I've had several ideas for this project, most of which I'm not sure how well they'd work for this project. However, today I did come up with an idea I think would work and I might possibly commit to. I was thinking about possibly doing something about the history of an everyday object like jeans or a coffee cup and collage aout the injustices behind the creation. I could potentially possibly wear it or carry it around on campus or somewhere else to raise awareness, or it could be displayed...but I think it'd be more powerful if I were to a clothing piece that it was actually worn. Sometimes things like notebooks or products flaunting their "green-ness" will say Made with however much percent recycled products, maybe I could do a play on that and have it say I was made with 100% child labor...or something, I'm not sure yet.
If I go with this idea, which I think I probably might I would to do some research and find a company that does use child labor or pays its workers really meagerly and has unsafe conditions. Off the top of my head I'm totally sure of any. I think Nike maybe use to or possibly still does, I don't know if they really did or still do though...I also think I want to do a pair of jeans. I could also incorporate quotes from the workers or from writers or others on the topic.
Questions I would have about persuing this are:
1. Am I able to use labels from particular companies? I would probably target just one and try and get jeans by that company with the label already there, but would it be ok to cut the label from clothes and use it in the piece?
2. I'm not sure how many images on this subject I would be able to concoct on my own...as long as the images have been in the public domain for like 50 years or do not have a copyright they would be fair game correct?
I just came up with a slightly different, but related idea that I think would be more powerful. When I was originally looking up companies for this project, GAP Kids was one that came up as having had a problem with child labor...so I was thinking that since my idea was anti-child labor why not do it on a pair of kid's jeans? Then instead of me wearing it, it could be a kid...which I think would have more of an impact since it's about child labor. If they were for a kid that is about the same age as those typically working in the factories (probably about 10 to 12) that would be best...but if I don't have any of their kid's jeans around the house from when I was younger, I'll check out Goodwill and hopefully they'll have some.
Also, when exactly is our final and were our notebooks taken up?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Activism Project Notes Part A
For this project, my topic is domestic violence. I have done a little bit of research, so far mostly what I read about was what domestic violence is. I found some statistics and uncovered myths about domestic violence. I think domestic violence is something that is there in our society, but not really talked about much. I think for the most part there is still the common idea that that won't happen to me or he/she couldn't be an abuser.
We had two ideas for our project. One is to have an installation with a series of three mirrors, the first showing the victim, the second showing the perpetrator, and the last someone aware of it that does nothing. The mirrors would have the text and maybe quotes, images, and/or bits of stories. The idea is to raise awareness and put people into it so they can see that anyone can be any one of the three, because there often are sterotypes that are not true and hide the truth perpetuating the problem. There would also be text to tie it all together....maybe faces of domestic violence? I could also see a black curtain like thing above it like they are being uncovered. The other idea was to do a similar idea with posters and/or flyers that could be hung up or passed around campus to reach a larger audience.
Today, we met in class and decided to go with the flyer idea. We are going to make a wanted poster to hang around campus. There are several myths/misconceptions about domestic violence and we are going to try and counter that in our project. Typically, domestic violence is frequently attributed to the "lower class," males, minorities, and especially the uneducated...so in our wanted ad we wanted to portray someone that people may not typically think would be an abuser...therefore we decided to do an upper middle class "educated" white woman to show how domestic violence is not specific to particular groups of people, it can reach across all races, genders, and socioeconomic classes. We wanted to use the wanted ad and mug shot to capture people's attention and lure them in, then we are going to put some statistics below it about domestic violence specific to what we were targeting in our flyer.
We had two ideas for our project. One is to have an installation with a series of three mirrors, the first showing the victim, the second showing the perpetrator, and the last someone aware of it that does nothing. The mirrors would have the text and maybe quotes, images, and/or bits of stories. The idea is to raise awareness and put people into it so they can see that anyone can be any one of the three, because there often are sterotypes that are not true and hide the truth perpetuating the problem. There would also be text to tie it all together....maybe faces of domestic violence? I could also see a black curtain like thing above it like they are being uncovered. The other idea was to do a similar idea with posters and/or flyers that could be hung up or passed around campus to reach a larger audience.
