An Interview with Krystof Wodiczko

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed reading the interview that Patricia Phillips did with Krystof Wodiczko. The reason that I liked the interview so much is that he makes points that I agree with. People always like reading and listening to someone that shares the same opinion as them, and for me Wodiczko did. I personally agree with his and Claude Lefort's view on democracy. Wodiczko said if you want to find democracy look for it in a public and look for the people that bring meaning to it. It wasn’t just Wodiczko that I agree with; Philips also made good points that got me thinking. She said that artists have the tendency to use a group of people as a project. You can see this happen all over the place, and it’s not just limited to artists. I believe everyone is guilty of using a group as a project. When you hear that someone is using another person, you instantly feel sorry for the person being used. I think it’s bad to use someone for your own personal gain, but I also think that two people can use each other and both benefit from it. When Wodiczko said this my mind went to his usage of buildings. He uses buildings that are not physically appeasing, but he brings art to them. He’s using them for his artwork and at the same time the building is using him to be seen again. One of the things that I hate most is when someone tells me they know what I’m going through but actuality they have no idea. When people say this, they are belittling the past pain that that person has gone through. What made me respect Wodiczko more is that he doesn’t go to a place and believes that he knows what that community has gone through. You would never know what they have gone through unless you were there to go through it too. I personally take a stance against violence, and I often wonder when the violence will end. In all the neighborhoods that I have lived in, there is always a memorial dedicated a person that has been killed in the streets. Wodiczko’s words echoes my thoughts: when will there be a time when there will be no need for tragic memorials?

Critical Vehicles

Who speaks for those that can’t speak for themselves? According to Krystof Wodizcko artists speak for the ones that are voiceless or their voices have not been heard. Artists have the ability to bring strive of few to the masses. I think it’s true what they say that a picture can speak a thousand words. One picture of a homeless man struggling to walk, can be broadcasted to million and out of those millions, someone will help. Art is breaking the barrier between the seen and unseen. Many people are forced into action because it’s impossible to unsee something that you’ve seen. Some art can be pretty, but to mean the most beautiful art are the pieces that aren’t afraid to show the truth. Most people will hang up a Monet because its breathtaking, but those people will refuse to hang up a picture or painting portraying the homeless. To get around this obstacle, artists are going public with their artwork. By going public with the pictures, people have no choice but to look and take note. When something is pushed into your face its hard just to turn away.

Miwon Kwon

What I got from Miwon Kwon’s One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity is that art doesn’t have to be just the painting, but it could be where the painting is placed. Art doesn’t have to be something that is hanging in some fancy gallery, but it can be the litter that fills the street. I might be going about this the wrong way, but the artists that venture the standard path can be showing us the world unknown. After reading Olivia’s post on this topic, it became clear to me that these artists are representing the invisible. They are going outside of the notion that art is just pretty, they are bring to life things that most doesn’t even know exist. This is closely related to what we were talking about in class of the invisible city and how we make it visible by taking pictures of it.  These artists are doing the same thing that we were doing. I didn’t understand this reading very much and I could be reading it all wrong. Hopefully I’m not, but if I am then please correct me. 

Mobile Interface?

As I was reading Jason Farman's Mobile Interface Theory, the one term that stuck out to me the most was cocooning. Cocooning refers to the act of taking oneself out of social situation with the usage of mobile devices. Cocooning can be seen on every public form of transportation such as buses and trains. I would say that I am guilty of cocooning. I will perform cocooning when I feel like I am in an awkward situation and I want to mentally be somewhere else. I think the reason why I do this is because of place in space. The place that I am in with many other people makes me feel awkward, and I would like to be anywhere but there. Knowing that I can’t physically move from where I am at, I will take myself out mentally. I might be in the same place as everyone else, but my space is far away. Music helps me create a space in my mind where I can be comfortable. I was able to connect with the term cocooning because it’s something that I do all the time.