Selling Without Selling Out

Dave Hickey an art critic gave a speech about the art world today. Hickey says that today the art world in the past 3 or 4 years has no rules. There are people who like art better than money, but the only bad thing is that there are a lot of artists who like money better than art, and this is a problem. There has never been a better chance to gain attention by acting honorably because a lot of people aren't and you would stand out. All you do is lose money by doing the honorable thing, and perhaps your art could be around for hundreds of years.  People are fascinated with money and not being right. Art dealers pride themselves on creating real value, but with the money and inflation of prices of art there is no real value.
Listening to this podcast his speech spoke to me about morals and the world today not just in an art sense. Today I feel that people are focused on making money, and finding success. Everyone is just out for themselves and no one is concerned for their community anymore. Society is just about one-up'ing everyone else. In our country, everyone is focused on money- the government, the education system, families, communities, art, and pretty much every aspect of the US. He is saying that today's artists as a whole have no morals and most don't even like art- they are just in it for the fame and the money. Inflation seems to be a huge problem in contemporary time, money inflation is shown through art in that pricing of art is ten fold of what the art is actually worth, there is no more value in todays society. I enjoyed his speech. I felt it was well rounded and not solely focused on just art which gave it more context and easier to comprehend and digest to someone who isn't well educated in the art world.

Ultramodernism

In class we discussed a new term for art- ultramodernism. The term was coined by Nicolas Bourrioud who noticed a globalization of art and that today the reach of art is further and broader. Ultramodernism is harder to discuss, understand and categorize. Artists under the spectrum of this new term sometimes work as a social worker in that they represent movements and journeys of culture, time and space and aspects of technology and communication. An example of this kind of art and artist is Andrea Zittel who looks at furniture and their habitats and thinks of space and economy and the difference between freedom and property and human values and perception.
In my searches on the internet to learn more about this newly coined term, I came across a website Dream Designs: 10 Ultramodern Homes. This website demonstrate ultramodern art through the medium of architecture. Many artists know that when they imagine and construct these ultramodern homes that they may never be built in the real world. These homes represent a blast from the future, and this website demonstrates ten architects who have actually brought these incredible ultramodern houses to life.

AZ

Growing up in southern California shaped artist Andrea Zittel into a very unique person. Often her family would travel for long periods of time around the country weather it was in their Volkswagen van or sailing boat. Living in close quarters during these trips motivated some of her future work especially her island project, "Pocket Property". This 54-ton floating concrete island was sent out for Zittel to experiment living in. Living on the island she made was no ordinary task. Loneliness overcame here, but she said that it was more of a good feeling because she felt completely self-reliant and free from the outside world. I was interesting to see the artist actually test out the installation art she created. Watching the clip of her work really made me think if I would want to do what she was doing. I felt that it would be cool for the first couple of days, but then for me it would almost feel like i was letting time waste by. It would be hard for me to take myself out of society and I give Zettel a lot of credit for doing this for the sake of her art.

Turn of Terms

Throughout art history there have been many art movements, and terminology that has gone along with these changes in the art world. One of the most recent terms coined by Nicolas Bourriaud is relational art or relational aesthetics. Bourriaud noticed that artists were not approaching art differently and they approached it as a set of artistic practices that represent social themes. And this takes art out of the individual and private ideas. Art facilitator Ben Lewis noticed this turn in art and terms and the role of artwork in society and the real world and he reflects on the idea that anyone could be an artist and that this new idea in art has made artists believe that as he says "because we're artists we know better." All this talk about changes in art and the terms that come along with me made me question the importance of even giving art terminology. Does it matter what an artists type of work falls under? Does being called a certain kind of art make you more profitable or likable? Isn't art supposed to be about the practice not the production, about the sense of visual experience the public gets?

6 year old painter

Bourriaud

Nicolas Bourriaud is a French curator and art critic. In his publication Postproduction, Bourriaud relates djing to contemporary art. He lists the operations disc-jockeys apply to music and relates them to contemporary art practices. Throughout the eighties, the computer has given djs the opportunity to play with music by taking old pieces and creating new songs. Bourriaud claims that songs are no longer safe and often are being now used as building materials for new songs. We see the comparison to contemporary art because the art that is being produced is something new itself, but the pieces originated from other works. Any DJ today bases his or her work on the basis of older songs. My generation is used to hearing "remixed" music and reading this made me take a second look at the work. I defiantly can by Bourriauds argument and it helps me relate better to contemporary artwork after reading his work.

The Animal Inside

Just when you think art can not get any stranger Marcus Coates comes up with a new piece. His performance art stretches the word to the maximum as he parades around with animal skins on making noises as if he were the animal. Becoming an animal is in the thoughts of many people, but Coates is taking that to the next level. He truly believes that by taking the time to try and interact with species that he may be able to communicate with them. He feels if he had the power to communicate with animals the world could learn so much more them. Watching his performances is a odd experience, but the passion he shows while performing made me think more about animal relations. In his performances he even related the social issues such as the bad relations between Israel and Palestine to the relations between birds. Many may view his work as ridiculous, but when the viewer gives him a chance and tries to understand his message, his work is very interesting.