Understanding Visual Communication art
AHVS121 Winter 2021 Week 11 Self-directed Activity and Assignment 9 Self-directed Activity for March 25, 2021 – No written component but please read the next 2 pages. In a normal, in-person term, this week I’d be sending you to the art gallery to look at works in person. Unfortunately, that still isn’t really an option this year, and even for people in Victoria, access to the AGGV collection is currently limited. But I still think it is important to do some reflection on the importance of materials, not just for the process of the artist, but for the way the communicate on broader cultural levels. (Think about the questions and responses from the survey in class on Monday). As an alternative, I’ve selected a film I think will work and I am designating that class time for you to ensure there is a place in your schedule to do so. You do not have to watch the film on Thursday at 3:30, but the time is there for you to use. So, reminder there is NO SCHEDULED LECTURE on Thursday March 21h. Instead I want you to watch the following documentary Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine (filmmakers: Amei Wallach and Marion Caiori, 2008) This film has been made available for you in Kanopy. Note that the film is 98 minutes long if you want to watch the whole thing (it’s worth it). To view it:
1) make sure that you are logged into the UVic website with your Netlink ID 2) go to the page for the library. 3) Cut and paste the URL into your browser, as that is easier than trying to find the general links. 4) https://uvic.kanopy.com/video/louise-bourgeois
(Louise Bourgeois, Maman, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada)
Assignment 9: (2 pages)
I need to make things. The physical interaction with the medium has a curative effect. I need the physical acting out. I need to have these objects exist in relation to my body.
Louise Bourgeois A couple of general things about the film (criteria for the assignment on the next page)
1) Warning: There are some distressing scenes of the damage endured by soldiers in WWI, at about the 30 minute mark of the film and lasting about 30 seconds. These are not gratuitous, but related to the both the early memories and the artistic output of the artist. But you should be aware that they are there.
2) Just FYI: the film also has some commentary on the shifts and changing ideas about representation and identity that we discussed in class a week or so ago. The Guerilla Girls make an appearance, for example.
The film opens with Bourgeois saying “to be a sculptor is to be aggressive.” Here she is referencing the idea of taking materials that exist in one state & forcing them to be a different shape/configuration/appearance/texture. Building, weaving, casting, drawing – it’s all shaping materials. Through the film we see the artist working with a wide variety of different materials over the course of her career. Think about what the different materials she uses add to how an artwork looks and also the tactile effect they give. What stood out for you? Why? We also see similar motifs across different materials. Comment on this process – why might the artist do that? What is she exploring? In several points of the film, we see works in the process of being made. A question that occurred to me when watching the section on the sculptures I Do / I Re-Do (shown right at the end of the film) was: how do these behind-the-scenes-looks into the making of the works affect your understanding of the materials? In The Red Room - Child we see the threads and needles as well as all the glass objects. How is the artist incorporating associations that the viewer might have with the materials into the works? That is, as well as working with the materials, she’s working with the IDEAS of the materials. And how is she working with memory embedded in the materials? This isn’t about the subject matter alone – but about the materials that are used in the making. Think about what emotions the materials might reflect and how this affects your interpretation of the work. What about the materials that aren’t obviously part of some of the works – (here I’m thinking of the fencing and wire that surround the various works that are part of the Cells series. Did you consider those? Why or why not? At the very end of the film, in what is part of the same interview as the opening scene, she says: “Materials are only materials and nothing more. Materials are not the subject of the artist. The subject of the artist is emotions and ideas…” I understand where her point of view is coming from, she is not an artist that specializes in a particular material, and therefore doesn’t privilege what she uses, as some artists do (think back to the upholders of photochemical-film, in Side by Side, for example). Yet the materials are the medium through which the artist expresses those emotions and ideas, so the materials cannot be “only materials”. Discuss. What is your favourite use of materials in the film? The goals of the assignment are to: 1) to consider the artist’s choice & decision-making process in what materials to use 2) to consider the artist’s choices in deciding how materials are to be used once chosen 3) to consider how the choice of materials affects how they are displayed to and received by an audience Write a brief analysis, minimum 750 words, due to me by email ddudley@uvic.ca Before Monday, April 12, 2021 at 3:30PM as per the schedule in the course outline Please see course outline for important details on how to format & submit assignments