Exquisite Corpse

For the exquisite corpse project, we folded a paper into 4 parts to represent 4 sections of the body. We then passed it around to a different person to draw each different section of the body however they wanted to draw it. We could be as creative as we wanted with our section, and everyone else in the group couldn't see it until the corpse was finished. Surrealism is defined as a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. Our exquisite corpse is an example of surrealism because we were able to just draw and be creative without really thinking about the entire picture. However, the entire picture end up being something very cool looking. It also is definitely an irrational juxtaposition of images. You can tell that by just looking at it.

DADA Studio Experimentation

MoMA Questions

What is Dada and why did it come into existence?

Dada is an art movement that I think came with the postmodernist movement in the early and mid 20th century, as well as the first World War. With postmodernism and the war there came a new way of thinking about and perceiving the world, and people wanted to make art that expressed these new ideas. They wanted to flip conventional art on it's head and make people wonder; make people actually feel something, no matter what it was.

Discuss Duchamp’s notion of “Readymades.” What are they?

Duchamp was interested in ideas, not just visual products. Readymades are normal, every day objects, presented as art, even though one wouldn't normally consider them to be art. Ordinary things could be art simply because the artist wanted them to be. In addition, Readymades combat the notion that art has to be beautiful. Much of Duchamp's work was ugly or confusing, but made people use their minds and react more to the art.

How do they change your expectations about what art can be

The article states,"'Readymades' ... disrupted centuries of thinking about the artist’s role as a skilled creator of original handmade objects."Art no longer had to be something that the artist made from scratch. It could just be random things that the artist describes as art. Basically with readymades, anything could be art.

      

      Dada artists turned to non-art making strategies…

     

          What did they embrace?

      They started making collages, assemblages, and photomontages, and subverted elements that had long defined artistic practice like craft, control, and intentionality. 

      Why did they take this approach?

They took this approach as a form of personal protest and a tool to play with and critique the time period which they lived in. Dada artists “could attack the bourgeoisie with distortions of its own communications imagery." They put their feelings about the war, how the world was being run, how people were being killed, and the general injustice of the time, and expressed it in their art.

What is the value of art made by Dadaists?

The value of art made by Dadaists, according to them, lay not in the work produced, but in the act of making and collaborating with others to create new visions of the world. The value of the art is the effort put into it and the people who collaboratively make the effort.

·      How and why did Dada artists work with words?

      Dadaists wanted to flip societal structures on their heads, and words are how every rule is constructed and every law communicated, so to Dadaists in this time period, "to destroy words and disrupt syntax was perhaps the ultimate act of subversion." They used puns, wordplay, and experimental poetry and literature. They turned words into abstract forms to expose the arbitrary relationship between words and their meanings. 

Questions About Art

1.     What is a work of art?  Describe qualities found in artworks.

      A work of art can be anything that a person puts meaning into. Traditionally, there are different forms of art such as painting, drawing, and photography, and I think these are common because it's easy to express different ideas and work with different concepts in these. However, I think to some people a work of art could be something as simple as a chair or this laptop. As long as it means something to them or makes them feel something.

2.     What should an artwork provide to both the maker and the viewer?

      An artwork should provide to both the maker and the viewer exactly what I described above. It should make both of them feel something. It should be something to look at, and wonder about even if they both don't understand it.

3.     Why do people make art?

      People make art to express themselves, to make a point, to release feelings or as a form of therapy, and countless other reasons. Some people just make it because they have to, it's their job, but I think the most major reason is so that they can tangibly express intangible ideas

4.     Where does one encounter art?

      I think that one can encounter art almost anywhere depending on how they look at things; depending on how they perceive the world around them. But generally, people can see art in art museums obviously and on the internet, and in school. We all see advertisements everyday and television and films which all are very artistic things. 

5.     What is the role of the artist?

      In short, the role of the artist is to make art. The role of the artist is to utilize their thoughts, inspirations, and influences and turn them into something that other people can see and try to understand.