Our second class was to make us think more. In the beginning, there were discussions about a lot of things related to installations.
We talked about the art of storytelling as a performance. Two questions were raised : Can deaf people hear any sound, if yes then how? And, How does a blind person dream?
I looked it up and tried to find the answers.
Deaf people do enjoy music, it is through the vibrations that sound makes. Different sounds make different vibrations in the air, that is how Beethoven was able to play even though he was deaf.
Blind people do dream. But their dreams are not visual unless they went blind after about 5-7 years of age. People who are blind since birth, do not get any visual dreams because our dreams are made up of our real world experiences, inner most thoughts and anxieties.
After this, we talked about how only when you react or express yourself do you qualify the feeling. Everything needs expression. Everything that actually matters to us, like the love we feel for our family or friends is not touchable, we can only feel it. Our facilitator also told us about how there are 3 levels of art practices. One to one. One to many. Many to many.
While making something in the name of art, your inner most feeling and outer showcasing should be segregated.
We started talking about 'faith' plays a key role in our lives. How everything we do, is on the basis of faith. Whenever we say,'I think, I believe, I understand', we are talking about our own faiths. But, what is faith, I dare ask. Nobody really knows how to define it. But, still our entire system works on the basis of faith.
We learnt about the theory of minimalism and maximum. The theory of minimalism talks about expressing the same expression with minimum material. The theory of maximum deals with expressing the same expression on a macroscopic level.
We talked about the art of storytelling as a performance. Two questions were raised : Can deaf people hear any sound, if yes then how? And, How does a blind person dream?
I looked it up and tried to find the answers.
Deaf people do enjoy music, it is through the vibrations that sound makes. Different sounds make different vibrations in the air, that is how Beethoven was able to play even though he was deaf.
Blind people do dream. But their dreams are not visual unless they went blind after about 5-7 years of age. People who are blind since birth, do not get any visual dreams because our dreams are made up of our real world experiences, inner most thoughts and anxieties.
After this, we talked about how only when you react or express yourself do you qualify the feeling. Everything needs expression. Everything that actually matters to us, like the love we feel for our family or friends is not touchable, we can only feel it. Our facilitator also told us about how there are 3 levels of art practices. One to one. One to many. Many to many.
While making something in the name of art, your inner most feeling and outer showcasing should be segregated.
We started talking about 'faith' plays a key role in our lives. How everything we do, is on the basis of faith. Whenever we say,'I think, I believe, I understand', we are talking about our own faiths. But, what is faith, I dare ask. Nobody really knows how to define it. But, still our entire system works on the basis of faith.
We learnt about the theory of minimalism and maximum. The theory of minimalism talks about expressing the same expression with minimum material. The theory of maximum deals with expressing the same expression on a macroscopic level.
We wondered what material is. Material is an object. Only when you use it with a motive, does it become a medium.
Experiential understanding of material is what installation is.
After our discussions, we started watching a film called 'Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry'. It was a documentary on the life and works of Ai Weiwei. When you watch a film like this, you see how one artist can actually try and change the world. Ai Weiwei wants to change China from what it is. He revolts using his art and is not afraid to speak up. He has always been in controversy about his art and has been investigated by the government of china again and again.
After watching the movie, we were split into 3 groups. Each group got one question they had to try and find an answer to.
Group one: Who is an artist?
Group two: Is it necessary for an artist to be an activist?
Group three: Who is a non-artist?
I was in group one. We never thought that defining who an artist is could be so tricky. So we started with a mind map. We could not find more than 4-5 words that fit well with it. Then we had to form our argument and present it to the class. Our argument was : An artist is someone who can express himself using medium.
And so the questions were bombarded on us. Don't we all express ourselves? What do you mean by medium? What all qualifies as medium? And so the debate went back and forth. We kept adding and subtracting words from our definition.
An artist is an individual who consciously expresses themselves with motive, medium and methodology.
The next group came up with the answer that: No,an artist is not essentially an activist, but an activist is an artist.
The third group defined a non artist as a person who doesn't express with an intention of expressing.
After all these discussions and debates, we were left with a question for the next class: Will an artist still be an artist if the viewer fails to recognize the art?
Experiential understanding of material is what installation is.
After our discussions, we started watching a film called 'Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry'. It was a documentary on the life and works of Ai Weiwei. When you watch a film like this, you see how one artist can actually try and change the world. Ai Weiwei wants to change China from what it is. He revolts using his art and is not afraid to speak up. He has always been in controversy about his art and has been investigated by the government of china again and again.
After watching the movie, we were split into 3 groups. Each group got one question they had to try and find an answer to.
Group one: Who is an artist?
Group two: Is it necessary for an artist to be an activist?
Group three: Who is a non-artist?
I was in group one. We never thought that defining who an artist is could be so tricky. So we started with a mind map. We could not find more than 4-5 words that fit well with it. Then we had to form our argument and present it to the class. Our argument was : An artist is someone who can express himself using medium.
And so the questions were bombarded on us. Don't we all express ourselves? What do you mean by medium? What all qualifies as medium? And so the debate went back and forth. We kept adding and subtracting words from our definition.
An artist is an individual who consciously expresses themselves with motive, medium and methodology.
The next group came up with the answer that: No,an artist is not essentially an activist, but an activist is an artist.
The third group defined a non artist as a person who doesn't express with an intention of expressing.
After all these discussions and debates, we were left with a question for the next class: Will an artist still be an artist if the viewer fails to recognize the art?
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