Mariko Mori Artist Presentation

Mariko Mori is a contemporary Japanese artist whom works in sculpture, photography, digital media (photo editing), and performance art. She was born in 1967 in Tokyo, Japan (currently 48 years old) as an only child; and having two wealthy, providing parents aided her and supported her art career. Her mother studies and works as an art historian, as her father is an inventor and real estate tycoon. Her father's line of work and engineering studies peaked Mori's interest in technology and artificial intelligence, and later heavily influences her work technically and conceptually.
Mori lived in Tokyo through to her early college years, first studying at Bunka Fashion College in the late 1980s. During this time, she also worked as a fashion model. Pop culture and media, along with social interaction and communication also became a huge part in the development of her body of work. In 1989, Mariko Mori moved to London to study at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, where she stayed for three years. Once she completed her studies, Mori moved to New York and began to work independently. Since then, she has made a name for herself through her works dealing with her understanding of technology and industry,  (and how these things affect consciousness) pop culture and fashion; all while incorporating ancient Buddhist and Japanese culture and tradition.



Play With Me, 1994



Empty Dream, 1995



Portrait from her "Pratibimba"series, 1998

"The Economics of Housing the Homeless" by Sarah V. Ficenec

Summary:

Sarah V. Ficenec brings to light the rising causes, problems and possible solutions of homelessness. She strongly believes that the increase in homelessness has been influenced by these key factors; rising housing prices, the diminishing of low-quality housing and the growing income inequality, resulting in a persons damaged resilience, self-confidence and self-esteem. Thus she finds it vital to build people skills, giving a person a sense of confidence, self control and the ability to move past homelessness. Which in order to achieve this state, their first must be a more realistic definition of homelessness based not on fixed nighttime residence but on the general public's perception of daily encounters with homelessness.



Response:

 Although income inequality, diminishing low-quality housing and rising prices in housing all play a role in causes of homelessness. I also believe that their are many other sub-factors resulting in homelessness and that shelters as momentary housing focuses on the present term while in order to reduce homelessness their should be available long term incentives. Starting with a more realistic definition of homelessness, based on the public's perception and daily encounters. Which then after a shift can occur forming greater results in long-term housing and services treatment.





Other Sources:
http://home.uchicago.edu/~kczerniak/Economics%20of%20Homelessness.pdf (Economics of Homelessness Link byKevin Corinth)
http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/causes-consequences.html (Causes and consequences of  homelessness)
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2015-AHAR-Part-1.pdf (List and definition of supported policies and housing and urban develpoment)

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic

          On November 30, 1946, Marina Abramovic was born in communist Belgrade, Yugoslavia. At the age of 18, her father (Vojo, who was part of the marshal's elite guard), left the family, leaving Marina's mother Danica to care for her and her brother Velimir. Marina's mother strongly supported the communist control and became very strict after her husband's departure. She was difficult and violent however, because she was an art historian, she always supported Marina's interests in art. Marina was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade from 1965 to 1970 She then completed her post-graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, SR Croatia in 1972. From 1973 to 1975, she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts at Novi Sad. and later on moved to Amsterdam.

          Marina Abramovic focuses on performances that usually physically affect her body and many times include audience participation. This is done in order to show a sense of vulnerability. Her work mainly focuses on the themes of trust, endurance, cleansing, exhaustion, and departure. Being born into a communist country greatly affected Abramovic while she was growing up, it is because of this that a lot of her work focuses on the idea of cleansing, representing the idea that she is being cleansed of her communist past once she left Yugoslavia. For example, in her piece titled "Rhythm 5" which took place during 1974, (part of the Rhythm series) Abramovic did a performance where she cut her hair and nails and threw them into a flaming soviet star, afterwards she threw herself into the star in order to represent a purification and cleansing of her past, however, when she threw herself in, she lost consciousness and was pulled out of the performance. As a response to her loss of control in the previous performance, Abramovic created another piece titled "Rhythm 2" (1974) where she took medication that caused her muscles to contract violently for 50 minutes, she then took another medication that completely relaxed her muscles causing them to be unresponsive, the performance ended 6 hours later once the medication wore off.

          Between 1976 through 1988, Abramovic began working with the German artist Ulay. Together their work mainly focused on ego and artistic identity as well as trust and relationships. In the performance: "Breathing In/Breathing Out" (1977), the two artists connected at the mouths inhaled each other's exhaled breathes until they both became unconscious from breathing in carbon dioxide. This was done in order to explore the ideas of dependency and metaphorically absorbing the life out of anther person.

          Her most recent piece was in 2010 called "The Artist is present" where she sat at a table in the MoMA and audience members could sit across from her. this was done in order to establish an emotional connection between the artist and the viewer without using language. Marina Abramovic is currently based in New York and is currently working at the Marina Abramovic Institute teaching performance art.

