If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact Asma Chaudhary at asmachaudhary@gmail.com. Enjoy!