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Monday, June 25, 2012
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
It Is There If You Want to Take the Time
George Landow (aka Owen Land) 1944-2011
We can individually identify with absurdist behavior, although, our ability to disregard material, visual or otherwise, is the catalyst to the manifestation and longevity of this human condition. Experimental film-maker George Landow, also known as Owen Land (1944-2011), used mode of “structural film” coupled with satirical wit and self-referential material to expose our trained attention span, given to us by media images and advertising culture, and assisted in locating substance within the “absurdity of all phenomena and the arbitrariness of all information.”
In an early example of Land’s work, a short film Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. from 1965-66, he allows material to dictate the content. It is a brief loop of a Kodak color test showing duplicate images of a young woman’s portrait alongside the edge lettering, outside sprocket holes and dirt particles present on the surface of the film. The composition is quite minimal, however, the subtle shifts in the artists handling of the film, movement created in the repeated cycle of revealed edge lettering and overlaid with the continual ticking of the film in the camera creates a richly dynamic piece with depth and attention.
George Landow aka Owen Land, Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc., 1965-66, screen shot.
Expounding upon the capabilities of early film media, using 16mm and 8mm, Land formed non-linear abstracted content that provides an oddly fascinating combination of obstructed imagery and material residue that confuses time and space. The repeating loop of the edge lettering on the film indicates time in terms of isolated moments rather than a sense of duration while the cropped imagery limits the viewers’ perception of space and context. Ultimately, focus is given over to the presence of the material including dust particles and scratches on the surface of the film that have been intentionally left by the artist.
Land’s presentation of a seemingly banal subject in a very methodic repeated fashion invites an entirely new visceral and visual experience, which reorients the viewers’ response to duplicate media and advertising imagery. Author and friend of the artist, P. Adams Sitney wrote in a recent Artforum article that “Land’s unique contribution was to focus on the detritus of television and advertisement as the signature rerum – the more banal, the more spiritually immanent,” emphasizing the artists capability to augment shifts in perception of the mundane or absurd visual imagery.
Essentially, the impact of Land’s films is facilitated by time. Precision application of time in his work is revealed in the way he chose to make repeated imagery seem part of the composition of Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. rather than any narrative. Simultaneously, Land understood the time and attention afforded by the viewer in order to mock that very same length of time impressed upon them by media and advertising, which is evermore applicable today. Land harnessed brief moments in time with direct visual vigor and gave back to the viewers their own breadth of experience.
We can individually identify with absurdist behavior, although, our ability to disregard material, visual or otherwise, is the catalyst to the manifestation and longevity of this human condition. Experimental film-maker George Landow, also known as Owen Land (1944-2011), used mode of “structural film” coupled with satirical wit and self-referential material to expose our trained attention span, given to us by media images and advertising culture, and assisted in locating substance within the “absurdity of all phenomena and the arbitrariness of all information.”
In an early example of Land’s work, a short film Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. from 1965-66, he allows material to dictate the content. It is a brief loop of a Kodak color test showing duplicate images of a young woman’s portrait alongside the edge lettering, outside sprocket holes and dirt particles present on the surface of the film. The composition is quite minimal, however, the subtle shifts in the artists handling of the film, movement created in the repeated cycle of revealed edge lettering and overlaid with the continual ticking of the film in the camera creates a richly dynamic piece with depth and attention.
George Landow aka Owen Land, Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc., 1965-66, screen shot.
Expounding upon the capabilities of early film media, using 16mm and 8mm, Land formed non-linear abstracted content that provides an oddly fascinating combination of obstructed imagery and material residue that confuses time and space. The repeating loop of the edge lettering on the film indicates time in terms of isolated moments rather than a sense of duration while the cropped imagery limits the viewers’ perception of space and context. Ultimately, focus is given over to the presence of the material including dust particles and scratches on the surface of the film that have been intentionally left by the artist.
Land’s presentation of a seemingly banal subject in a very methodic repeated fashion invites an entirely new visceral and visual experience, which reorients the viewers’ response to duplicate media and advertising imagery. Author and friend of the artist, P. Adams Sitney wrote in a recent Artforum article that “Land’s unique contribution was to focus on the detritus of television and advertisement as the signature rerum – the more banal, the more spiritually immanent,” emphasizing the artists capability to augment shifts in perception of the mundane or absurd visual imagery.
