Final Project

Working alone gave me the opportunity to do something quite personal and meaningful to me which I really enjoyed. I first started to think if i wanted to do something a little bit more personal what exactly meant a lot to me during this course. Of course the two things that stuck out to me the most was learning about performance art with Marina Abramovic and Ulay and learning about  the protests ACT-UP conducted. The themes that really spoke to me in these topics was the determination that these people had. They’d stop at nothing to get what they wanted despite some of the possible risks. Although they did what they did for different reasons they both can serve as great inspiration to anyone willing to do something courageous or very difficult. It was really great to read about Marina Abramovic again and read about what her work. She seemed almost fearless and at times insane. Its amazing to think she could keep her composure during rhythm 0. Also the great wall walk must’ve taken great patience and focus to walk the whole distance from opposite ends to meet in the middle and part ways to see each other again in The Artist is Present at the MoMA. I also looked at ACT-UP and the protests they did. Their fight is so inspiring to me. Many people apart of the protests were sick themselves begging for a cure. They knew they could get arrested or beaten by police but even with that in their minds they still chose to fight against the tide. I knew after thinking and reading about all this I knew it had to be my project. I wanted to write something and speak something that could hopefully serve to inspire others like these topics have inspired me. I wanted to point out the amazing qualities these people have and how courageous strong and determined they were. I hope my project and presentation did just that.

Thank you Professor Steinmetz for being such a great teacher and showing me such incredible, also thank you to the rest of the class for being so awesome continue to be inspired and fight for what you want to do in life and for what is right.

Abramovic, Marina, and Klaus Peter Biesenbach. Marina Abramović: The artist is present. The Museum of Modern Art, 2010.

Richards, Mary. Marina Abramovic. Routledge, 2009.

Saalfield, Catherine, and Ray Navarro. “Shocking pink praxis: Race and gender on the ACT UP frontlines.” Inside/out: Lesbian theories, gay theories (1991): 341-69.

Haldi, Abigail. “AIDS, anger, and activism: ACT UP as a social movement organization.” Waves of protest: Social movements since the sixties 101 (1999): 135.

ACT UP and Douglas Crimp

It has been very eye opening to learn about the AIDS epidemic. In my school the AIDS epidemic wasn’t even touched on in history class even when we were learning about the 80’s and Reagan’s presidency. I feel like I was blindfolded from this information. It makes me think what else did they not teach me in high school that I should know. It’s crazy to think our government and healthcare system could be so discriminatory. They were just letting innocent people die every day from a disease they hardly knew anything about. I was shocked the fight to get healthcare rights and medicine took so long and its even mire shocking how far the gay community and supporters had to go to fight. When people dumped ashes of their loved ones on the White House lawn my jaw dropped in complete shock. I could not believe what I was watching. It was very interesting to get Douglas Crimps view on the AIDS epidemic. I didn’t know nightlife culture changed in the ways that it did during the mid 80’s. It definitely must have been so scary to live during that time and read in the newspapers everyday about people dying from AIDS. Nightlife seemed fun back then whether you were gay or straight. To go take a train somewhere and go dancing. I remember there’s been a lot of times my parents have said there used to be so many places to go dancing when they were younger and lived in New York City. Its a shame so much of that culture has gone away. It was also interesting to get his take on sex culture and sexuality in general. It’s great to have a figure like Douglas Crimp in this world because with people like him we can knock down the social barriers that divide us and we can learn from each other and be open to more possibilities. I’m very grateful for what I have learned over this past week about the AIDS epidemic, sexual culture, and the gay community then and today.

