Category Archives: Week 11

One World, Zero Tolerance

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A friend of mine that currently attends MICA (Maryland Institute College of Arts) told me that I must must must must must go to MoMA PS1 to see its exhibits, any exhibits. This assignment gave me an excuse to go there.

I suggested to our group to use this place as our third arts place, but we didn’t choose an exhibit to see until we got there. We wanted to go see a couple of exhibits and decide based on how we liked it. We ended up seeing three exhibits: Retrospective, Zero Tolerance, and The Flat Side of the Knife. Of the three, the most powerful one and the most influential one that we thought was Zero Tolerance.

Zero Tolerance depicts the political turmoil and demonstrations for rights by citizens of different countries from the 1960s all the way to present time. The exhibit included posters by John Lennon and Yoko Ono against the Vietnam War, demonstration at a church in Mosco by Pussy Riot against Vladmir Putin, attempting to breathe air into Tiananmen Square to revive the dead, crashing a car into a tree in St. Petersburg, rap video by a group of Turks, etc. All these strive to show the ill in our society, and the “zero tolerance” citizens have for the world.

The exhibit is presented from October through till March 2015. Even at present many other political tensions in the world could be incorporated. Look at the Umbrella Revolution/Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, People’s Climate March in New York. Maybe some of the worlds leaders should take a journey to Long Island City and reflect on themselves.

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And here is our favorite: Lucius

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~Christopher Chong

Nam June Paik: The Visionary

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“Becoming Robot” is an exhibit located at The Asia Society in the Upper East Side. Our group decided to go see it because Lucius actually has heard of the artist, Nam June Paik.

The exhibit was very simple. It wasn’t the robots that most of us expected it to be like. When I think of robots, I think of like those in the labs where they move around to accomplish some job, or the ones that flies into other planets and moons to collect data. Paik’s robots were different. The first “robot” we encountered was probably the closest to the prototype for the word “robot”. The robot was built with a complex intertwine of wires and metal. At one point in 1982 he had actually displayed this robot in Manhattan, but a car had bumped into it, knocking it over. In another display, he used closed-circuit TV’s (the robot) to capture objects, including a chair, a golden Buddha, etc. There was also a family of robots built out of TV, the father, the mother, and the baby. It is interesting to see Paik’s concept of a robot that was so advance for his time.

 

~Christopher Chong

Privilege- Straight White Men Reactions

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As Tony and Chloe have mentioned in their reactions to “Straight White Men”, the music as people entered the theatre is not what you would expect. I was laughing as we (Anthony, Lucius, and I) entered the theatre. The music was very pumped, very vulgar, and for me, it didn’t seem to fit the audience, which was predominantly old white folks, with some college students like us. A few people were very into the music though, bumping and enjoying it.

The performance starts of very comical, especially with the two younger brothers playing around, annoying each other. Yet at the end of the performance, it was very serious, and only the eldest brother was left on the stage, contemplating by himself. The main point that the play was trying to convey was how certain people have it very well in life, namely, men who are white and straight. The two younger brothers, Jake and Drew, were able to see this and use it, while Matt, the oldest one, can’t seem to accept it. The father and two younger brothers strive to help him, pay for his loans, give him mock interviews, yet he resists their attempt, and wants to earn his way in life by himself.

Young Jean Lee attempts to convey this message using certain topics that we often avoid talking about, and even titles the performance “Straight White Men”, which gives an emphasis on what she wants people to see from the play. If you haven’t seen the play, you really should go. The performance strives to be comical and hilarious, but it also brings up certain sensitive issues that our society often avoids.

P.S. For some reason the setting and feel of “Straight White Men” reminded me of the show “Three’s Company”.

 

~Christopher Chong