New York City is one of the most remarkable places in the world, that’s for sure. No other city in the world is like it, and it has a rich history of historical events of which their respective impacts have had far-reaching consequences that can be felt today. New York City has hosted many political movements throughout its modern existence, all of which have had varying degrees of success but have undoubtedly contributed to the social, political, and economic landscape of the city. We want to represent the many political currents, movements, and ideals that have shaped the history of the city as best we can, and hopefully capture their spirit within our STEAM project.
Karina will be taking a series of photographs throughout the city of New York, in which she attempts to portray the many political ideals the city has harbored. In a broad sense, the studium will be NYC but the studium could also be the medium through which this message is relayed. Depending on how the political idea is produced and distributed, the studium could be a newspaper, a subway platform, or even the hallways of a school. The punctum will most likely be the political slogan or even the street art that attempts to send a message. Nowadays it is very common to find any sort of political message, especially in the city of New York. These messages can be found plastered on construction sites, traffic lights and even as big billboard ads. However, political messages can also be found as street art such as graffiti. The message itself, disregarding the means through which it is spread, is my punctum. These photographs will be taken via an iPhone 7+ camera, and depending on the punctum, the photo will be edited through filters and the toggling of the contrast and exposure features.
Ayah will be writing a series of poems that match or at the very least compliment Karina’s photos. As of now, we haven’t discussed poetry in-depth during class, but her goal will to be to write poetry that can connect to the people of NYC as they either reminisce or look into past political events that have had a huge effect on the culture and atmosphere of NYC, stirring up feelings in individual readers or listeners. Political poetry has always been an extremely powerful and provocative method of swaying or at least presenting a viewpoint to others; it is able to leave a deep impression on people, whether positive or negative.
At this point, we have considered making a display in which Karina’s photos are strung up on some large poster display, like a collection of polaroids. Ayah’s poems will most likely be displayed beneath, next to, or around Karina’s photos. She is also considering making a book containing an anthology of poems, so she could possibly hold a reading of a couple of them during the festival. There is also a possibility of adding decorative lights around the photos and given poems, in order to form a more welcoming aesthetic. While the project isn’t meant to influence people’s opinions on anything, its goal is to open people’s minds to the power of art and words and how they can be used to make the opinions and feelings of people sympathetic to a cause known.
Hi team,
I love the idea of considering, analyzing, and producing political art through text and images. At this stage, I’d like to know more about the *specific kinds* of political messages/movements you’re interested in. The work, right now, is to get specific. You cannot cover all, or even many, political movements within the art world; you must instead focus, and go deep, in one or two areas.
I can see this going a few different ways. You could (1) investigate a historical movement, in which art and politics intersect (one great example is the Guerrilla Girls, a collective of feminist artists who began producing work in the 1980s and are still active today: https://guerrillagirls.squarespace.com/chronology/ ; you can also look at this list for other protest art movements: https://www.format.com/magazine/features/art/brief-history-protest-art ).
Or you (2) could investigate–and produce art and text relating to!!–a contemporary political issue that you think of as particularly pressing. You might consider and/or make art relating to a particular contemporary political issue (in fact, here, the more particular the better–messages tend to be diluted when they seek to be very general). If you go this route, you’ll want to think carefully about how your artistic and writerly methods fit your political goals; some research into protest art of the past (see above) will be helpful.
It may be useful to keep in ind that one of the major sites of political conflict, in the art world, has long been representation–not in the sense Aristotle means, but in the sense of (1) what kinds of people and activities get represented in works of art and (2) what kinds of artists (traditionally, white and male, though that has changed radically–if not, yet, enough) get represented in the spaces of art: in galleries and museums. This filmed panel discussion at Albertine Books is maybe a good starting point, because it includes artists and critics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA0ZNYpwhHI .
I’m excited to see where this goes! Within the next week or so, please reply to this comment with:
(1) A revised or clarified description of the project. How will you be using images? How will you be using text? Will you be primarily researching an art movement, or will you be creating one, participating in one?
(2) An account of the materials you will need, and how you plan to obtain these materials. If you are not sure how to make your ideas into material reality, say so–Jake and I can help out.
(3) A schedule or timeline for the work. What do you plan to do, when? What are the stages or phases of the project? Please look at the syllabus for a sense of how much in-class time you’ll have to work on this (one session–you will need more!) and figure out what you can do before then, and how to maximize that time.
I’m really excited to see this develop–keep me looped in, and get as political as you want!!
Best,
Prof Kolb
Hi Professor Kolb! Karina and I have discussed this a bit more, and here’s what we came up with:
1) We’re going to research and create our own version of Dadaist art through making a collage of photos of NYC Karina has taken and the poetry I will write. I looked through the links you gave us and I thought about how I’ve read in the past that Dadaism was making a sort of comeback in the form of absurdist humor that young people use today, which many have noted as being a sort of ‘coping mechanism’ to deal with the controversial issues in the world today. I think it could work well.
2) For now, I think all we will really need are a big poster board, Karina’s photos, and stuff like that. I also envision using newspaper clippings and stuff like that in the collage. I could easily obtain the poster board as there’s a Michael’s where I live, and getting newspapers shouldn’t be an issue, either.
3) We’ve decided to stay after 4:35 on Thursdays to work on the project. Really, the process will just be us getting the contents of the collage first – the photos, the poems, the clippings – and later when we have all of that it the rest will be just us putting it all together. I think it will really take off after we discuss ‘writing the city’ in class.
Thanks! Let us know if you have any more questions.
Hello Prof Kolb,
This is an update on where we are with the project, given that we have one more group member and that our focus has changed a little.
1) I will be producing original photography, in the realm of street photography, as I attempt to capture the various political movement about the city. At first we wanted to capture the political ideas concerning the Refugee Crisis and Immigration, however I have had trouble finding original street art I can photograph concerning these two issue. So far I have captured ideas surrounding Police Brutality and Colin Kaepernick, the DREAMERS, and gun reform. Ayah will be producing original poetry, that will be somewhat based on the photos I take. Jaydee will be producing his own work of abstract art that will represent all the different aspects of the political arena into one and, in his opinion, express the key to political harmony in this country.
2) Ayah and I will paper mache newspaper onto our poster board as a background. We will then display our photographs or poetry onto the board. Jaydee’s artwork will be displayed on a larger than average cardstock/oaktag, which will include abstract representations of the political arena using colors, direction and symbology. On the day of the STEAM festival, we hope to be placed by an outlet because I will be bringing in small, decorative lights to hang around the poster board in order to create a more welcoming environment.
3) During the 11/20 class, Ayah and I will work on paper mache-ing our poster board and Jaydee will work on his art. We will work on our individual part of the project on our own time, but at a timely pace. We will meet Thursdays after school, if need be, to go over any inconvenience any one of us encounter.
Thank you, and let us know if you have any more questions!