Today, we met in class and decided to go with the flyer idea. We are going to make a wanted poster to hang around campus. There are several myths/misconceptions about domestic violence and we are going to try and counter that in our project. Typically, domestic violence is frequently attributed to the "lower class," males, minorities, and especially the uneducated...so in our wanted ad we wanted to portray someone that people may not typically think would be an abuser...therefore we decided to do an upper middle class "educated" white woman to show how domestic violence is not specific to particular groups of people, it can reach across all races, genders, and socioeconomic classes. We wanted to use the wanted ad and mug shot to capture people's attention and lure them in, then we are going to put some statistics below it about domestic violence specific to what we were targeting in our flyer.
Wenda Gu Reading Notes
1. -Why the unconventional choices of media?
-What would bring someone to want to use bodily fluids and hair in their work?
-Does he use these things to try and shock and offend the viewer?
2. -Gu is trying to achieve unity through his work, because of this he tries to work in a style that can not be traced to a particular artistic tradition.
-His work is about aspects of the "human experience." I guess his choice of media can go along with that.
-Uses stuff from the body because the body is universal and something that trancends language barriers.
-I pretty much understand why he chooses the materials he does, but I think the used pads/tampons is pretty gross and wierd to me. I don't feel like those should be on display.
-Maybe my issue with his work is that I think that some of the stuff he is using in his work should be more private things and not on display for everyone to see, even though it is universal.
-His United Nations piece and concept is intriguing to me.
-I don't really think all that much about their being salons around the world and people in other countries going to get their hair cut and doing a lot of the same things I do.
-I have some issues with his idea for the "art babies," and don't think that it is right or something he should persue. Humans are not the ones that create life and should not put themselves in a position to do so. Also, I think that it the project idea itself crosses a line that should not be crossed and is impacting potential lives that have no say in the process. I hope he doesn't find women to agree to this, but I have a feeling he will. I get that art is an integral part of life, but don't think that lives should be created for the sake of an art project. While it seems that he is maybe trying to "lift up the experience," I think if anything that cheapens the whole process and takes it out of the context it was created and meant for.
3. -He chooses his media to create universality. The human body is universal and something all humans have some level of familiarity with, so he uses products of the body in his work.
-Once again, it goes back to universality and the body being universal. He uses the body as a way of connecting diverse groups of people through a commonality.
-I didn't get the feeling that he was trying to shock and offend people. He was actually wanting to unite people and use the universality of the body to do so. There are different associations with the different life processes and body products in different cultures and that naturally comes up in his work, but over all, he is trying to unite people of the world through commonality and shared human experiences.
4. -Was he able to get women to agree to his "art babies" idea?
-What does he do with his artwork after it is on display?
-How does he go about asking for donations of body products?
-What would bring someone to want to use bodily fluids and hair in their work?
-Does he use these things to try and shock and offend the viewer?
2. -Gu is trying to achieve unity through his work, because of this he tries to work in a style that can not be traced to a particular artistic tradition.
-His work is about aspects of the "human experience." I guess his choice of media can go along with that.
-Uses stuff from the body because the body is universal and something that trancends language barriers.
-I pretty much understand why he chooses the materials he does, but I think the used pads/tampons is pretty gross and wierd to me. I don't feel like those should be on display.
-Maybe my issue with his work is that I think that some of the stuff he is using in his work should be more private things and not on display for everyone to see, even though it is universal.
-His United Nations piece and concept is intriguing to me.
-I don't really think all that much about their being salons around the world and people in other countries going to get their hair cut and doing a lot of the same things I do.
-I have some issues with his idea for the "art babies," and don't think that it is right or something he should persue. Humans are not the ones that create life and should not put themselves in a position to do so. Also, I think that it the project idea itself crosses a line that should not be crossed and is impacting potential lives that have no say in the process. I hope he doesn't find women to agree to this, but I have a feeling he will. I get that art is an integral part of life, but don't think that lives should be created for the sake of an art project. While it seems that he is maybe trying to "lift up the experience," I think if anything that cheapens the whole process and takes it out of the context it was created and meant for.
3. -He chooses his media to create universality. The human body is universal and something all humans have some level of familiarity with, so he uses products of the body in his work.
-Once again, it goes back to universality and the body being universal. He uses the body as a way of connecting diverse groups of people through a commonality.
-I didn't get the feeling that he was trying to shock and offend people. He was actually wanting to unite people and use the universality of the body to do so. There are different associations with the different life processes and body products in different cultures and that naturally comes up in his work, but over all, he is trying to unite people of the world through commonality and shared human experiences.
