The idea of a temporary autonomous zone is something I find very interesting. Creating a temporary space that eludes formal structures of control: is an idea that sounds simple but in reality is very complex.

The historical example of the fly by night sites that pirates used to transport goods and rest is very interesting and puts the concept into a larger historical past. These small societies that excised outside the normative government control and exist only for short periods of time.

I find this aspect of time to be one of the most interesting concept brought up in the article. What is time and how to these events as well of our own lives fit in to the Historical timeline that has been fed to us.

Overall it brings you back to the now and living in the moment and for the moment. By creating these zones you disrupt thee normative concept of time and space. You are interacting with the world around you in a new and exciting way.

It reminds me of the parking meter parties that Streets are for the People. They put money in the meter and than use the parking space for multiple things. They’ve held lunches and croquet games. They fill parking spaces with sod and invite people to join them. Than as quickly as they appear they leave, leaving an empty space behind.



Example of Parking Meter Party

When, I was 18 , a friend of mine found out that he had contracted the HIV virus. At 22 his life changed forever and so did mine. At the time I was shocked. HIV and AIDs was something that happened to other people, people who didn't know better. It really brought the issue home: this wasn't an issue that was happening somewhere else, it was happening here.

I'd always taken precautions with myself and it came as a surprise that my friends weren't. It became something that I talked about, I never wanted another friend coming to tell me they had contracted HIV again. I became extremely interested in things related to HIV and AIDs specially in North America.

This article was interesting for me because it showed the ways that some people dealt with the AIDs crisis through art and also tried to help others and spread awareness about the issue. This is the first article of the last couple weeks that I felt did a great job at giving examples of works. gran Fury is really interesting to me because of the way they use the media to their advantage and the innovative techniques they used to get media attention.

I also find the decline of AIDs activism very interesting. I know growing up I didn't see a lot of ads or information related to AIDs with in the media. It's really a shame that so much was done in the eighties and early nineties and now very little is out there. I think in the west we like to believe that HIV and AIDs is no longer an issue that effect us, it's something that's happening elsewhere. It feels like the media does little to help dispel this believe, choosing to report for the most part on AIDs in places like Africa. Although HIV and AIDs is a big problem in those countries it's also important to be educated about the issues at home so that another pandemic doesn't occur. I think more emphasis needs to be placed on testing , very few of my friends have ever been tested , which could lead to a ticking time bomb.

Growing up their was always cameras around my house. My dad studied communications in school and than took a job at Canon cameras. From a very early age I became accustomed to having cameras, projectors and even editing equipment around. As children my brother and I would make little TV shows to show our parents and their friends. This ease of use seems to be one of the reasons that video as become such a force with-in activist art.

It's hard for me to imagine a word with-out the handi-cam and homemade video. Jesse Drew's description of the early days of video art is of great interest to me. The collective ideals of video are something that I know a little bit about. Having worked on a few small films, itbecomes evident that the amount of work that goes into them is too much for one person. I think this is one of the reasons that video art is such asocial activity.

Overall I found this article a little boring. I feel that he likes to name video artists but doesn't mention many particular projects they have worked on. It feels like he keeps dropping names. If I'd never heard of them I'd have been lost and in some instances I was.

It's the first paragraph and I already have a problem with the article. The sentence " an increased social permissiveness allowed more obviously violent and pornographic imagery to leak into the dominant culture through media " I don't believe this statement or believe that more sexualized or violent media necessarily makes for a more violent society. Violence has always been a part of society, weather or not it was reported on or not, it's not as if all of a sudden because these images were on TV that we became a more violent society. I also take an issue with the use of the word "pornographic" as it's a word that has never had a clear definition. Also there is porn that is made to degrade women and there is porn that is meant to empower women. It's not as if all pornographic images are negative. I also take issue with the fact that they follow this statement with one about snuff films. It links the previous statement about violence and sex in the media with snuff films. which I really don't think is the case at all. Snuff films have never been part of main stream media and for good reason.

After the first paragraph the article dos get a lot better in my eyes. It offers a lot of good tips for people who want to disseminate the media and get their messages out there. I wish they went more in-depth about there own projects as a lot of them sound really interesting but they really don't give all that in-depth of a description of many of them.

