Consider the following Frederic Jameson quote while watching these videos.
"Even taken in the narrower realm of cultural reception, boredom with a particular kind of work or style or content can always be used productively as a precious symptom of our own existential, idealogical, and cultural limits, an index of what has to be refused in the way of other people's cultural practices and their threat to our own rationalizations about the nature and value of art." from Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism p. 72
What does Jameson mean by this? Watch these videos and comment on them on the blog.
Bruce Nauman, "Art Make-up" (video is pixellated but you will get the idea):
http://www.ubu.com/film/nauman_art.html
Martha Rosler, "Semiotics of the Kitchen":
http://www.ubu.com/film/rosler_semiotics.html
Laurie Anderson (keep in mind this was the 80's):
http://www.ubu.com/film/kitchen_anderson.html
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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The first video "Art make-up" reminds me of how woman put on make-up in the morning but they do it with a sense of elegance to make them selves look beautiful but when he does it he just rubs it on. It seems like he is just trying to hide him self from the world by hiding under all of these colors like he is trying to camoflage himself. So it is like he is hiding different parts of his personalities, while it seems as if woman put make up on just to hide a side of themselves that they do not like.
ReplyDeleteThe second video "Semiotics of the kitchen" it reminds me of the time when woman used to just stay in the house and take care of the children. Due to the fact that the video is black and white enhances the time period, but as she goes through the items she starts to get rough and it gives the idea that woman are getting tired of being in the kitchen and want to leave . But she also has depressing and murderous feeling to video because of how she uses the items in the video.
The last video had this weird feeling to it at the beginning because it seems like she is telling this creepy story while in a dark room and she is using auto tone to make this weird voice. But she design the video off of aspects of the story. So it goes from a serious video to a light hearted video because of the color and music. It like a dream sequence but when you wake you are in the studio and thats the end of the dream
"Art Make-up" had a very mechanic feel to it from the characters movement to the hum of the machine in the background. I thought it had this constant theme of creating something new from ones self. However, He never seemed to be satified with what he created with himself, he would only stop painting momentarily before moving on to the next color. I think it spoke to our culture in many ways in the respect of never really being satisified and looking for exernal change as a means of finding that satsifaction. How easy is it now to change your hair, breast size, etc?
ReplyDeleteI think the second video really spoke to cultural limits of women in the past and the preset notions of their presence in society. It realy spoke of the frustration of women having this preset notion of what they should do and become as home makers. Her movements and tone are violent very relective of her frustration. I really enjoyed the end of the piece where she motions and says outloud the last few letters of the alphabet which I thought spoke to the fact that womens were taught since they were young this idea of becoming a housewive and tending to others. It was though she was saying she learned how to do them both with just as much importance. The single shot and closeness of the film caused an awkward tension for me as a viewer which I think was sucessful in her point.
The third film was a very bizzare film which told a story I didnt totally follow. In the begining she told a story which she me a man/ "soul talker" who told her, "language is a vibrance from outerspace and hearing your name is better then seeing your face." The entire film had a VERY 80's feel to it and definately reflected that culture.
The first video "Art Makeup" is interesting because of the pixelation and sound of the 8mm camera, along with the appication of many colrs to the body. I agree with Mary, about the person being unsatisfied with oneself. It seems as though as though there is no autonomy! Art has been made through this simple process of applying different colors to the body.
ReplyDeleteThe second video titled "Semiotics of the Kitchen". The woman in the video alphabetically, one by one, introduces everyday kitchen utensils. The setting is an old kitchen with black and white film. I suppose that the mere fact that during the fifties it was believed by most that a woman should always have dinner ready for her husband when he would come home from work. A few years ago I had been made aware of an article that was published in HouseKeeping Monthly circa 1955 and this is what it had said "Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dust cloth over the tables. Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction. Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash their hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him." Scary huh! Wow! Although this film was made in 1975 it demonstartes how upset women were with this idea of a women knowing her place. It seemed as though this could've been a Hitchcock film about cooking.