"Rhythm 5" 1974

"Rhythm 2" 1974



"Breathing In/Breathing Out" 1977



"The Artist is Present" 2010

"Ways of Seeing" by John Berger

Spencer Martin
     Summary: John Berger is an English poet, artist, critic, and painter who is known for his philosophical ideals on how we view art and what the idea of originality and creativity mean. His book "Ways of Seeing" describes how we view objects in relation to our society, our teachings, and how artworks relate to one another. He states that originality is a warped concept and that things that were once original - have been skewered and dissected into whole different concepts. He also describes object's relations to each other within the visual plane and our mental and physical capacity when viewing said artwork.

  Reaction: As I read chapters of this book, I found myself relating to many of Berger's observations on how we judge and view art within a gallery. His thought process in the idea of "original" art was a concept I had never thought of before. He describes that taking an original artwork - for example the "Mona Lisa" and it's years of being transported to different locations and different ways of viewing it , has contradicted the idea of it being an original artwork. I believe his insight on how objects all relate to each other is an idea an artist should commonly know- that if you place your art next to an object unrelated , they will be judged as a pair. As a society we do view things in pieces differently depending on how we were raised, when we were raised, and what we have been taught as a generation. I applaud his philosophy's and found that the chapters in his book intelligently question the very fabric of the "art world" and what it's composed of in a metaphorical and literal sense.

Where you can purchase this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0140135154/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1459963890&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=john+berger%27s+ways+of+seeing&dpPl=1&dpID=51TuvYWQnhL&ref=plSrch

MAD: Jeanne Claude and Christo

                                         

                                Jeanne Claude and Christo  

         

Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude were a married couple who created environmental art. Their work primarily consisted of wrapping the essence of solid structures and places they chose to create their pieces to make them become seamless, airy, and nomadic structures. The inspiration for their work derives from the two artists themselves. They have never created art that comes from other people's ideas. This duo completed around twenty projects, but twice as many have not succeeded. The artists could not get permission to move forward with the work and as a result, lost interest. They were both born on June 13, 1935. Jeanne-Claude passed away November 18, 2009 in Manhattan, New York City. Christo continues to create work.

Oftentimes I find myself struggling to execute a lot of the pieces that I come up with because they either seem too hard to do or circumstances do not allow me to do so. These two artists managed to change my perspective and attitude towards creating my art. They went through countless amounts of processes: paperwork, meetings, etc. just to be granted full permission to make something so grand. The way they managed to get something so structured and turn it into an organic object, fascinates me. They managed to make work that exceed the "normal size" standard and it allowed me to expand my range of thinking to hopefully make stronger work. 

Alberto Checa- Artist: Ernesto Oroza

Born in 1968, Habana, Cuba, Ernesto’s work deals with functioning within the realm of manufacturing. He produces and distributes speculative publication methods, exhibitions, collaborations. His work has been exhibited at museums like: the MoMa in NYC, Groninger Museum, the Netherlands, Laboral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial, Spain. One of his projects which was at the time period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, where Cuba had to manage to develop technological solutions with parts from any apparatus or engine. He produced a series of antena trays that were equivalent to the satellite, which has been banned ever since 2003. He used trays because it was a very accessible object, since it was all over public spaces where people had lunch. He visited Cuba between 1994-2007 recording technology solutions to the banning of the satellites and further information. Which led to his latest exhibition in 2015 where the participators occupied an entire gallery with drawings, media, photos, furniture, textiles and videos. In this show he exhibited “technological disobedience”. He concluded that eventually the cubans began to live under technological disobedience, where they over came their limitations building things such as the rikimbilis- motor bicycles.

                                                   Life As We Knew It         by Susan Beth Pfeffer

                                                                             Summary 

             Life as we knew it deals with the scenario of if the moon was knocked out of orbit and came hurdling towards the Earth. Susan Beth Pfeffer describes the impact it would have on the Earths ecosystem and on humanity. The story is told in Chronological diary entries of a teenage girl. A coming of age story at the worst time. As the story progresses the conditions on Earth become more hostile. She learns to mature very fast when she has to take care of her little brother in extreme weather. She learns how to ration food and the unbearable pain of hunger. The book centralizes on the theme of family comes first in these situations, and that humanity will always have hope even in the most hopeless situations.


                                                                           My reaction

       I read this story at a young age so it is one of the most influential books i have read. I work alot with 'what if' scenarios and the effects that would result. In one passage the protagonist says she heard on the new that volcanoes are coming out of the ground in flat lands, due to the moon's gravity , its pulling magma from underground. A visionary author would think of this, it's absolutely spectacular to me. I write so i have a connection with my characters. I believe that characters need to grow by the end of the story that way there's a sense of accomplishment for both the character and the reader. The most believable character can be put into any scenario and adapt. Susan  does a great job of evolving the girl, and it completely changes her interaction with her family and her attitude towards survival.