Class Discussions

Although I unfortunately was not in class on Tuesday I saw the video that was showed in class. I’ve seen this video many times on the news and a few times on youtube. This footage clearly shows excessive force in arresting a teenage girl. Whether  you choose to see as a race issue or not there certainly seems to be a police brutality issue what was once allowed for cops to do 20 years ago surely shouldn’t be allowed in today’s time. We have to learn better from events like this. I’m not one to say all cops are bad and/or racist because there seems to be a rising issue of police brutality on minorities because I feel that would be stereotyping and ignorant. My father was a police officer for New York City and from the stories He’s told me an arrest like that would’ve been completely acceptable during his time. Its certainly starting to show the old ideas of how policing is done needs to be changed and police officers need to be trained in a different way to satisfy the rights of our citizens and keep them safe at the same time. The police also need to be policed themselves by theirs own fellow officers and higher ups who know better to make this world a better and safer place. Just because they have a badge and gun doesn’t mean they are above the law they should be protecting it with respect, honor, and nobility. While I do believe that awareness of issues like this do need to come clear to everyone I do implore all to not assume that all cops are looking to hurt civilians or are looking to pick on certain people because of their skin color. There are more officers that do their job honorably and try their very best to keep all of us safe without violating anyones rights or escalate situations beyond how they should be handled because through those assumptions only comes more fear and more hatred and the world certainly doesn’t need more of that. Through that hate only generates more danger for everyone cops included. My brother is also an officer of the law and I don’t know how my family or  I could possibly cope with the grief of losing him. America needs healing of the tragedies of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Officer Liu and Officer Ramos because even though the time has passed those wounds are still very much open and instead of seeing this as a fight with cops on one side and the common american civilian on the other we need to make a strong push to make a country where we are all on the same side trying to make our state, our city, and our community the best it can be for everyone of all races, religions, and genders.

A Walk Through Central Park

At first I had no idea as to what the podcast had to do with our trip. When we started the podcast I was skeptical and when it started to get going I felt immersed in the sounds and narration that felt so real. I felt like Janet Cardiff was right next to me talking to me in my ear telling me her story and navigating me through the park. When the podcast was going I worried more about keeping track and making sure I could switch to the pictures quickly. When I knew I could just follow the path without worrying too much about I was on the right track I fully let myself relax and listen to everything she was saying and feel everything. Hearing the background felt so real I found myself look around to see if it was real or not a few times. I was really surprised to see how certain things matched up perfectly from the narration to real life. The one that surprised me the most when I was approaching the bridge and the narration said that an ice cram stand was blocking the view to which it actually was. Walking through Central Park while listening to the podcast felt like I was part of the story. At times I felt like I was even in the present but in a different time in the same place experiencing someone else’s story.It also was so relaxing to me to walk through the park while listening to the story Im not really sure why but there was something so calming about it. I think maybe it was just listening to the podcast and taking in all the surroundings. I have always loved parks especially the ones in the city because they always feel like such an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. I really enjoyed this trip and I’m going to make sure I go back to Central Park soon.

Chris Burden

I was surprised when I clicked on this video because I thought maybe at first I looked up or clicked on the wrong person. After watching this video I looked up his biography and realized this man was very daring maybe even a little crazy. He put himself in much danger for the sake of art. Chris Burden after doing much performance art chose to do sculpting and created many interesting visual pieces. Many of them were very intricate and consisted of many small parts. Chris Burden was a very interesting and controversial artist.

4.33

For my John Cage experiment I sat on my bed late at night. I heard the the air conditioning kick in to chill my room to a bone freezing temperature I did not enjoy. I also heard my two roommates shift and breathe in their sleep. I was able to hear my own breathing too of course. In the distance the few cars and trucks could be heard. Only one was heard in comparison to the plethora you can hear throughout the day. The opening and closing of doors happened more often than I’d expect at 2am.

Live performance versus documentation

There is such a great difference between experiencing performance through documentation and live. Watching Marina Abramovic’s “The Artist is Present” You don’t fully understand the experience. It’s interesting to watch because you wonder how she could do that with so many people and hold eye contact without saying a word with a complete stranger. It must really be something to have a moment like that without people you’ll never see again. Seeing her with her ex-husband you really can see how emotional and powerful a moment can be in time even when its something as simple as looking into someones eyes for a few minutes. I thought looking at her with her ex-husband was a beautiful moment. Actually doing the exercise in class was a different experience. Even though we only held eye contact for two minutes it still felt somewhat meaningful. My partner held some trouble holding eye contact with me so it was also a bit of a learning experience. It wasn’t difficult for me to hold eye contact because I don’t ever feel uncomfortable doing that. It was very interesting to look into my partners eyes and see the expression around their eyes. To see some of the muscles around their eyes move to show expression. I feel like looking into someones eyes you can learn something about them which I think is very special. After doing the performance myself I appreciated Marina Abramovic’s performance and artistry even more.

Hello I’m Dean