VA 430 PRESENTATION / BURCU AVCI

“MEAT WEAPONS” BY DIMITRI TSYKALOV, 2012

representational

This piece, entitled “Meat Weapons” by Dimitri Tsykalov presents the concepts of death and violence by representational means. Here, the gun is composed of human meat and organs, depicted in a purely realistic manner. Apart from the weapon, the wet, tense hands adds on to this effect. The image builds a direct relation with the gun, the person holding it and the person suffering from it. The cause and effect relationship, the moment of shooting and the moment of death or consequences of pushing the trigger are combined into one single photograph with a representational manner.

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“NUCLEAR WASTE ENCAPSULATION AND STORAGE FACILITY” BY TARYN SIMON, 2007

verbal supplements

Taryn Simon is a photographer. Her work, specially “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar” series aims to document inaccessible information to citizens in U.S. Each photograph of this artist has a story within and they are mystified in such a way that without knowing the title of her works, it is not possible to interpret the content of them. Here, this particular image shows nuclear-waste capsules which contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. The blue glow is created by the “Cherenkov Effect” which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.

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“FUTURE SELF” BY rAndom INTERNATIONAL, 2012

genre or medium

“Future Self” is an interactive installation, generating a 3D live LED sculpture by detecting moves of the participant. The end result is a temporal, yet delicate sculpture. (This work constitutes a good example for temporal duration as well.) For analyzing this work, the first thing to figure out is the technological unknowns. Our first glance brings questions about the medium or genre of the work. What kind of a work is this? How does it work? What happens when we interact with it? What is the technical background used by the artists? These questions hook us and we want to learn more or experience the work. This desire of interaction is merely based on medium and genre.

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“TSUNAMI” BY JANET ECHELMAN, 2011

material

Fish net from Mahabalipuram. Who would believe such a local material would become the key aesthetic element in this high-tech urban installation? Janet Echelman’s “Tsunami”, set in Sydney, is a layered, amorphous, dynamic sculpture taking the shape of the wind. The grid structure of the material establish a digital touch to this work connotatively. Specially this feature, combined with vibrant colors and strong lighting, transforms the rural into metropolitan.

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“MIMICRY CHAIRS” BY NENDO, 2012

scale

In London Design Festival 2012, Nendo, a product design company, used eleven points of Victoria and Albert Museum for exhibiting their installations of white, metal chairs. The tricky point to this series was that the chairs repeated themselves in such a way that each chair differed from one another in a non-industrial approach. More importantly, the way they are assembled together made it possible for them to harmoniously become an architectural element of the museum. The key to understanding such a work depends on relating it to scale: A chair as an industrial product is a human-scale product on its own, yet these installations released the concept of chair from its scale and industrial boundaries and transformed it into a series of architectural forms, questioning space.

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“LAYING OUT NAPKINS NEAR SUDOMERE” BY ZORKA SAGLOVA, 1970

context

Zorka Saglova layed 700 white fabrics in the shape of a triangle on Sudomer, by doing so she reconstructed a historical war site, on which Hussite Wars took place between Czech and Roman armies during 15th century. According to legend Czech women layed their headscarves on wet grass of the battlefield during war and that caused Roman horses to lose their balances, which became the key factor for Czech in winning this battle. The triangle points out the feminist stand of the artist. This land art not only depicts a legendary war scene as a memorial. It also speaks of peace by simply using the color of the fabrics.

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temporal duration

In this installation of Joseph Beuys, chemical energy of the lemon is transformed into electrical charge by a plug. As the lemon spoils in time, the light fades as well. This piece has a touching story. Beuys created this art work during last days of his life, in Capri, the Italian island famous for its lemons. So, this work has an autobiographical aspect that metaphorically connects temporality of life, being, energy and death.

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“CAPRI BATTERY” BY JOSEPH BEUYS, 1985

“NUDE #4” BY SCHINICHI MARUYAMA, 2012

relation to art history

Maruyama’s “Nude” series has a questioning attitude towards the conventions of “nude photography”. As we look at his work, we sense the presence of the human body through motion, proportions and color, yet can not see the nakedness as directly and openly as this genre dictates. We only trace the clues of the body behind a curtain of motion. Here, the control of the male gaze disappears, leaving space for our imagination to perceive and appreciate human body from a different aesthetic perspective. Nakedness is not presented as a condition of nudity. Presence of the body makes it nude. This disintegration from the history of the genre is the strongest statement this work conveys.

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“VENUS DE MILO” BY ALEXANDROS OF ANTIOCH, 130-100 BC

persisting in time

Venus de Milo, an ancient Greek sculpture depicting goddess of love and beauty is one of the most famous statues of our time. The fame of this figure relies not only on its aesthetic qualities. It is the subject of a number of art books with its story. Briefly, the history of this statue includes; its discovery in 1820 in Milo -an Aegian island, negotiation with the Ottoman Empire to bring it to France, damage to the arms during transportation to France, assemblage of the upper and lower halves, moving to a village during World War II, its promotion to the world as the best Venus statue by French. The story of this piece is still an ongoing issue: It has been reflected to various art works and popular culture products. Focus magazine was even sued for using the image with giving her middle finger up.

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iconographic tradition

Description: “Erratum” is a London based art project. Within this project, several daily objects are manufactured to be dysfunctional on purpose and will be sold in a pop-up store under the brand “Erratum”. Identification: This project is inspired by the errors of workers of industrial production and aims to draw attention to poor labor conditions as well as the meaning of luxury. “True luxury has no function” the artist states. Interpretation: As reading the campaign visuals and products, we immediately sense the upside down(!) references. Though colors, clothes, interior have signs of a luxury lifestyle; the unfamiliar composition, pipe without a bowl creates a sense of humor. This image can be read as a critique of luxury consumption. For me, this project is an oxymoron within itself since it is being trapped to its own set up by commodifying itself.

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“ERRATUM” BY JEREMY HUTCHISON, 2012

“THE INVISIBLES” BY TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA, 2010

formal properties

“The Invisibles” is an installation produced for Kartell Gallery in Salone del Mobile Milan, 2010. The designer, Tokujin Yoshioka, is famous for his dreamy installations that make use of specific materials for presenting a concept within which the spectators are lost, mentally and physically. The purpose of the installation is promoting the polycarbonate “invisible furniture” series of the firm. The display of the product is narrating the product itself as an art form. Yoshioka achieved this by transforming the formal properties of polycarbonate: Transparency, clearness, strength and lightness poetically into the notion of a “snowflake” which totally intertwines with the idea of invisibility.

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GOLDEN “JUICY SALIF” BY PHILIPPE STARCK, 2000

attitudinal gestures

"My juicer is not meant to squeeze lemons; it is meant to start conversations.” Philippe Starck Juicy Salif, designed by Philippe Starck, is an iconic piece for the industrial design world. This so called “lemon squeezer” is famous for its attitude towards form/function duality; its spider-like sculptural form is much more ahead of its function. This is why it is seen more of an art object rather than a product. For the 10th anniversary of Juicy Salifs launch, 10,000 pieces were individually numbered and gold plated by the producer Alessi. The gold plated version is worth mentioning here, because the citric acid in lemon eroded the gold plating. The idea of transforming a product into an unusable “collection item” is a provocative, ironic approach to design discipline itself.

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“MAN HANGING OUT” BY DAVID CERNY, 1996

biological responses

Freud was known for his fear of death. In this statue, David Cerny portrayed Freud as someone in-between life and death hanging himself in Old Town, Prague. Spectators often shockingly misrecognize this work as a real suicidal attempt. Some call the ambulance, some call the police. This artwork is a success in evoking fear of (witnessing) death.

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