The third film done by Laurie Anderson is great I love her use of sound fx and manipulation of light and film. She has a vast knowledge of instruments and even builds her own instruments or noise makers that she creates unique sounds with. The film was definitely something of interest to me. The O superman song is unique and without a doubt a Laurie Anderson masterpiece.
For the first video, I'm not so interested in the various layers of color the actor coats himself in, but in how he goes about it. He really rubs that paint in, much like one would rub in suntan lotion. Possibly to blend with the layers underneath? His actions were very uniform and formulaic; it was strangely hypnotic to watch.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read others' responses and the description for the second video, I was expecting much more rage from the actress. I caught the general tone of frustration in the role of homemaker, though, I just kind of wish some of her "demonstrations" or her tone of voice were more obviously violent or frustrated.
I'm having a hard time taking the last video seriously at all. I know it was made in the 80s, so the voice-alterations and fashions are very, well, 80s, but I just felt like I was watching a really bad music video, to be honest. I watched it a few times and got nothing out of it.
I see how the quote relates to the first two videos, somewhat. Both were doing or mimicking repetitive, boring tasks, and trying to make an artistic statement out of the limits that those tasks present to us.
Video 1: Here Bruce Nauman seems to be painting himself as any artist would a canvas. one could assume as others have said, that he is changing something about himself, possibly due to dissatisfaction. white, red/pink, green, black. im not sure why he chose these colors but it does seem excessive to the point of insanity. From the title one can only gather he is creating/recreating something of himself much like actors on stage are often disguised in such makeups.
ReplyDeleteVideo 2: this video by Martha Rosler is clearly speaks to women and their assumed roles. she walks us through the alphabet of kitchen items and as she introduces them she makes them violent and aggressive. Martha speaks to the frustration women endured and the struggle. her violent use of simple kitchen ware is effective in its use of metaphor. Her last couple of letters are the most pronounced as she uses the sharpest of tools to cut and slash through the air carving the letters in front of her.
Video 3: I am not familiar with Laurie Anderson's work in the slightest, so i had a hard time understanding the message she was trying to get across. I found her use of technology effective in grabbing my attention and in the first half giving herself the voice of a man was irksome. However, i found some of the things she said to be powerful in their own right: I'm the soul doctor "hearing your name is better than seeing your face", "come as you are but pay as you go" , "This is the hand, the hand that takes" (gun sign). I feel there must be a coherent message within this however i will need help figuring that out
Quote: From Jameson's quote i felt he may have been speaking to the use of the mundane in life as inspiration for something worth while, oppression and self identity are things were/are encountered so often that no one cares until someone changes the meaning of the mundane and gives it life as art.
1st Video:
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading that quoted paragraph 30 times I still cannot find application to this first video. I feel it tells me nothing. Sometimes there is artwork I simply do not understand (I'd rather go this route then BS you).
2nd Video:
This video is hilarious. The use of dull subject matter to express the angst filled doldrums of kitchen work really struck a cord with me. Once again I am unsure how other people's culture's will threaten my values of art. I did not feel any influx of other culture's whilst watching these videos. I guess having issues with the quote along semantic lines isn't helping the situation. A boring subject was addressed productively to create something fresh.
3rd Video:
WHY
SO
SERIOUS?!
Hahahaha. I couldn't get this out of my head while watching this. There is an extreme juxtaposition in this film. Sure the voice alone isn't quite enough nor is the la la la in the background. But the dialogue is creepy and the scene of speaker is very creepy. I don't feel this pushes the same envelope as much because it relies on particular lighting aspects. If the author tried to convince me that no effort was made to be creepy it would be a lie.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteVideo 1: This video is not appealing to me at all. I don't get any sort of artistic feeling about it with his use of color or lack of emotion. I agree with Wade I just don't understand this form of 'art'
ReplyDeleteVideo 2: I agree with Jared that the black and white effect really helped to set the time period and also I think the apron helped because women wore them so often back then. She did show frustration by aggressively waving kitchenware in the air. I agree that she could have used more frustration in her voice but I think the whole point of her not doing this was to show how women in the past didn't have a voice. Even if they didn't like something they put a smile on their face and went on as if they did because there was nothing they could do about it.
