Installation art and politics

Installation art uses three dimensional architectural or open natural spaces to impact the viewer's perception of space while experiencing the art piece. It uses the architectural space that the viewer is in, bringing the viewer into the art, pulling them inside. The question that I want to ask is “How do art installations help us confront and process emotionally and politically challenging topics differently than other kinds of art?” This question will help us understand how installations can be used to discuss difficult topics and why it is chosen above other methods.

One example of politically motivated installation art from our book, is the interesting installation piece Kara Walker's , “Insurrection! (Our tools were rudimentary, Yet we pressed on)” This piece was interesting to me because it surrounds the viewer with stories about slavery in early United States history but because the pictures are cut outs that look like cartoons, the viewer is also somewhat removed from the subject matter. I am also choosing to look at examples of installation art and design from the web site http://dornob.com/design/more/. Dornob.com is a commercial site that deals with design and architecture. It will have a different approach to the subject of politics because it is commercial and so anything politically challenging will be secondary to commercial interests. I will spend time viewing any form of politically or emotionally challenging installation art that uses the environment to help form the experience.

What medium do you chose to learn about and make your artwork with? Note that your decision doesn’t have to be final. (1-3 sentences)
Is this question referring to our final art project for the class? Is this essay supposed to include information about our final project or is it supposed to address the question that we are asking? I am going to an installation piece, if I have the time and the resources to do the project. If not, then I will present poetry.

I am currently reading “Art as experience” which I found by looking for the influences of Allen Kaprow who was was “an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory.” So far, I am really enjoying this book. It is dense art theory, chalk full of dense and abstract ideas but something about it's style makes it easy and enjoyable to read.-Wikipedia. I am also going to read “From Art to politics” as suggested by a classmate.

One term that I want to dig into it the term “experience.” A lot of what I am reading about and hoping to create is a piece becomes a part of the viewers “experience” so I need to explore the idea and definition. “Art as experience” is exploring art and it's relationship to the rest of life. It argues that life and art cannot be separated and that in times past they were not. The author connects capitalist monetary system, a new device for exchanging the stuff of life, to the relegation of art to the confines of the museum. Some other terms that I want to explore are “meditative flow.”

I want to look up more from Carsten Höller and Allen kaprow. I will post the pictures of their installation pieces later in the day. They make works that are interactive and that create an “experience.” My medium is also a “place.” It is the 3^rd oldest elevator in the nation, the oldest in Houston, a historical relic that is ignored by the majority but appreciated by those who know about it. Anyway, that is the space that I want to manipulated with sound and lights to created a space that encourages “meditative activity or flow.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Test_Site_by_Carsten_H%C3%B6ller.jpg