Marina Abramovic

This performance retrospective traces the prolific career of Marina Abramović (Yugoslav, b. 1946) with approximately fifty works spanning over four decades of her early interventions and sound pieces, video works, installations, photographs, solo performances, and collaborative performances made with Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen). In an endeavor to transmit the presence of the artist and make her historical performances accessible to a larger audience, the exhibition includes the first live re-performances of Abramović’s works by other people ever to be undertaken in a museum setting. In addition, a new, original work performed by Abramović will mark the longest duration of time that she has performed a single solo piece.

Marina Abramovic is a performance artist who actually uses her own body to make her art. Her work is so powerful and can almost be painful and uncomfortable for some people to watch. During one of her pieces she actually put down different objects on a table for people to use on her. The objects ranged from a loaded gun to condoms and even razors. She allowed people to use whatever they wanted on her and took full responsibility for all damages done to her body. The project first started out as very innocent and no actually harm was done to her but than after a couple hours people started to become more comfortable with the idea of using such objects on her and people began to cut her and actually hurt her. Her work to me is so limitless. She has no fear and her work is strong and compelling.

Improv Everywhere.

WE CAUSE SCENES.

Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents.Improv Everywhere was started in August of 2001, Charlie Todd went out to a West Village bar with some of he's college buddies Brandon Arnold and Jon Karpinos. On a whim they all decided to pull a prank where Charlie Todd would pose as musician Ben Folds. Three hours later, “Ben Folds” was drinking on the house surrounded by women and his “two big fans” were thrown out of the bar for “stealing Ben Folds’ wallet”. Charlie Todd had always been a prankster, but this experience enlightened him as to how far a prank could be taken. As an actor new to the city, he discovered he could create he's own theatre rather than waiting around for someone to give me stage time. Bored at he's temp job the next Monday morning, he wrote the story down and put it on the wed. And Improv Everywhere was born.

Why does Improv Everywhere do this?

Improv Everywhere is, at its core, about having fun. Everyone involved in their missions are big believers in “organized fun”. The groups missions are a fun source of entertainment for the participants, those who happen to see members live, and those who read their website. Improv Everywhere members get satisfaction from coming up with an awesome idea and making it come to life. In the process they hopefully bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a unique experience and a great story to tell. Improv Everywhere is out to prove that a prank doesn’t have to involve humiliation or embarrassment; it can simply be about making someone laugh, smile, or stop to notice the world around them.

Is there an age-limit to participating?

Improv Everywhere missions are open to people of all ages. But they do suggest that anyone under the age of 18 have their parent’s permission to participate. Basically if you live in the New York area and would like to be apart of the next mission put on by Improv Everywhere you would go on their website and sign up on there New York mailing list.

 

Improv Every where's very first musical performance was in a mall in LA. For the most part Improv Everywhere does not ask permission before staging a mission at a certain location but for this mission Improv Ever where did work with the mall to stage this musical. Hot Dog on a Stick was also involved in this performance and that is how one of the agents was able to wear the uniform and appear to be working behind the counter.

UCI / Beall Center for Art + Technology

My trip to the Beall center was nice because the art work was easy for me to fully understand. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the work in the room. I really like the way the artist are using the viewer as a key in there work. The work involves the viewer and you really feel like you are apart of the inflatable bodies. They move and inflate as you walk by them. The pieces were very well put together and the bodies were clicking as the move and that gave the experience a interesting element because you can actually see and hear them move along.

Eadweard Muybridge

9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904

Eadweard Muybrige was a English photographer who spent most of his time in the United States. He is most well known for his work with animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion. He changed his name many different times early on in his career when he first moved to the united states. His work is all about capturing motion and movement with animals and or people. I think his work is like a still movie. The first kinds of movie probably every invented. I like the work he did with animals and the photographs he has with people moving are fun to look at too.

So with his work he basically took different cameras to capture movement and motion. As you can see with the couple dancing above. He would capture every move the couple made than later put them all next to each other and create this moving little film of the couple actually dancing. I really like his work with animals. He did a great job at capturing all the different movement and he was excellent at motion pictures.