It be interesting to see their take on the Internet and the use of the Internet to disseminate feminist issues. With sites like you-tube and facebook being so popular it's easy to reach a large group of people. The problem is coming up with a viral video or campaign that people want to pass on to friends and talk about. We've all seen the Dove the real beauty campaign ads because of this. It'd be nice to see these means used for something other than commercial gains.

The Vietnam War was unlike any war that came before it. It was the first war that was broadcasted into everyone home due to the popularity of the television .The way it was fought both in the battlefield and at home changed the way we view war and the anti-war movement. This was a different war for the soldiers, who would come home scared. A different war for women, who had to make the choice between declaring he war “men’s business or standing up against it. It was different for people of color who bore the brunt of the combat. In this article Lippard points out these and other differences all of which led to the art of the Vietnam War.

An anti-war sentiment was not felt by the entire art world. Many thought that the art world should stay out of the conflict and that art should be untouched by the social conflicts of the time. Even those against the war debated weather or not those opinions should be expressed with in their art.

This debate was fueled by the norms of the time period. As is pointed out the art scene of the time focused mostly on Pop and minimal art, stuff that isn’t all that political in nature. These artists didn’t know how to deal with political subjects or thought that addressing these issues was old fashioned. It was also fueled by the lack of gallery space being devoted to this type of art, and the reluctance of galleries to present anti-war imagery.

I think that this article for a very interesting read in light of the events occurring in the world since Sept 11. The US is once again engaged in a war that is changing the way we view combat situations. The Iraq war is the first war of my generation and lately it is being compared more and more to the Vietnam War. Appearing as if the United States hasn’t learned from past mistakes.

Just like Vietnam their has been and continues to be support for the anti-war movement from the arts community. Although there are still many struggles artists face when creating anti-war art, it feels as if some of the restrictions felt by artist of the Vietnam War have been removed.


Artists still run the risk of being labeled us anti-American and having their work protested against, but the public opinion of the war has started shift. As more people join the anti-war movement it’s only enviable that anti-war art will become more accepted by the masses.

Pieces like the fake ipod ads that state iRaq instead of iPod, have become very popular symbols of the anti-war movement. Graffti artist like Banksy have created public works that are meant to remind the public that the US is at war and bring it into their everyday lives. An example of which being him setting p a fake Gutamano prisoner up at Disney world.



Banksy in Disney Land


iRaq Ads

The first time I heard the Sex Pistols I was at my friend Kelly's house. I was in grade 7 and she was in grade 8 which automatically made her cooler than I was. Kelly was the person I went too for all of my musical needs. She introduced me to all the music I listened too , starting with Silverchair and Green Day and ending with the Dead Kennedy's and Black Flag and somewhere in between came the Sex Pistols.

As Johnny Rotten sang the first couple of lines of Holidays in the Sun, I was hooked. The Sex Pistols make no apologies. They know they have no musical talent, and they rub it in your face because it doesn't matter.

And Greil Marcus in his book Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century questions why that album and so many others cultural artifacts change lives , how are they able to still have an impact on those who are willing to listen. What is is that makes something so simple have so much meaning in our culture. Where do these ideas come from.

It's not as if they are new, but somehow the Sex Pistols made them sound new, made themselves new. Through-out history we as a people have been constantly pushing boundaries , constantly looking for people to show us the way to let us know where to look and how to act and for some it was the Sex Pistols for others it was the situationists or the dadaists and for some maybe it was a mixture of them all.

Although none of these movements and people were able to change history, they all left something behind, something that changed the cultural landscape, changed the way people think. When Johnny Rotten said "Fuck" on TV for the first time he open the door for a discussion on vulgarity and censorship . When Duchamp put a urinal on display and called it a fountain he questioned the conventions of what art was and what it could be creating a discussion with in the art world. Both used similar conventions and similar ideals to force themselves into the realm of popular culture , to make themselves be heard.

In principle I am against manifestos,as I am also against principles.

So after 2 weeks of hard reading I'm finally given something I can deal with, the Avant Garde. Since I've had two weeks of harder readings I'm choosing to focus this entry on something I love , Dada art.

Dada was started not only as a protest of the world of art but also of the world of politics. Started by mostly German immigrants that wanted to express a new kind of mentality one that disrupted common sense. Dada wasn't meant to be art it was meant to be anti-art in the way that it protested against the academic and cultural value of art. Dada ignored aesthetics, when normal art strove to have meaning Dada strove to have none , well art was meant to appeal to sensibilities Dada art was meant to offend. Dada was created to go against everything that was seen as conventions of art.