Essentially, the impact of Land’s films is facilitated by time. Precision application of time in his work is revealed in the way he chose to make repeated imagery seem part of the composition of Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. rather than any narrative. Simultaneously, Land understood the time and attention afforded by the viewer in order to mock that very same length of time impressed upon them by media and advertising, which is evermore applicable today. Land harnessed brief moments in time with direct visual vigor and gave back to the viewers their own breadth of experience.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
ArtCore Blog Launch
Thank you, to those of you who have been keeping up with ERIN DZIEDZIC (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art. This blog will remain and I will continue to post regularly in addition to a new blog that I have developed called ArtCore.
ArtCore
The mission of the ArtCore blog is twofold, requiring writers to engage with contemporary art beyond the borders of “home” or ones current city and to provide rigorous and informed writing focused primarily on spatial concepts in contemporary art and curatorial practice. Written material will include but is not limited to critiques/reviews, essays/reports and articles written on contemporary art, exhibitions, installations, projects and art fairs.
Specializing in the extended efforts made by a writer to expand beyond their geographical place as a major component, ArtCore is designed to establish a rich matrix of artists and writers interacting globally for the advancement of writing on concepts of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice using a blog format. “ArtCore” was developed in conversation with friends who make efforts to travel to view art, modeling it after the term “hardcore”, which references the most committed and dedicated members of a group. The prospectus for ArtCore’s dedication to concepts of space began with an essay I had written for a conference, which discusses the possibility for new methods of writing expanded text that could shape modern interwoven cultural globalization amidst the spectacle of the art fair. The ArtCore blog takes its queue from the notion of the art fair phenomenon as a “destination” and expands this format to stimulate critical and creative text in modern times, aiming to be a significant resource in contemporary art writing. After six months of myself as the primary writer for the ArtCore content, on a schedule of bi-weekly posts, other writers, critics, artists, collectors, dealers and scholars will be invited to contribute or may submit writing for consideration. Collectively, these entries will establish a rigorous and informed catalog of reviews and critical writing segments and will be tracked using a visual map.
The desire is for ArtCore to become the nexus for the development, advancement and exchange of ideas and writing focused on concepts of space in contemporary art in a moving global context. The ArtCore blog project aligns closely with and is an extension of my most recent research, writings and interests, which focus on the affects of space on contemporary art and curatorial practice. Currently, I maintain the blog “Erin Dziedzic (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art” which has been in existence for two years with a series of informed reviews and art world information at erindziedzic.blogspot.com. Ultimately, it is the hope that ArtCore will make a significant contribution to the dialog of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice and continue to inform additional research, writing, projects, important exhibitions, and productive writing networks.
Writing on the subject of space exists in critical essays like Gilles Deleuze’s “The Exhausted.” Contemporary scholars like Nicolas Bourriaud, Ian Buchanan, Claire Colebrook and Nigel Thrift also contribute to the field of spatial relations. Critics respond to the artist and institutions use of space in pointed reviews like art historian Meredith Martin’s for ARTFORUM and Elain Sciolino or Rooksana Hossenally’s for the New York Times on the contemporary art installations at Versailles. In the context of the art blogging genre ArtCore is uniquely relevant in its specification that the writer advance from one geographical location to another and respond to art in terms of space. ArtCore would be the first blog of its kind to collect a combination of written material on contemporary art and curatorial practice, where concepts of space are engaged exclusively.
My research and practice is greatly devoted to the investigation of space in contemporary art, resulting in essays, blog entries and exhibitions. For example, in a recent essay I presented the idea of considering the “crisis” of art criticism in terms of our greater need to apply “altermodern’s” push for modern globalization. Suggesting, that the spectacle of the art fair provides opportunity for an expansion of global geographical perspectives and is ripe as a platform for deep consideration of how galleries, artists and institutions navigate space. In an exhibition called “The Masquers” that I produced for a group show at P.P.O.W. I employed the use of works by Craig Drennen to articulate a theoretical space, a fissure in the complicated dance between Modernism and Postmodernism to suggest a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
The intended audience for the ArtCore blog includes art students, scholars, collectors, gallerists, dealers, critics and artists as well as philosophers and theorists. Open to the fields of art and theory the ArtCore blog would generate a sense of community amongst practitioners in the broad spectrum of art, theory and praxis. ArtCore’s purpose is to act as a positive platform for collaboration and development amongst genres in the art world to expand the concepts of space in contemporary art.