Jennifer Ringley / Jennicam

Jennifer Ringley is a web cam artist. Her work is basically redifing web cam work. Her web cam (Jeennicam) is kind of like a show all about her daily life. Uncut and real her webcam shows views what she does everyday. Regarded by some as a new media artist, Ringley viewed her site as a straight-forward document of her life. She did not wish to filter the events that were shown on her camera, so sometimes she was shown in the nude or engaging in sexual behavior, including sex. This was a new use of Internet technology in 1996 and viewers were stimulated both for its sociological implications and for sexual arousal.The JenniCam web site coincided with a rise in surveillance as a feature of popular culture, particularly reality television programs, and as a feature of contemporary art and new media art.

The Jennicam last for seven years total. The webpage would automatically refresh every three minutes with the most recent picture from the camera. Anyone with Internet access could observe the often mundane events of Ringley's life. JenniCam was one of the first web sites that continuously and voluntarily surveyed a private life. Her first webcam contained only black-and-white images of her in the dorm room. After a couple years Jennifer decided to start charging money to view her web cam but views still had access to view her webcam for free.

Vaneeesa Blaylock

Vaneeesa Blaylock is a performance artist. Her company performs works in virtual worlds that explore identity, Individuality, and persona in the 21st century. The Company's primary media is live performance but they also produce photography and other media as performance documents. On 17 June 1961 Rudolf Nureyev defected from Russia. He would not be allowed to return for the next 28 years. On 21 February 1962 Nureyev and Fonteyn performed together for the first time. They would perform together for the next 26 years. They have defined ballet partnering for all time. Vaneeesa Blaylocks company has put together a recreation of there last performance in SL. By doing this work her company says they are searching for insight into what it means to be alive in the virtual world by channeling two artists who, for a time, they are as alive in the physical world as perhaps anyone has ever been.

 

Vaneeesa Blaylock and her company recreate beautiful work through SL. Her recreation of this performance was very creative and well done. She recreated something that was done over half a century ago and now everyone can appreciate the simplicity and grace of their performance that really shaped art work for ever. Ballet and partner work with ballet was changed forever after this performance so to have it recreated in SL is so cool!

 

Four Yip

Four Yip paintings mix reality portraits of Second Life avatars. Her work includes three different types of paintings. First she makes a snapshot of the avatars she says than she paints them in a digital sense based on how she see's them and lastly she Photo shops them. "They are imaginative portraits," is what Four Yip says about her avatars. My favorite piece of her work is this one above, Four Yip's portrait of Kean Kelly, transforming her from an unblemished avatar into a person with a history and secrets to keep.

I personally really loved the work Four Yip did with the portrait of Kean Kelly. Kean Kelly's avatar is cool and futurist looking but the second portrait of Kean Kelly looks more meaningful and more like a digital painting than a avatar. The second piece of work has a lot of detail and looks like a real painting in a art galley i like the texture that Four Yip was able to capture with that portrait and i think her work in this piece is very new media and a cool new way to create art work through avatars.

Joseph DeLappe

    Over the course of 26 days, using a treadmill for cyberspace, Joseph DeLappe reenacted Mahatma Gandhi's famous 1930 Salt March. The original 240-mile walk was made in protest of the British salt tax; Joseph DeLappe updated this seminal protest march in Second Life, the Internet-based virtual world. For this performance, Joseph Delappe walked the entire 240 miles of the original march on a converted treadmill at Eye beam in New York City and online in Second Life. His steps on the treadmill controlled the forward movement of my avatar, Gandhi Chakrabarti, enabling the live and virtual reenactment of the march.
 
    After reading up on the artist Joseph DeLappe I feel like the walk he did on a treadmill to represent Mahatma Gandhi's famous 1930 Salt March is amazing. The 240 mile walk Gandhi originally made was remarkable and a milestone in history that will always be remembered. To have a new media artist like Joseph DeLappe reenact Gandhi's journey is such a good idea. He turned a historical event and put in on Second life.

Thomson & Craighead

FLAT EARTH

Flat Earth is a desktop documentary that basically turns to world onto a flat computer screen. The project takes the viewer on a 7 minute trip around the world, telling different stories about different locations around the world from blogs on the Internet. All the blogs are put together and told kind of like a story. Most of the images taken from Flat Earth are from satellite imagery from the web. The pictures are kinda like the ones taken from Google Earth. This is with the exception of the close-up imagery from outside USA, which had to be paid for non-commercial use and a series of images taken from Flickr under Creative Commons attribution license.