Video 3: I actually liked this video the best. The other two I found to be boring! At first I wasn't sure what to take of it because like most of you all said before the voice and her story are all bizarre! BUT, I ended up muting the video and re-watching it and it seemed so much more creative than the other two. She used different views instead of one steady shot. The lighting and colors were interesting, I especially liked when her mouth was lit up. It's funny how something much older is a little more creative, in my mind, than the other two videos.
VIDEO ONE: "Initially the films were intended to be projected simultaneously on four walls of a room." I would have loved to seen this piece as an actual video installation on four sides of the wall. One side making himself, Bruce Nauman, up in white, the other in pink, another in green, and lastly in black. Rather than prolonging the piece, and making the viewer watch him paint himself different times, a shorter installation would have done the trick. I don't necessarily believe that Bruce Nauman meant this piece to convey this mask like appearance. Like Ali said, I assumed the piece to be more about creation.
ReplyDeleteVIDEO TWO: Whoa! As a woman, I can sort of see where this piece is leading. Martha Rosler seems to be portraying an extreme and definitely out of place rage at sexist roles in society. However, I was unable to capture meaning in the piece, finding it actually more humorous. She seems ridiculous thrashing knives and "forking" air. I wish this piece had been more subtle about the rage.
VIDEO THREE: I admit it too. Just like Amy, I found this piece to be the most interesting; and to be honest, I believe, it was because it mostly resembled a music video and not a performance art piece. The beginning with the story caught my attention the most. Laurie Anderson use techniques to keep the viewer interested, and because of this, it automatically became the most interesting to me. Like the style of commercial television, it keep the eye wondering.
This is Curtis Bateman by the way
ReplyDeleteVideo 1 - This video was very odd and boring. It's visual themes were very simple, as were the rest of the videos. Nothing was really too outlandish. However The makeup video is strange and doesn't seem to have a point of interest or an increase in tension. It is a very solemn video in that it doesnt seem to catch and hold my attention.
Video 2 - Another odd one, she seems very very angry which is exposed to the viewer through the analysis of the film underneath in the text and in the movements portrayed by the actress. It just seems like a Food Channel host went ballistic and started 'cooking' on this ghost set. Plus she is very bitter about cooking. She xplains everything well enough but her demeanor and physical actions I find to be rude and is a huge turn off for the video.
Video 3 - This like some of my other classmates is my favorite video. Indeed it does remind one of a music video done sometime in the 80's. Plus it has that robotic voice down pat, the one that everyone and their mother seems to be using these days to spice up their new pop single. You know, the sound that Cher first used in "Do you beleive in love". Also the effect of the light in her mouth was interesting and seemed to have a correlation to the music or harmony that was playing also. It was soothing to watch these two elements interact.
Video 1: It seems as if the artist wants to take a very mundane practice, as putting on makeup and slow down the process so others can take in what it really means to him when makeup is put on. The pixelation helps to hide some of the process of applying the makeup. To me, it is a representation of how women would not put on makeup in front of the public, but come out looking like a finished product. It is not accepted as much to put oneself together like that in a public space. This process can go for men and women alike, and merely can represent when any person puts themself together in private to seem accepted or different to the public. When the artist is putting on the makeup he is covering his whole body, putting on a complete body facade. There is barely any expression from the artist. It looks like the artist does this everyday and continues this boring mundane act as usual. It seems normal to cover what is truly beneath to this artist in this video. It seems normal to turn one person into a completely other with the covering of the body and face with makeup.
ReplyDeleteVideo 2: This piece seems to portray women in the kitchen. It seems to dumb down the job of a housewife. It also shows to portray the mundane like of a housewife in the kitchen, cooking day after day for a family. It seems almost like she is in jail with the kitchen because of her mundane, upset, and sort of psychotic behavior. The anger builds as the cooking goes on, symbolizing how anger may build as the mundane days of being a housewife go on. She jabs many of the utensils showing the ease of the task and the anger those tasks cause.