An example of which is Hugo Bells sound poems, which are verses with out words. An exploration into phonics and the construction of language. The creation of sound poems involves the breaking down of language into syllables and individual letters which are than reconfigured into meaningless sounds. Sound poems could be used as both a metaphor for the destruction that was being cause by the war and a comment on language.

An interpretation of a Hugo Bell sound poem

Personally I love Dada art because I think the art world should constantly be taking itself apart. No one should be able to take anything completely seriously. Dada is able to consistently question the world well still having a lot of fun. It also includes so many disciplines that no matter your tastes you can find pieces that are relateable. It never gets boring and always asks questions of the viewer creating a discussion. I can remember walking into a room at the national gallery in Ottawa filled with Duchamp's work with both my uncle and father and it got us talking more than any other part of the gallery. The main question that they asked was why? and I gave a typically Dada type answer of why not? . But in reality by playing with ideas of authorship and the aesthetics values of art the Dadaists were able to help change the art institutions and the publics view of what art could be. Paving the way for the art of the later 20th century.

In conclusion I have decided to write my own Dada poem using words from the introductory paragraph of paul woods article.

hand the thinking art painting
modernism there radicalism
rejected climax
1960s purification protocols
idea a an both
one
concise
Greenberg's crisis


And that poem is like me

So I thought Adorno was tough last week but this week, we're asked to read Habermas. Now once again he isn't someone new to me. The public sphere is something that has been discussed before in my academic career but it's not something I've fully understood. Below is the definition of the public sphere that I have created after reading both the Habermas and Fraser Articles.

The public sphere allows private citizens to come together to discuss matters of common concern which than become part of the public opinion. Much of this talk has to do with the policies and activities of private governing institutions who process some kind of control over the public. This type of arena facilitates argument and provides a place for social interaction. The public sphere is a place created by discourse. In does not exist in any physical state but instead exists in a metaphorical sense.

It allowed people to discuss their ideas in a free and open way for the first time and became a crucial force in both the American and French Revolutions. This is where print became particularly important as a way to spread political discourses. People seized news papers and used them as political tools. Newspapers changed from being institutions that dilervered news to leaders of public opinion. This state was short lived, as the news papers moved to become more about consumer interests and the selling of ad space.

Personally I think it's be interesting to hear Habermas discuss the internet in terms of the public sphere. Although it does serve as a vehicle in which people are able to discuss political ideas it's be hard to say that it expresses public opinion. These discussions are usually fairly limited as people are keen to look up only information that they are already comfortable with. So if you are into communist politics you are not going to search for something on the opposite end of the scale and if you do it is most likely to end up in a flaming war, not coming to any concrete solution.

Also the public sphere is meant as something that brings people together. But to me the internet is something that is increasingly keeping people apart. Because of the internet I have had the opportunity to keep in touch with I would say about half of my graduating high school class, through blogs , facebook and other social networking software I have been able to keep tabs on these peoples lives with out ever needing to have a conversation with them. But I only am able to see what they want me to see. I can only see them as they exist online in a world of their own creation. How do I know that person really exists and isn't just a projection of who would like to be rather than who they really are.

Adorno is someone who I've never really been able to understand. I've been asked to read his work for a few classes and each time I sit in front of my book confused. His work is so dense and heavy that even after a few readings I still have trouble understanding and explaining what it is he is trying to say . So I'm going to try my best and engage with this reading as well as I can , at least i can say that I tried

The ideas that to me are the most prominant in this articles are mass deception and social control. As a society on the most part we are taught to think rationally and reasonably. This way of thinking plays into the hands of mass media and leads to a society in which there is no individualism. We are meant to play our roles knowing that someday we will receive a reward in return. We are taught to follow social norms and therefore play our part in a social hierarchy. If we are a good citizen we will get a reward. If we work hard we will get a raise. If we follow the rules and don't cause trouble there will be a payoff at the end. This leads to little chances for social change.

We are convinced that we must buy into this system to fit in and than that the system is what we asked for in the first place. Now this is all understandable to me because of the situation that Adorno was in. Living in Nazi Germany it must have seemed like everybody was buying into the Nazi's platform. People turned neighbors and friends that had known for years into the Gestapo because it was what the masses were doing at the time.