Flat Earth is a really interesting trip that everyone can take around the earth. A lot of people can not just take a trip around the world so i think its really unique and cool that from this project everyone can go on their computer and take a trip around the world. I like the way that Thomas and Craighead use real peoples blogs from their experiences. By doing this straight from blogs of real people i think it would give the viewer an amazing experiences from places around the world. It helps people feel like they are really there.

Jeffrey Shaw

In this installation a rotating platform lets the person stand on a rotating projected image within a large circular projection screen and explore a three dimensional virtual environment. The work presents a virtual landscape containing eleven cylinders that show particular sites in the Ruhr area. The viewer can navigate this 3D space and enter these panoramic cylinders.On the platform there is a column with an underwater video camera. This device is user interface, its buttons and handling allow you to control his movement through the virtual scene as well as cause the rotation of the platform and of the projected image around the circular screen. A small monitor within this housing also shows the ground plan of the virtual environment with reference to the user's location there. A microphone on top of this camera picks up any sound that the viewer makes, and this causes the release of continuously moving three dimensional words and sentences within the scene.

Credits:

This is so cool! Jeffrey Shaw showcased this project in 2000. I really like the way this project is interasctive. Everything about the camera he uses and the way you can pick what you see and where to go is really different. The underwater camera is also pretty unique.

Gracie Kendal

 Kristine Schomaker

 

"…I have found it difficult to be comfortable in my own skin. My sense of self has become dislodged and torn apart. Through Gracie I have begun to put myself back together."

- Kristine Schomaker


    Gracie Kendal also known as Kristine Schomaker is a Los Angeles based new media and performance artist, painter and art historian.  For over 12 years, she has been experimenting with different art forms including using online virtual worlds and social networking technologies. Kristine's most current work is about the notions of online identity, specifically the construction of Avatars. Her work as a whole stands as an allegory of the relationship between appearance and identity, illusion, belief and reality. Two projects she is currently working on are, "My Life as an Avatar: The Gracie Kendal project" and "1000 Avatars" a contemporary portraits of avatars in the virtual world of Second Life.


     Her first major project she is currently working on is called "1000 Avatars". This project is still in the making and Kristine Schomaker actually has a blog that she uses to keep in contact with her followers and through this blog people give her comments, thoughts, and suggestions on her work. So first off, Kristine is an Second life artist who plays with the relationship between appearance, identity, illusion, belief and reality. She feels like a lot of people who use avatars today are literally approaching it from the point of view that their avatar represents their ‘incarnation’ into the Internet.” In today's world, an avatar is our virtual representation. Many people today are using avatars to give themselves an "alter ego" or a second persona. And because an avatar is secret, it allows people to espace reality and enter a whole different world. "The portraits I am taking have become a documentation of the lives of hundreds of people who to me are fearless. These people (yes I say people, because no matter how we represent ourselves online, we are all people on the other side of the computer) put themselves out there into the brave new world of virtual environments as explorers, searching for anything and everything. They are amazing, creative, soulful people who I am so honored to have in my project" this is what Schomaker said about this project. Second Life offers people the freedom to explore different identities. Experimentation and creativity is welcome. It is a safe environment that allows unlimited freedom to express yourself and consider boundaries/barriers that aren’t readily accepted in the physical world. “Computer screens are becoming the new location for our fantasies… The immateriality of cyberspace dissolves not only space and time, but our identities as well. For some this is a frightening prospect, for others perhaps the beginnings of a new empowerment ", Kristine Schomaker.

Kristine Schomaker is also working on a second project called, "My Life as an Avatar: The Gracie Kendal project". The Gracie Kendal Project is a close-up daily view of a personal, social and psychological co-existence with my virtual persona. Using installation, text, photography, mixed media, video and performance, Schomaker shows herself onto another form and confronts her own imperfections.Kristine Schomaker,"My work deals with the process of becoming self-aware while living in a media-saturated, technologically advancing society. It is symbolic of the personal anxiety and loss of identity occurring in a world where visually aggressive advertisements dictate who you are supposed to be. In this environment I find it difficult to be comfortable in my own skin. My sense of self has become dislodged and torn apart. Through documentation, I construct a narrative of self that represents me and is me, one that helps to deconstruct ideas of normalcy and authenticity".