Video 3: This video is a bit odd. It shows a normal looking person (for the 80s) speaking into a microphone. The person does not match up with the voice. The microphone seems to change the person's voice drastically into a sort of psychotic satanized "happy but not happy" voice. The speech that this person is making seems like a very normal conversation about "who ate all the grapes" and what not, but since the voice is so strange it sounds like this conversation will allude to something bad in the future. The expressions of the artist soon seem to almost match the voice and the viewer can begin to think that a story may unfold because of the strangeness of the voice and calmness of the artist. When the scene switches to the singing part, the artist still stands there, not really moving or showing anything with actions. The sound of the background beeping music define that something should be coming up. The speech of the artist in the second half of the video is creepy because the artist is still calm but their is a demonic feel to the video.
The first video instantly reminded me of the video we watched in class by Peter Campus where he paints himself invisible. The white layer had my attention fully as I watched him carefully apply the makeup on his body and go back over small areas as to not miss anything. As the other colors were applied I found it harder to concentrate until the black layer. At the very end the way he crosses his arms and looks satisfied yet tense with the final color gave an uncomfortable feeling. Rather then thinking of it as he was adding each layer till he was pleased I viewed it as he was building up getting darker and darker like there was a need for the thickness.
ReplyDeleteThe second video was a mixture of emotions. As the women seemed to gently pick up the object she then quickly changed emotion as she firmly said each object and violently demonstrated how one would use it. I was also trying to catch a pattern in what she was doing, if she was making the motion 3 times each object or if it varied. I didn’t realize till the very end when she started spelling out letters that the object were going through the alphabet, I guess I need to define the titles before watching the videos from now on.
For the final video I was drawn to the way that the woman spoke. Her diction was amazing though I felt it was story telling going insanely wrong. I liked this one more then the others, probably because it reminded me of a music video, and my generation is often nicknamed the MTV generation for being attracted to things like this. The voice changing effect was also more intriguing to me then the stately voice of Laurie Andrson from the second video.
Bruce Nauman “Artist Make-up”, I found to be interesting. The color, low quality pixilation and sounds of a 8mm camera and film reel contributed the videos movement. The artist never seemed to look into the camera, or be interested that it was even in the room at all, and I found that interesting. The word ‘resurrection’ of a form came to mind. I agree with Mary as well in that the theme of “never really being satisfied and looking for external changes” was definitely seen.
ReplyDeleteMartha Rosler, “semiotics of the kitchen” reminded me of a 70’s home economics educational video. The black and white color also helped in setting the time period. She quickly demonstrated the frustrations of the woman’s “lack of voice” in a sexist role in society. I thought her tone gradually grew more disturbing as she went through the letters in the alphabet while using kitchen items and appliances as props. The idea of being culturally limited in our beliefs is seen in this video.
Laurie Anderson, “keep in mind this was the 80’s" made me feel very uncomfortable. I found this video to be very odd. I believe she’s telling a story in the beginning but it is hard to make out. Something about a “soul taker”. This film is undoubtedly an 80’s film with some of the cheesy voice alterations. It reminded me of a David Bowie music video.
"Art make-up" confused me for a moment, due to the quality of the video. But I understand the concept of hiding yourself with make-up, and I did always compare make-up to either an Italian Carnival mask or a Halloween mask.
ReplyDelete“Semiotics of the Kitchen” reminded me of the movie "Misery" through the woman's physical movements and gestures with each kitchen utensil. It makes me think that the old-fashion stay-at-home mothers could've snapped, from the limitations of the 1950s. It makes me wonder how today would be like if such a practice was still a majority.
"Keep in mind this was the 80’s" is my personal favorite, just from how she utilized the video by using her morphed voice; I didn't even know there was that creepy beginning. As for the story she told, it reminds me of how much more power men had back in the 50s and onward, and how different it is now as far as feminism takes us.