Art as Artifact
Love and Kisses in Philadelphia: Public Art and Identity Politics
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gerald Silk
In 1968, Social theorist Herbert Marcuse, remarked that if a Claes Oldenburg proposed monument were actualized, “you would have a revolution.” Marcuse's statement instigated the first installation of an Oldenburg “proposed” monument: "Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks," at Yale University in 1969. Alluding to war and sex in volatile times—Vietnam War, civil rights, urban unrest, feminism—"Lipstick" proved so disturbing that the University removed it (later returned to a less prominent spot). Eight years elapsed before another Oldenburg monument “went public”: Philadelphia’s 1% piece "Clothespin," his first and oldest "civic" sculpture. Marcuse’s radical predictions did not transpire, as Oldenburg sculptures have become common urban fixtures. Still, "Clothespin" has charged meaning. Situated across from City Hall at one end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (dotted by civic institutions), "Clothespin" is partly inspired by Brancusi’s "Kiss" in the Philadelphia Museum at the other end. In its resemblance to Brancusi’s embracing gender-equals, "Clothespin" displays a monumentalized and erotically infused common object that engages with identity art and politics of the 1970s, such as feminism and homosexuality. Appropriate to the “City of Brotherly Love,” "Clothespin" dialogues with Robert Indiana’s "Love" sculpture nearby, a piece that also interrogates similar issues. Oldenburg’s fourth and most recent Philadelphia monument, "Paint Torch" (2011), evoking both the “Statue of Liberty” and “Liberty Bell,” and nodding to the nearby "Clothespin," also explores the cross-fertilization of art, freedom, and politics.
Lost and Found in the Antipodes: The Aura of Authenticity of Artefacts in an Art School
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lorraine Kypiotis
In nineteenth century the National Art School in Sydney, purchased plaster casts of Classical and Renaissance sculpture produced by the London Formatore, Brucciani. The school boasted a collection of over 400 pieces acquired at a time when the cultural influence of classical learning had not yet buckled under the pressure of twentieth century utilitarianism. The casts had two specific purposes: the transference of classical ideals via Britain to the colonies, and secondly, for use in art schools in the education of artists in a tradition of ‘drawing from the antique’ dating back to the 15th century and part of a comprehensive art school curriculum well into the 20th century throughout Europe, North America and in colonial outposts such as Australia. By the latter half of the 20th century the use of the casts declined. The traditional and rigorous practice of drawing and sculpting from the plaster cast had fallen out of favour with contemporary views on art education and regarded as a remnant of an outdated academic regime. These “castaways” were forgotten: adrift on an island far from their original home. The tide, however, is turning, and at NAS, as is reflected in many institutions around the world, these plaster casts are now valued not only for their didactic value but also their inherent significance as historical artefacts in their own right. This paper will seek to explore the inherent aura and authenticity of these artefacts still in use at the National Art School.
Creating Artwork Together with Non-Human Species: Liang Shaoji and His Silkworm Collaborators
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Feixuan Xu
Liang Shaoji, a Chinese artist, has worked with silkworms to create artistic installations for more than ten years. Based on the visual/textual analysis and ethnography, the essay will discuss the role and ethics of the artist, as well as the agency and flexibility of the silkworms, in their process of art-making. Inquires will be made to the following questions: To what extent can Liang realise his own 'designs' while recognising and acknowledging silkworms’ intentionality? Is there any hierarchy or power dominance in the interactions? How to balance the dilemma between detachment and engagement, cooperation and exploitation, inter-patience and interference in his everyday micro-practice with silkworms (e.g. any conflict or compromise)? How to understand the flexibility and capacity of non-human agencies in the flowing field, especially in the scope of posthuman theoretical turn? Moreover, the validity, authorship and artist’s statement (in this case the Daoist idea of Yuan) should be reassessed in artworks co-produced by multi-agencies.