Kristine Schomaker was originally an Abstract painter but when applying to an art program in college she started playing around with art an Second Life and began to really grow as an artist during this time period. When Schomaker was showing her Second Life art work to a college art professor one day he suggested that she should create an avatar as a self portrait. Growing up Schomaker has always had weight issues, she constantly battled her weight and has been self conscience about her image so when her professor made this suggestion she thought this would be a great way to make a kinda alter ego in the Second Life world. A lot of her work as Gracie Kendal is about body image and self exploitation. Kristine Schomaker says that she has always hated taking pictures of herself and looking at herself but though second life she has really become more comfortable with her self image and through the Gracie Kendal projects she hopes to help others learn to accept and love themselves. Her work in Second Life isn't about losing weight or changing your otter appearance. Through her work she is trying to help others become self accepting and most importantly brave. She would like to help others find peace and grace within themselves.

Masaki Fujihata

    Masaki Fujihata uses interactive technology, virtual reality and networking to question human perception and awareness. His work really makes you question reality vs. technology. Fujihata is constantly questioning reality and his art work really makes you do some critical thinking. One piece of work Fujihata has done is the "Unreflected Mirror". The mirror is an extended version of a normal mirror, the appearance of the mirror looks completely ordinary. From the technical side it is realized with virtual reality using 3D position tracking and stereo projection. But it is a totally fake mirror. In it, a viewer wearing polarized filter glasses sees the glasses as a reflection, but cannot see themselves. The reflected image of the back walls follows the eye coordination of the person looking into the mirror. People who have looked into the mirror experience a strange feeling of the loss of their existence.
   I think this mirror is very weird but its different and that's cool. I really like the way Fujuhata art pieces make you think. The mirror tricks you and i think that people feel like they lost their existence when they look into this mirror because now a days most people are so used to seeing and feeling everything to be able to understand that some thing is real and not fake. So the question of reality vs technology is a debatable topic that can be argued for days. Since i haven't personally looked into this mirror i can only go off of what people have said about it but this is a mirror i would like to see.

Stelarc

    Stelarc is an Australian performance artist that uses technology to extend his body. He uses mechanical prostheses to create different body parts. Stelarc has been apart of several projects surgeries to fuse with the machine. In 2006, he surgically appended a third ear to his forearm made of his own skin cells, soft tissue and flexible cartilage. The ear was originally made up on a computer. He had a small microphone implanted in the ear in order to transmit audio signals wirelessly to the Internet so that people everywhere could have the possibility of hearing what his third ear was hearing. As a result of this the idea of a networked body, plugged in and tuned in to other bodies, as well as extending beyond its own skin as a border or boundary.

    The ear ended up getting an infection and had to be removed. So his experiment failed and the idea of mechanical prostheses becomes apart of the human body wasn't a reality for long. For Stelarc he says that the body has become "freed" by the mechanical prostheses. I kind of think this whole process is weird and NOT natural at all..that's why his body rejected the third ear. Trying to change the natural science and nature of the human body is just not supposed to happen in this way and sometimes i think too much technology can harm society. The whole third ear idea is a cool one i would see in a movie or read about but not something i would want on my own body.

Eva & Franco Mattes

    In “No Fun” Franco Mattes stages his suicide in a public web cam in a chat room. Over a thousand random people watched while he was hanging from the ceiling, swinging slowly for hours. The video documentation of the performance is super realistic and at times very disturbing. Out of the thousands of people who watched this there was a lot of different reactions. Some people laughed, some are completely unmoved, some people just sit there and make fun of him, and some people evens take pictures with their cell phones. Out of several thousand people, only one person actually called the police.

    I had to watch this video on someone's blog because the decumentation was originally put up on YouTube but was quickly banned and taken off the website. The video received a lot of different reactions from everybody and its interesting to see how confused and heartless some people can be. There are people who just sit there and laugh while Franco Mattes is literally hanging from the ceiling. I think its unbelievable that only one person actually called the police. When Franco Mattes was interviewed about this performance he said that many people live on the Internet so he wanted to "die" on it. I think that's a powerful statement because that's so true, many people are living their lives through a computer screen now a days. And i think his message is a powerful one.

Erwin Redl

 Artist Erwin Redl uses LED's as an artistic medium. He uses both two and three dimensions, he works with interior and exterior spaces. Erwin Redl has gotten a lot attention, his very well known to new media artists. Redl works with LED lights, but arranges them in a square grid with only a few inches apart. In his “fade” series, the LED lights slowly transition from red to blue. People have described his installations as “mesmerizing”. He works with many different lights, colors and room size art.