ArtCore has already begun but official posting will begin December 2011! Check back at http://artcorecontemporary.blogspot.com/
ArtCore
The mission of the ArtCore blog is twofold, requiring writers to engage with contemporary art beyond the borders of “home” or ones current city and to provide rigorous and informed writing focused primarily on spatial concepts in contemporary art and curatorial practice. Written material will include but is not limited to critiques/reviews, essays/reports and articles written on contemporary art, exhibitions, installations, projects and art fairs.
Specializing in the extended efforts made by a writer to expand beyond their geographical place as a major component, ArtCore is designed to establish a rich matrix of artists and writers interacting globally for the advancement of writing on concepts of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice using a blog format. “ArtCore” was developed in conversation with friends who make efforts to travel to view art, modeling it after the term “hardcore”, which references the most committed and dedicated members of a group. The prospectus for ArtCore’s dedication to concepts of space began with an essay I had written for a conference, which discusses the possibility for new methods of writing expanded text that could shape modern interwoven cultural globalization amidst the spectacle of the art fair. The ArtCore blog takes its queue from the notion of the art fair phenomenon as a “destination” and expands this format to stimulate critical and creative text in modern times, aiming to be a significant resource in contemporary art writing. After six months of myself as the primary writer for the ArtCore content, on a schedule of bi-weekly posts, other writers, critics, artists, collectors, dealers and scholars will be invited to contribute or may submit writing for consideration. Collectively, these entries will establish a rigorous and informed catalog of reviews and critical writing segments and will be tracked using a visual map.
The desire is for ArtCore to become the nexus for the development, advancement and exchange of ideas and writing focused on concepts of space in contemporary art in a moving global context. The ArtCore blog project aligns closely with and is an extension of my most recent research, writings and interests, which focus on the affects of space on contemporary art and curatorial practice. Currently, I maintain the blog “Erin Dziedzic (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art” which has been in existence for two years with a series of informed reviews and art world information at erindziedzic.blogspot.com. Ultimately, it is the hope that ArtCore will make a significant contribution to the dialog of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice and continue to inform additional research, writing, projects, important exhibitions, and productive writing networks.
Writing on the subject of space exists in critical essays like Gilles Deleuze’s “The Exhausted.” Contemporary scholars like Nicolas Bourriaud, Ian Buchanan, Claire Colebrook and Nigel Thrift also contribute to the field of spatial relations. Critics respond to the artist and institutions use of space in pointed reviews like art historian Meredith Martin’s for ARTFORUM and Elain Sciolino or Rooksana Hossenally’s for the New York Times on the contemporary art installations at Versailles. In the context of the art blogging genre ArtCore is uniquely relevant in its specification that the writer advance from one geographical location to another and respond to art in terms of space. ArtCore would be the first blog of its kind to collect a combination of written material on contemporary art and curatorial practice, where concepts of space are engaged exclusively.
My research and practice is greatly devoted to the investigation of space in contemporary art, resulting in essays, blog entries and exhibitions. For example, in a recent essay I presented the idea of considering the “crisis” of art criticism in terms of our greater need to apply “altermodern’s” push for modern globalization. Suggesting, that the spectacle of the art fair provides opportunity for an expansion of global geographical perspectives and is ripe as a platform for deep consideration of how galleries, artists and institutions navigate space. In an exhibition called “The Masquers” that I produced for a group show at P.P.O.W. I employed the use of works by Craig Drennen to articulate a theoretical space, a fissure in the complicated dance between Modernism and Postmodernism to suggest a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
The intended audience for the ArtCore blog includes art students, scholars, collectors, gallerists, dealers, critics and artists as well as philosophers and theorists. Open to the fields of art and theory the ArtCore blog would generate a sense of community amongst practitioners in the broad spectrum of art, theory and praxis. ArtCore’s purpose is to act as a positive platform for collaboration and development amongst genres in the art world to expand the concepts of space in contemporary art.
ArtCore has already begun but official posting will begin December 2011! Check back at http://artcorecontemporary.blogspot.com/
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