Fall 2018 - Arts and Activism Class Blog

In the article, the author explores ideas, which are relevant to the art and more particularly trespassory art. Trespassory art is considered the new form of art in which the cultural signals of a group are given emphasis in order to try to give them a new meaning. S noted from the text, most of the art nowadays employs the new technology such as lasers as well as familiar mediums that are used in paintings, music, and other forms of artworks. Using the examples of Spencer Tunick’’ art, graffiti and ImporEverywhere, the author highlights the manner in which they qualify as different types of trespassory art.    Within trespassory art, it is evident that the law of property and tort are also applicable. However, the applicability is achievable after modifying the laws, which identify private and public property. In this way, this helps in explaining the emerging 21 st century type of art (Bezanson and Finkelman 277). The relevance of the law in the evolution of the artist...

"Its [Art's] value, in other words, lies not so much in the creativity of the artist, but in the creativity of the audience—the viewer, listener, reader, or participant. This is especially so with public art, which inserts into the empirical reality of daily life an instance of sensual reflection, of imagination, of disrupted cognition, of serious aesthetic contemplation. As Dewey put it, “[t]he product of art—temple, painting, statue, poem, is not the work of art. The work takes place when a human being cooperates with the product so that the outcome is an experience that is enjoyed because of its liberating and ordered properties.” Dewey called the “idea of art as a conscious idea—the greatest intellectual achievement in the history of humanity." I love this quote from the Conclusion paragraph of this document and in reading, it has made me think about the types of theatre that we are studying in a different way. In some cases, we, as theatre-makers, are an interrupti...

Rebecca Lerman Evelyn Serrano TAIC-310-03 November 20th, 2018 Trespassory Art by Randall Bezanson After reading Trespassory Art by Randall Bezanson, the main takeaways were the types of trespassory art ​, such as, Billboard alteration, including shopdropping and droplifters, Culture Jamming, Graffiti and Laser Graffiti, Improv Everywhere, and Parkour. A key takeaway within the types of trespassory art is how the artists decides to “disrupt”, or change the space around them. Bezanson describes Billboard alteration in terms of saying that it  “is not vandalism in its true sense—the group makes the point that they don’t damage the billboard itself.” Also, Bezanson includes “the goals of the art: to ‘throw a well aimed spanner into the media’s gears, bring the image factory to a shuddering halt. We work to unmask the real corporate activity behind the glamorous image, and to assault the billboard itself, to question its given function’(Billboard Subversion Guide, Smashing the ...

11/13 assignment: a) Each member of the group will stand in each corner of the bathroom. A small table is placed in the center, with objects relating to personal vulnerabilities on the table. There will be instructions for the audience on the table - "Use any item in this room, in any way that you would like, on us. We are open and ready for anything." Members of the audience will participate and at the end of the piece - set with a time limit of 10 minutes - we come together in a group and face the audience, who will be most likely be looking into the space from the hallway, as not everyone can fit in the space at one time. We will say "You have done this. We are human beings." b) The Generator Building bathroom closest to the door.  c) The arts and activism students and instructors. d)  www.ted.com/talks/marina_abramovic_an_art_made_of_trust_vulnerability_and_connection#t-335114 . www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?utm_campaign=tedspread...

We’ve started to compile some questions and have reached out to the Jewish Union here at CalArts to work in collaboration. We plan on keeping it an open safe discussion, but have thought of some entry points... How often do you feel your cultural is appropriated? What are things you wish people knew more about in regards to being Jewish?  Do you feel represented well in media?  How long have you practiced your faith?  Have you ever questioned your faith? Are there any aspects of your religion that you disagree with? When/how did you realize “Jew” became a negative connotation? 

Environmental Activism   Stacia Marcum, Abigail Stanton, Tyler Virga, Ji Ho Park, Br í d East, Jillian Linder  We started to narrow down to subject, which is environment in CalArts. We gathered research from about the recycling system at CalArts. As we know, CalArts' facility management team provides the resources necessary in order to compost and recycle, however students are not taking advantage of and/or respecting the environment in our community. Thus, as we have large number of smokers in our community, we are targeting them - urging/encouraging them to not throw their cigarette butts on the ground, which causes ground pollution. In Progress... We are currently gathering materials for the piece of art that is to be made.  We are finalizing the information that is to be put on the "educational document". Wondering... During our discussion, we were confronted with a challenge about how we deliver our idea in an Art form such as performances, paintings ...

