Laurie Anderson: Delusion

Laurie Anderson is one of the most recognizable figures in performance art and is most well known for her song " O Superman" Broadcast in mainstream radio in 1981. She is also recognized fro her work in music, writing, video, and projection art. Her later work, Delusion, is not like her concerts where the music and performance is presented on a bigger scale. It's deals much more with projections and feels more like a solo performance than a concert. The video above is just a short segment of a larger piece, but it shows Laurie Anderson playing her violin in these ambient overtures that are calming yet creates some tension. While she's playing she also integrates dialogue into the performance. In the beginning of the video she asks " Why does it Rain?" sounding like a form of poetry. The piece itself is a series of short stories that jump between what we perceive as everyday and folklore. What drew me to this piece was that it was so different form her other works like her concert film Home of the Brave. The visual images created by the projections and the smaller scale of the performance created a more somber feeling from the piece.

Lyn Hershman: Agent Ruby's EDream Portal, 2002

http://agentruby.sfmoma.org/

Agent Ruby's Edream portal is an interactive interface that acts as an expansion Of Hershman Leeson's film Teknolust. Agent Ruby in this context is an artificial AI that is part of a lab. In the narrative, Agent Ruby is suppose to be a learning AI in which each interaction builds upon her database, along with access to information on the internet. The user is prompted to type a question in the box to the right and wait for Ruby yo respond. I tried this interactive page and  the responses I got for my questions seemed to be repeated back to me, unless the question had something to do with Lyn Hershman, Teknolust, or another character called Rosetta stone. This is the same type of process used in another program for the use of therapy, in which the user would type in a comment and the program would repeat that question. From what I understand, some people had hour long conversations with the computer. I see the same thing in Agent Ruby in which the character acts as a mirror for the user, allowing them to essentially vent. The female persona also reminds me of Sirie, a famous female personality programed on phones. We know its a program, not  even an AI but there are many jokes about how sexy Sirie's voice is, incorporating a personality to it ( or her). I see this as tying into Hershman's work on how technology can blur the line between a physical and biological spaces.

Joe DeLappe: Lecture Review

Joe DeLappe is a digital media artist whose work is often a combination of digital and electronic media with a physical counter-part in the form of sculpture or installations. This work also includes interventions conducted in virtual spaces such as Second Life or the US recruiting game American Army. His interventions in virtual space opens up dialogue for topics like the Iraq War from the perspective of the Iraq civilians and how much the US involvement has affected their lives, especially with the use of drones. The purpose is of course to show connections of physical and virtual realties that discuss Issues in politics or explore historical and cultural contexts from a new perspective.

The works I found the most notable in his lecture was his project The Salt Satyagrah Online: Gandhi’s March to Dandi in Second Life. Starting in 2008 and extending into a series of 3D printed and cardboard sculptures based on the Gandhi avatar created in Second Life. From March 12th to April 6^th, Joe DeLappe entered the Second Life with his Gandhi Avatar to recreate the Salt March of 1930. The recreation of this event was not done in only a pure virtual space, DeLappe also physically walked the 240 miles on a treadmill. The steps recorded from the treadmill with the use of sensors allowed him to move the Avatar forward. The reaction from other users was surprising as well, for most of them casually talked to the artist avatar, complemented his design and even started to join the march. The physical component of this piece is an unique element to this reenactment. It would have been not as physically taxing for the artist to conduct the march in just the virtual space and the message about (how people in this cyberspace would react to this figure and the historical context) would have been clear. The willingness to experience the march in this physical extension shows a dedication to experience at least some aspect of Gandhi’s experience during this march. It also opens up dialogue of historical context in a space where individuals can create this avatars representing people and events in this alternate reality.

The other Work I was interested in was the intervention Dead in Iraq. In 2006, DeLappe played the US Army Recruiting game, a government funded program where the game offers a simulation of what warfare would be like. The entertainment aspect of it makes it a very useful recruiting tool but the actual gameplay makes it feel more of a shooter game making the experience a one-sided perspective. What DeLappe did though, was to enter the game but not partake in the usual activities of shooting and post names of fallen soldiers in Iraq. As you can imagined, many people were upset by this, both the players and the family members of the fallen. One player I believed even asked the artist why he wasn’t doing this in fount of the recruitment center. And DeLappe I believed replied that since the US military is supporting and running this game that he is essentially is doing his work in a government space. And also, that he could reach far more people through this virtual space as opposed to a physical space. This shows that the virtual space can be a very effective way to open dialogue about issues and perspectives that are not talked about. By posting the names of these soldiers he’s showing how the nation uses this solider as a symbol yet rarely do people get involved try to understand the individual, unless it’s the family, spouse, or even close friends.

Honey Baby: Exhibition Review

Honey Baby is a video art piece made by the collaborative team work by Janine Antoni and Stephen Petronio. Janine Antoni is a performance artist who also does work in sculpture, dance form, and video.  Her work often deals forms of human connection and the relationship to religion, the body, gender, and other such topics. Stephen Petronio on the other hand is a choreographer, dance artist, and performance artist. His work is more concerned with the sense of identity through the expression of the body in dance. The sense of self by acknowledging the entire body is an important aspect to consider, especially if you think about how people conduct most of their interactions and construct Identities through the interface of digital technology. These artist have a history of collaboration, with projects like Gestures in Dance and Like Lazarus. Honey Baby however was inspired by sonograpths of Antoni’s nieces’ baby. Sonography are imbued with feelings of intimacy and the work recreates that intimacy on another scale.   

The work is a 14 minute video in which a nude dancer is positioning himself around a metal tube. The work was installed in the Sheppard’s gallery as a projection in a smaller room that was recently added. The room is enclosed in by four walls and had little to no lighting. The only source being the projection.  This creates the sense of being surrounded by a mother’s womb and it creates a space that in any other context would be relatively uncomfortable. This creates an immersive environment the circular background is set in amber colors, creating a sense of warmth and intimacy that contrasts with the dark shadows of the tube and silhouette of the dancer. There is also a sticky substance that coats both the tube and the dancer, symbiotic of embryotic fluid The sound component is a combination of  breathes and heartbeats, imitating the sounds most likely heard by the baby from the mother. The movement of the dancer is slow but calming, steadily rotating around the space.

The video is supposed to relay the intimacy of the image of a sonograpth through this video. The work also conveys that intimacy of the relationship between the mother and child though the simplicity of body movements. The baby and mother of cannot directly talk to each other, but the baby’s movements is a form of communication to the mother. And the baby is able to hear the sounds the mother creates through her breathing, heartbeat and other stimuli within her body. The imagery is an interesting contrast to what an actual sonograpth looks like. Again, the sense of intimacy is associated with that image, but its seen through the use of a machine. Its also a still image of the baby, so unless you are present at the actual sonogram, the baby’s movements is not usually part of that association. Honey Baby’s warm colors and video of the dancer’s movements provide the viewer a deeper understanding or at least the feeling of intimacy between the mother and child.