STEP 1: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Please answer the following question:   What Do You Value ?  This is a general question, and please answer the thoughts that come immediately to the front of your thinking.  Provide us with 5 items that you value, and add a sentence for each value and why they are important to you?

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• Nam June Paik

— One of the pioneers of visual art, Nam June Paik is famous a visionary sculpture, performance, and music.  This Korean born artist utilized the emerging forms of electronic media during the 20 century as his palette for art and design.

“Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body’s new membrane of existence.” — Nam June Paik

“Our life is half natural and half technological. Half-and-half is good. You cannot deny that high-tech is progress. We need it for jobs. Yet if you make only high-tech, you make war. So we must have a strong human element to keep modesty and natural life.” — Nam June Paik

• Ai Weiwei’s

“World-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei will exhibit a new edition of his Forever Bicycles sculpture in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square. 3,144 interconnected bicycles will form a three-dimensional structure creating an incredible visual effect.

Yong Jiu, literally translated as “forever,” is the foremost bicycle brand in China; Ai re-interprets such everyday found objects in an abstract and symbolic way.

The sheer quantity of bikes and the diverse perceptions of viewing points create a colossal labyrinth-like, visually moving space, which represents the changing social environment in China and around the globe.”  — Ai Weiwei

STEP 2: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Define “Abstract Art” in a few sentences.  Define “Figurative Art” in a few sentences. Do you feel the above work of  Ai Weiwei is “Abstract Art” or “Figurative Art”? Cite specific examples or imagery, materials, or sensations in relationship to your answer.

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• Christian Marclay

“Right now that symbiosis between music and art doesn’t exist anymore; throughout the 1980s the galleries became powerful and things got very commercial, people were in the art business to make money, and that kind of killed live art. People gave up performances and went back to the studios. I feel now there’s a possibility of a return to more ephemeral activities. Maybe it’s in times of economic crisis, like the one we’re experiencing right now, that people find more innovative and daring ways to make art. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the experimentation was really happening in clubs like the Pyramid or 8BC, where tons of things were taking place every night. At the time I was not showing in galleries, I was only performing.” – Christian Marclay

STEP 3:  ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Research the term “ephemeral”.  What do you feel the definition of ephemeral is?  In regards to the art and music practice of Christian Marclay, what do you feel is ephemeral in his work?  Do some research and find an object or art piece that is ephemeral.  What did you choose that is ephemeral, and why do you feel it is ephemeral?

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• Tara Donovan

Read the Following article about the practice of Tara Donovan: Interview with Tara Donovan

 

To view more work of Tara Donovan follow the link: https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/tara-donovan/

 

 STEP 4: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

This sculpture is created by the utilization and accumulation of styrofoam cups.  

What is the symbolism of using a mass quantity of styrofoam cups?  What is the metaphorical symbolism of the design of the installation ( Think of where the cups are placed and how they are arranged?)

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• Chris Jordan

“There is axiom I live by:  ‘There is no art without politics.’  You either choose to engage it, or you choose political apathy.  This ties in with ideas around real-time performance and feedback” – Chris Jordan

“All of my work is meant to evoke a whole bunch of different layers of discord between the attraction and repulsion that we feel toward our consumer habits and our consumer lives.” – Chris Jordan

STEP 5: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

In each of his works their is a duality at play.  The microcosm of the image or the material that he chooses to use.  Then the macrocosm of the image and what it represents.

Visit the website of Chris Jordan:  http://www.chrisjordan.com/

1. Look at an image in his gallery. 2. Tell us which image you selected. 3.  Explain the microcosm or material that he chooses to utilize.  4.  Explain the macrocosm or the larger picture that he has created.  5.  What is the duality at play?  How does the microcosm and macrocosm contrast each other or parallel each other?  What do you think is the symbolic meaning of their selections?  Do you feel that there relationship is affective?

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• Gwang Gyo Power Centre – The Green Peaks

“Award-winning architects have come up with an extraordinary design for a new self-sufficient city made up of organic ‘hill’ buildings. The cluster of green towers are designed to be home to 77,000 people and also house offices, shops and schools. Architects MVRDV came up with the revolutionary plans in which every floor of each tower is fringed with lush box hedges.” — Cubeme.com

 

 STEP 6: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

View the following link:   https://www.dezeen.com/2008/12/03/gwanggyo-power-centre-by-mvrdv/

What values do you believe are being placed into the architectural design of the Gwanggyo Project (Name 3). Those values can relate to the shape of the buildings (why that shape, what value may they be trying to express), the size of the complex, the location of the complex, the people that will inhabit the complex, the horticulture as part of the complex, etc.

Research via the web to find a piece of architecture that expresses very distinct values. Then describe what those values are, and how it affects the significance of the design?

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Metropolis II — Chris Burden

“Chris Burden has, in the name of his art, been shot, nailed to the top of a Volkswagen Beetle and set on fire. He has crawled naked across broken glass, starved for 11 days on a desert island and stuffed himself into a student locker for an entire workweek. Burden, 62, originally trained as a sculptor at the University of California, Irvine, but the realities of his life in the Seventies forced him to exploit the most accessible raw material—himself.” –Kevin West

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llacDdn5yIE

 STEP 7: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Watch the following movie that does not have commentary:

After watching the video describe your feeling and the impact that the sculpture has on your senses, via sound, visuals, scope, and personal connection? (Write 3 Sentences)

Have a child (13 years old or under) watch this movie, and ask them to answer the same questions. Ask them what they think the sculpture means to them? (Write 3 Sentences)

If you would like to go above or beyond have a baby boomer (from 1964 or before) watch the the video and answer the questions.  Ask them what they think the sculpture means to them? (Write 3 Sentences).

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