Article by Antonio Garcia

George  Segal

http://www.segalfoundation.org/about_bio.html

George Segal was born in New York on November 26, 1924, to a Jewish couple who emigrated from Eastern Europe. His parents first settled in the Bronx where they ran a butcher shop and later moved to a New Jersey poultry farm. 

George spent many of his early years working on the poultry farm, helping his family through difficult times. George lived with his aunt in Brooklyn so that he could attend Stuyvesant Technical High School and prepare himself for a future in the math/science field. It was here that George first discovered his love for art. 

During World War II, he had to curtail his studies in order to help on the family poultry farm. He later attended Pratt, Cooper Union, and finally New York University where he furthered his art education and received a teaching degree in 1949. It was during these years that Segal met other young artists eager to make statements based on the real world rather than the pure abstractionism that was all the rage. He joined the 10th Street scene because of it. 

After his marriage to Helen in 1946, they bought their own chicken farm. In order to support his family during the lean years he taught Art and English at the local high school and at Rutgers University.

In 1961, Segal first started using his body as a mold for plaster sheets. He created an inviormeant for it as well. 

From 1965 to 1999, George Segal was represented exclusively by the Sidney Janis Gallery, New York. During this time Segal was very influential in the pop art seen during this time. 

The last years of his life were filled with new creation and expression. He created black and white photographs of the streets of New York & New Jersey. He remained active, engaged and productive until his death on June 9, 2000. 

Catherine Camargo "Many Lives. Many masters"

Catherine Camargo

Many Lives, Many masters is a book written by Brian Weiss who is a chairman of the Department of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center on Miami Beach in Florida. He specializes in the study of treatments for depression , sleep disorders, brain chemistry, and anxiety states etc. This book was published in 1988 based off of true and personal events from the author himself. Brian came across a patient named Catherine who suffered with depression , night terrors, and forms of severe anxiety. He believed that her problems may have stemmed from repressed memories from a very early age in her life. Brian wanted to try hypnosis sessions on Catherine in order to recover these memories which may help relieve her problems. Once the sessions begin Brian is astonished by the effect the hypnosis sessions have on Catherine, they are taking her back to her past lives where she was able to fully describe events from time periods hundreds of years their prior. Catherine could describe the image of herself in a past life and could meet significant others from her current life incarnated into different people. During the hypnosis when Catherine would die before describing her next life she would fall into some intermediate state where she was able to speak to “masters”. These masters would teach her lessons during these sessions. I chose chapter four of this book because I believe it stems to beginning of Brian's true undeniable belief in reincarnation when Catherine is able to know details about his own family and their past. I find the concept of Reincarnation so interesting because I think someone who has the power to have even minimal understandings of their past life own a mirror and metaphor to their current living experiences. For example, we look at our own experiences from past years in our lives and are thankful for them to help us reflect and deal with what we may currently be going through. i reflect on old poems and art that I have created to remind myself of old emotions that I may not be going through now. Studying and hunting moments of our past lives, whether from dreams or with people we have relations with today can create an effect like reading one of those poems from years ago and it now makes more sense to you. I want to study this more in order to have more understanding of myself to put into my physical art. To find a way to recreate past feelings into current pieces of artwork.

ARTICLE; "Film as Art"

     Adriana De La Torre

"FILM AS ART" by Rudolf Arnheim

Summary

Film theory is one of the most important elements discussed in the publication, being a collection of  frameworks developed over time in order to properly understand  the way films are made and received. Film theory is not a self-contained field: it borrows from the disciplines of philosophy, art theory, social science, cultural theory, psychology, literary theory, linguistics, economics, and political science.This piece of writing also concerns Cinematography-which is  the  process by which a film strip is exposed to light to create an image- and its many factors: the camera’s distance from the action, camera angle and direction, type of lens, camera movement, and lighting, among others. The art of film stresses the arrangement of objects and movements in the frame to create a successful moving picture.

Reaction

There’s no split between art and entertainment, BECAUSE it is open to interpretation.

 We draw our examples from documentaries, animated films, avant-garde films, mainstream entertainment vehicles, and films aimed at narrower audiences. People have tended to think of cinema as an art by means of rough analogies to the other arts. After all, film came along at a point when virtually all the other arts had been around forever. So it’s been natural for people to compare and scrutinize this new medium with older ones. I think there is also different subcategories of film as art :photographic art, narrative art, a performing art, pictorial art, and an audiovisual art all of which I'd like to further research, explore and incorporate into my work in the future.