I don't know how well these ideas translate into today. Although on the surface it may seem like a lot of people are still following the crowd and doing what society tells them to there is a lot more leeway these days in which to move. The internet has allowed people to explore new ideas and options. If say I don't like the clothing that is offered at the mall because it's all too trendy and I feel everyone will be wearing the same thing I can log on to the internet and find something original that fits with the person I want to be and have it shipped to me. I can also create my own media with youtube, blogger and even facebook which allows me to spread my own ideals and find others who agree with them.

At the same time we are also more free to stand up against popular ideologies. Look at the war on Iraq for example, people feel free to show their disgust with the war in public places. Even if there are still people living in the states who believe that it's the right war because the government says so, I still don't feel that people feel unsafe showing their opposition.

Protesters at Nathan Phillips Square

Knitting Nation

I like to knit. My obsession with knitting started in high school fashion class , after we were done making pajama pants for our main project our teacher Ms . Stone sat us down and taught us how to cast on and off and stitch and pearl. I was hooked right away , the sound of the needles clinking against one another, the gratification of making your own fabric and the knowledge that you could make almost anything you could set your mind on. I started knitting all the time, Stitch and Bitch became my favorite book and all my friends got scarfs for Christmas.

This is why when I saw knitting nation on the list of class links I jumped at the chance to write about it. Now I've heard of Knitta, Please before, a group that goes around doing what is called "Knit Graf , a type of graffiti that involves knitting around or on public objects. I was expecting something similar when I clicked on Knitting Nation, but was surprised when I found out differently.

examples of Knitta, Please works

Knitting with a machine is something I have no experience with. I feel like it takes the fun out of knitting. Instead of letting the yarn run through your fingers and wrapping and pulling it around itself over and over you become more of a guide. You tell the machine what and where to knit well the machine does the work. No longer is the object being created solely yours but it becomes a product of the machine.

One of the reasons I love to knit and sew is because it makes me feel connected to what I wear. Going to the store and buying clothing gives you a connection to the process of buying the object, you don't know where it was made or how. You become disconnected with the process of production. I think this is one of the dialouges that Liz Collins is trying to create. By setting up knitting installations where a group of similarly dressed people sit over knitting machines , knitting . Here the work that has been outsourced away is shoved back into our faces. We become aware of ho much work goes into the clothes we wear. How long someone has to sit hunched over a machine , so that we can wear the latest styles. Liz also uses a lot of iconography in her work like the American flag. She uses it as a way to display her frustrations with a government and war that she doesn't agree with.

Nina Felshin defines activist art as so "This cultural form is the culmination of a democratic urge to give voice and visibility to the disenfranchised, and to connect art to a wider audience"(pg10).

Before the 1960's art was mostly an institutionalized process. But just like pockets of the rest of society artists begin to question the institutions that they felt were being harmful to society. They were set on giving a voice to those who had none. It was also a time of change with in the media, which allowed for artists to explore new avenues in which they could produce and distribute their art. Moving art out of museums and out into the streets.

It's hard for me to imagine a time when art wasn't public and available. Growing up in Toronto art was always around whether it was Val Kilmer's smiling face, a swing in an alley, a pole turned into a bass, the Murmer project or Style in Progress's annual graffiti day.

At the start of her article Nina mentions how activist art is the 90's is reaching critical mass and becoming institutionalized. I don't really agree with this statement from personal experience. In Toronto alone you can see this type of work at all levels, you can see the gurriella girls work at the AGO ( when it was open) , walk down the street to Kensington market and view activist art on the streets, pick up a spacing magazine or attend a Toronto Public Space committee meeting.

It's also interesting to note a move away from the collaborative activist art to more of an individualist view. With solo artists such as Banksy, Rene Gagnon and Owen Phillips working alone it seems like the days of activists collectives being the main stead when it comes to activist art are coming to an end. This may have to due with the nature of the work itself. It's a lot easier to sneak into a museum and set up your own art alone than it is to do so in a group. It also allows for artists to explore a topic more indepth and avoids in group fighting witch normally leads to disbandment.

Not saying that the collectives are disappearing altogether, in high school I attended an arts camp. Here I met a girl named Lori , in the past couple years Lori has been instrumental in setting up a group based in Toronto and New York called New Mind Space. New Mind Space creates interactive public art that ranges from LED installations, subways parties and giant pillow fights intent on taking back public space for the public. Which in Toronto seems to be a common theme amongst a lot of activist art.