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Identities & Inequalities & the Arts. access to careers in the arts arts activism tastes and status, class distinctions of art publics (later). The Arts & Identity Issues of Art World participants. Identity issues for participants Labeling (who is considered an “artist”?)
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Identities & Inequalities & the Arts access to careers in the arts arts activism tastes and status, class distinctions of art publics (later)
The Arts & Identity Issues of Art World participants • Identity issues for participants • Labeling (who is considered an “artist”?) • “representations” of identities in art (ex. ambivalence in artists’ discourse, presentation of self) • status distinctions (within & between art worlds) • symbolic boundaries • material constraints • biases & values imbedded in practices & institutions • participation of minorities & the dispossessed in art worlds
Discriminatory Dimensions of Artistic Practices & Institutions • “Institutionalized” sexism & racism • Gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, religion, national affiliations, geography • Tensions between artistic ‘freedom’ and socio-cultural conventions
Recall: the “triple game” of contemporary art • Sociologist Nathalie Heinich’s theory of how the arts push the boundaries of what is acceptable • Transgression (of norms, tastes & values by artists) • Rejection (of artworks by publics) • integration (of new art endowed with the critical acclaim of art world insiders) • Theory that contemporary artists must push Boundaries pertaining to aesthetic values & other socio-cultural values (ex.photos by Robert Mapplethorpe)
Examples of Critical Discourse Analysis of Women in the Arts: • DeNora on Performing gender in history of piano performance • Guerilla Girls-- http://www.guerrillagirls.com/ • Aim of exposing hegemony of white males of European heritage in contemporary Art Worlds
Guerrilla Girlsoriginally covered skin to hide identity further
Kong and Faye Wray • Beauty & the beast imagery • Plus word play (Guerrillas as underground fighters too)
Another approach to resisting hegemonic restrictions on participation in art worlds: Studies of “exceptions” (success stories) Jacob Lawrence, Ironers 1943.
Rewriting the “canon” • Germaine Greer The Obstacle Race. The Fortunes of women Painters and their work, 1979 • Ex. Marcia Tucker et al. Out there. Marginalization and Contemporary cultures New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1992. • Griselda Pollock Differencing the Canon-- Feminist Desire and the Writing of Art’s Histories, routledge, 1999 • Boim, Albert. The Art of Exclusion. Representing blacks in the nineteenth Centuryk, Smithsonian 1990 • Trinh T. Minh-ha, Cornell West etc.
Teaching the Arts as a form of ‘action research’ & communication Example: Video clip ‘Kumba’
Artistic Activities for Social Change • Artists as members of social/cultural “avant garde”— • anticipate social change • provoke resistance (ex. anti-war, AIV AIDS benefits etc.) • inspire trends (ex. fashions) • support charitable causes (ex. AIDS activism) • provide leadership • But-- critics sometimes doubt sincerity • Recall- spoof of artists’ pleas for African aid • http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2007/03/ricky_gervais_d.html
Artistic Practice as Social Action: Samuel Mockbee’s “Architecture of Decency”—Rural Studio • Architecture students in Alabama work on buildings for rural poor: homes, children’s centre, marketplace, sports facilities • “sustainable” architecture, social welfare, practical experience
Mason’s Bend • Small, very poor rural community living in makeshift housing
1994 & 2000 (r) Views of the Hay Bale House
Links between social conscience & high culture aesthetics • Modernism/postmodernism • High tech materials & tastes but “low tech” & low cost building solutions • Interaction with clients & feedback from them • Community-based projects • Note references to architectural traditions in introduction
Judith Levine: Theatre for the Forgotten • Theatre in prisons & with “social outcasts” • Benevolence & art– different than “art for arts sake” • Historic example: Beckett’s End Game
Theatre for the Forgotten • Funding issues: • Volunteers at the beginning • Touring inmates as part of theatre • Money for “training”, for arts diffusion • Funding for social support (education, employment readiness, counselling components) • change in emphasis– theatre professionals replaced by social workers & arts therapists • In 1970s– end of growth of guerrilla theatre movements
Debates: • Arts for art sake vs. arts as social-political action • Arts as “normative” (teaching shared values)– like debates about the arts & citizenship • Using other funding as a pretext to fund the arts • Use of arts funding for social programmes • Definition about what is art? • who can teach the arts?
Impact of Arts as Social Service • Organizational identity • Survival strategies • Changes to the actual way in which the art is done • Other types of activist theatre: ex. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed
Gran Fury and AIDS activism • Gran Fury– name for an artists’ collective (1988-1992) • AIDS awareness • public advertisement campaign (silence=death) • Article about Quebec campaign
Political Art and Action, • Grand Fury--Against indifference to AIDS & against homophobia • Link to images of work • But did not do <homework> in Quebec context (health coverage better there than in US, language differences)
Artistic work, Consciousness-raising & Recognition Processes Filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton’s work about African Canadian experiences Film screening of The Little Black Schoolhouse and talk by Dr. Hamilton
Note to Users of these Outlines-- • not all material covered in class appears on these outlines-- important examples, demonstrations and discussions aren’t written down here. • Classes are efficient ways communicating information and provide you will an opportunity for regular learning. These outlines are provided as a study aid not a replacement for classes.
