In this weeks class we were asked “What is art?” and listening to the opinions of others I came to the realisation that everyones views on what art is, are different.
In my opinion art is not just a painting or a sculpture it is the feelings provoked in you when you look at something or hear a sound, I think it's the emotions that people feel towards a piece of art that make it art.
The Dada movement had a huge impact on what art is today, appearing in 1916 it changed visual arts, literature, poetry, art manifestoes, art theory and graphic design. The Dada movement was an anti-art movement and came about during World War 1 in Switzerland.
Marcel Duchamp, was a french artist who took part in the Dadaist movement and his input influenced the development of post World War art.
Marcel Duchamps piece of work “fountain” which was a urinal suspended by wire was probably one of the most prominent pieces of work considered in the Dada movement and opened us up to new ways of exhibiting art in a more inspiring way. This was conceptual art at it's best, Duchamp paved the way for conceptualists with his “readymades” ,“fountain” pictured below being the most famous of the collection.
Marcel Duchamp “Fountain” 1917
This brought about the notion of site specific art..... do you really need to exhibit in an actual gallery? In my opinion no, I think exhibitions in odd new places have a much bigger impact, I think the surroundings you view art in contribute to the success of the art itself. For example, outdoor inspired sculptures would be much more effective displayed outdoors rather than indoors.
A good example of site specific art is 2010 Turner prise winner Susan Philips, the piece exhibited was sound art, her piece was previously exhibited playing under three bridges in her hometown of Glasgow, her piece titled “lowlands” went on to being exhibited in Tate Britain leading to her success with the Turner prise.
Site specific art went on to progress and grow over the years with the introduction of site specific environmental art, which would usually include landscaping or sculptural works, interesting architecture can also be seen as site specific environmental art as it is placed permantly in one location.
Jem Finer is a brilliant example for site specific environmental art with his project “Score for a hole in the ground” which is an environmental musical instrument. It works as a deep shaft in the ground where inside there are bowls placed at different heights and different sizes turning on pivots to create the instrument, the drips of water strike the bowls creating musical sounds differentiating based on how much water each bowl is containing at that time. The sounds are amplified by a 20 metre tube with a horn on the end of it. Another of his works “Still” which was a camera he placed in a tree for two years taking continuous photos of all that passed its lens, from the 18,000 photos captured it can be viewed by some as a film but it is a still image in constant change from the environment. No two viewings of his findings are the same as it is composed in real time using a generative sequencing system, overlooked “score for a hole in the ground” from where he positioned his camera.
My views on these movements that have changed how art today is perceived are that they are a change for the better, without the introduction of these movements we would still have very close minded views on art as a whole.
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