4. -Was he able to get women to agree to his "art babies" idea?
-What does he do with his artwork after it is on display?
-How does he go about asking for donations of body products?
Monday, April 6, 2009
D.J. Martinez Reading Notes
1. -What is the reason behind his work?
-How do people respond to his work?
-What led him to create this type of work?
2. -He doesn't like being called an artist, he came up with his own job title. Should the name really matter?
-His aim is to "expose insidious concentrations of social, political, and economic power" and he wants people to talk about his work in the hope that it might bring about social change.
-Martinez said, "We are living in a period of extreme crisis. The production of hatred and division is a disease that is killing this country." I think there is some truth in that.
-Maybe having a black president will help heal some of the racism within our country. Although, I think sometimes it's a perpetuating thing, like by calling attention to it and making a big deal about people's race it becomes more prominent and reinforces racism, whereas if it is not made out to be a big deal or attention called to it, its not really given much though.
-That is sad, how people of different races are sometimes seen as outsiders in their own country.
-I think his work at Cornell University sounds interesting, I like the idea of having the people's responses included in the piece. I think it's also interesting how he ended up exposing the racism there. Like it's cool that his work could do that. It shows how powerful art can be.
-He has an interesting way of gauging his success.
-I think if his artwork wasn't so extreme or in-your-face people wouldn't talk so much about it. I think that for the most part there is a desire to make art that is aesthetically pleasing and not too "out there," but maybe that type of art is more effective. If the viewer is offended or shocked, he or she is probably more likely to remember it than if it is just a "pretty" object.
3. -Martinez's work is about power and through his work, he tries to get people to talk about things they otherwise may try not to talk about.
-People tend to respond negatively to his work, but since his work is extreme and tends to offend people it does get them talking about his work.
-I think his race played a large role in him creating this type of work. He is a chicano and the book mentioned about Chicanos like him feeling like outsiders in their own country. I think that is due to the stereotypes and prejudices people have and he picks up on that even though frequently people try to hide it. Then, in his work, he seeks to expose that and band the victims together for the possibility of change. I think his upbringing also played a role in the type of work he creates.
4. -Would he be able to achieve the same success if his work was not so offensive?
-Do the people inviting his to display his work really check his work out prior to inviting him and know what they are in for in doing so?
-Is his work always site-specific?
-How do people respond to his work?
-What led him to create this type of work?
2. -He doesn't like being called an artist, he came up with his own job title. Should the name really matter?
-His aim is to "expose insidious concentrations of social, political, and economic power" and he wants people to talk about his work in the hope that it might bring about social change.
-Martinez said, "We are living in a period of extreme crisis. The production of hatred and division is a disease that is killing this country." I think there is some truth in that.
-Maybe having a black president will help heal some of the racism within our country. Although, I think sometimes it's a perpetuating thing, like by calling attention to it and making a big deal about people's race it becomes more prominent and reinforces racism, whereas if it is not made out to be a big deal or attention called to it, its not really given much though.
-That is sad, how people of different races are sometimes seen as outsiders in their own country.
-I think his work at Cornell University sounds interesting, I like the idea of having the people's responses included in the piece. I think it's also interesting how he ended up exposing the racism there. Like it's cool that his work could do that. It shows how powerful art can be.
-He has an interesting way of gauging his success.
-I think if his artwork wasn't so extreme or in-your-face people wouldn't talk so much about it. I think that for the most part there is a desire to make art that is aesthetically pleasing and not too "out there," but maybe that type of art is more effective. If the viewer is offended or shocked, he or she is probably more likely to remember it than if it is just a "pretty" object.
3. -Martinez's work is about power and through his work, he tries to get people to talk about things they otherwise may try not to talk about.
-People tend to respond negatively to his work, but since his work is extreme and tends to offend people it does get them talking about his work.
-I think his race played a large role in him creating this type of work. He is a chicano and the book mentioned about Chicanos like him feeling like outsiders in their own country. I think that is due to the stereotypes and prejudices people have and he picks up on that even though frequently people try to hide it. Then, in his work, he seeks to expose that and band the victims together for the possibility of change. I think his upbringing also played a role in the type of work he creates.
4. -Would he be able to achieve the same success if his work was not so offensive?
-Do the people inviting his to display his work really check his work out prior to inviting him and know what they are in for in doing so?
-Is his work always site-specific?
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