Erwin Redl has a really interesting way of his expressing his artwork. I like the way his work is room size and different, i loe the lights and color too. His work looks different from every point of view. He puts the lights above your head, eye level, and at ankle level so your basically surrounded by these lights and they look like something out of a movie about the future. His work almost reminds me of a diagram. He makes the enviorment seem unreal and something out of a science fiction movie. I would love actually go and see his work in person!

Scott Blake

Scott Blake is a new modern artist, a website editor and T-shirt maker. He is most famous for creating more than 30 images out of material (bar-codes) even though it can take him up to six months to finish just one design.  He has been making his bar code art for 10 years. He was inspired by Roy Liechtenstein large comic book style paintings with over sized benday dots. The first picture he ever made was of Jesus (pictured above) and it took him 940 bar codes. He also creates barcode stencils that he calls ‘word paintings’, and barcode graffiti, like an image that simply says “Scott Blake was here.” When Scott Blake was asked how this bar code art all started this is what he said, " I first tried circles and then squares. The tile patterns morphed into a cluster of lines, and before I knew it, I was staring at a bunch of barcodes. I assigned the numbers to describe each pixel’s grayscale value and grid coordinate.” -Scott Blake.

Scott Blake is such a creative artist! Who would have ever thought to create a bar code into art, i love his work. I think everything about his iconic celebrity portraits are modern and really a "new" kind of art. The fact that he sort of stumbled upon this bar code art is crazy. He is also known for making some other electric art but most famous for the bar code art he does. I think his work is new, fun, and interesting to look at. Scott Blake is really just an example that there are so many different types of art out there.

LACMA

Coney Island, 1934 by Paul Cadmus
This oil painting was the first painting i saw that i really loved! What really draws me to this picture is the fun cartoon like drawings and the characters are all sunburn and having fun at the beach. I can relate and identify with this picture because my friends and i love spending all our time in the summer at the beach! Just kicking back and having fun, everyone he painted looks so carefree and full of life.

This was my absolute favorite thing i saw at the whole museum! i love love love fashion and i am kinda obsessed with these bathing suits! the black and blue suits are actually swim suits and the yellow dress in the middle is a 'play outfit". I love old fashion, everything about vintage clothes are so cool and these swim suits are just to die for, i wish we still wore this to the beach or swimming!

 The Crucifixion of St. Andrew
I choose this painting because i was just so drawn to it and interested in it. I really like the way it almost tells a story, the artist did a great job at really capturing the moment for something none of us were there to witness.

The Mocking of Christ
This painting was really offensive. I hate the way there literally mocking Christ as his dying. These men are so wrong and i kinda do not understand why the artist painted this...

The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame by Georges de La Tour
Georges de La Tour painted four versions of Mary Magadalene, first of all i really like Mary Magadalene because her story shows how forgiving and understanding God will always be. I also like her because she is a sinner like the rest  of us and something when you hear stories about God its hard to relate to any of them but because Mary is so mortal like the rest of us its easy to relate to and really understand.

This is just some pieces of art that reminded me of the Norton Simon Museum!!

Weeping Woman with Handkerchief by Pablo Picasso
I can relate to his picture because everyone cries lol!

Bust of a Seated Woman by Pablo Picasso
Right now in my English class I am writing a paper on societies view on woman this painting is a perfect example of how even art and capture woman in such an unreal fake way. The woman painted in all sucked in by a dress. Shes wearing this because in that time all woman wore a corset like thing under there dresses to make them appear skinner.

Anger by Hans-Siebert von Heister
This painting was done in Germany which was very popular art work there. I really like it because its real and easy to read. The figure here is clearly angry and the sharp lines and colors the artist used show us that.

Identity Collage

My family is the most important part of my life and each one of them has a huge role in my identity. My mom was a teen mother and had to return to school later in her life to obtain her college degree and she's mainly the reason why i believe that education is the key to success. My dad is my role model and we are very close. I admire the standard of moral he lives his life by. When i graduated high school i decided i wanted to go to college and become a registered nurse. During high school i was a cheerleader but i was not always involved with cheer, growing up i was a dancer and in a dance studio was where i spent my childhood years. School is very important to me and in the middle of my collage i have a circle that tells you how i divide my time. School is a major part of my time than there is family and friends, i also spend a lot of my free time volunteering at USC county hospital in downtown LA. The rosary is the middle of my collage is a Catholic rosary because my family and i are practicing Catholics.