The idea of trespassory art is reminding me of, "the importance of returning to the childs mind," a phrase many teachers have uttered to the various companies of actors I have had the privilege of working with over the last few years. The childs mind is a place of imagination in its purest form. Nothing is ever what it seems. A twig is a jewel-encrusted sword forged in dragons breath. After reading the first few pages I remembered this video (below) a dad made that created the world the child was seeing and being a part of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zCn_yQ3RY

a) detailed description of proposed project (describe issue you are addressing and well as strategies/approach you are considering) b) locations you are considering c) potential audience(s) d) include your team's research about this issue TEAM: Chance, Jacqueline, Nic, Jacob ​ We are going to take out the hate speech in political speeches, spoken within the last 5 years.  We were curious about what would be left from a speech if you take out the hate speech. We will do this by creating an installation in one of the art galleries. (if a gallery can't be acquired, we will put it up in the main building.) The instillation will include a projector showing a looped video of us actively redacting the text. We will redact the hate speech by turning them into Black Out Poems.  Around the projector will be large prints of the text redacted, using the black out poetry format, and not redacted.  The first president that we are analyzing is Donald Trump...

The social cure The social cure, the idea that people respond to collective action, peer pressure, and social behavior more so than to facts and that this pattern can be leveraged to cure political violences and inequities, is complicated by mass media and overpopulation. What is the critical mass of social capital one must amass in a given community to create a lasting, structural change to the whole social unit? In a world of overpopulation, one has a larger number of people to convince and larger number of subcultures which must be influenced. The prevalence of social media provides an indirect method of spreading information quickly in a sea of messages vying for attention. Direct face to face interaction may still be more effective to convince and mobilize individuals, while a barrage of social media campaigning combined with a leveraging of the news media may be useful in communicating whole crowds. Cultural Hegemony The prevailing mores of society, the norms of beh...

The moments of pantomime, where the factory workers mimed the hand movements which they used daily to construct components, and the exhibition of factory worker’s garments interluded sections of traditional documentary resonated with me. They added a symbolic element to the documentary which may inspire questions such as “how do the factory administrators and government regulators see the factory workers, only as uniforms or hands in a line, only as elements of a machine and not as workers with rights, as humans with rights?” The documentary approached the issues identified by the groups they worked with by providing an array of interviews with people impacted by the pollution and abuse of workers the factories caused. From locals who lived in the community around the factories, who had been affected by the dangerous living conditions, to former factory workers turned organizers, to filming the organizers collaboration with lawyers to sue the factories, the documentary showcases a co...

Kenny Bernisky, Rebecca Lerman Don’t Be a JEW… DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROJECT: Our proposed project would address the issue of the liveliness in anti-semitism today. The event that we are focusing on in relation to anti-semitism is the recent shooting at The Tree of Life synagogue, located on Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are thinking in terms of an idea on how we can go about addressing this issue, is through a possible video compilation. We were thinking of including perhaps some skits, scenes, and the use of references from today’s media (ex. Family Guy , South Park, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Friends , etc.). Within, we’d have a part where we’d show the footage of one of these shows mentioning the Jewish people...ex. A scene in Season 8 Episode 2 entitled “Family Goy” and we’d have an actor ask why people are laughing and another actor in the audience responds “Because it’s true.” We’d also include many interviews with peopl...

CELEBRATION ACTIVISM PROJECT Ivan B., Jesse L., Chris B., Marcus B. November 13, 2018 Arts and Activism Evelyn Serrano Final Activism Project Detailed description of proposed project (describe issue you are addressing and well as strategies/approach you are considering): We’d get a hold of a donor list, and invite a number of wealthy people from the L.A. area to our party. Then we’d also put up fliers in poor/lower class L.A. neighborhoods inviting them to the party for free (offering free food, alcohol, and entertainment). Then the proceeds of the rich partygoers would go towards lobbying for a universal basic income. And we would supply pamphlets to all party goers and take down their information to mobilize future parties. The end game is to get more people to imagine a world where a universal basic income exists.  Locations you are considering: Downtown L.A. in front of City Hall. We’re going to live stream it on the internet and publicize it so that oth...

a) Detailed description of proposed project: (describe issue you are addressing and well as strategies/approach you are considering) Radical feminism/Socialist Feminism / Trans exclusionary Feminism re enacting definitions of different kinds of oppressive terms (the male gaze, mansplaining, rape joke) socialist feminism/turfs physicalizing statistics (drops in a bucket, army men /toys, puppet theatre) Testimonies from opressed people read through privileged peoples b) Locations you are considering:  Places not traditionally diverse/f eminist (C ollege of the Canyons, sporting event, car mechanic, home depo, dive bar) c) Potential audience(s)- greater Santa Clarita area, non CalArts d) Include your team's research about this issue: https://materialfeminista.milharal.org/files/2013/07/Radical-Feminism-History-Politics-Action-Robin-Rowland-Renate-Klein-parte.pdf               ...