Author: Rheanna

Whitney Biannual – The Island

Rheanna

At the Whitney Biannual, there many pieces that I found interesting and I began to really consider the difference between gallery work and work for the theater. Two of the first pieces I saw were sculptures by Jon Kessler that incorporated video taken with an iPhone. What drew me to these pieces was the idea that video in the modern era is portable and we take it everywhere with us. Seeing these sculptures made me begin to consider what video art can mean in this modern era and how work can be presented. For these sculptures, the space of a gallery was not only practical, it was effective and almost necessary.

This idea of how video art is presented really became a main concern of mine as I began to watch The Island directed by Tuan Andrew Nguyen. The film itself was presented in Ultra-HD and in a dark room. However, it was far from that of a theater space. For me, the gallery and space of a gallery does not encourage a person to stay in with a particular piece for too long. Perhaps it is or modern experience of museums and art, but there is a lot of movement and commotion in the space of a gallery. I found myself wanting to stay with this particular film, but also the impulse to move on.

The film itself was very interesting and I enjoyed the mix of fiction and documentary within it. The emotion of historical pictures and aspects of the narrative, I felt were heightened and highlighted by the fictional aspects of the narrative. The scenery of the film was also quite beautiful and made me consider the true consequence of war on people and nature. The use of subtitles in the film was very interesting, I felt they made me consider language in connection to history. For the United States, the Vietnam War is a controversial subject having to deal with the government’s justifications for the war. This film had me consider the language—not just English or Vietnamese, but the words themselves—in relation to describing history.

The film also considers a person’s connection to history and how they relate to it. For the man living on the island, he is has direct connection to the past. He can recall what has happened on the island and is aware of how it impacts him. Whereas the young woman from the U.N. doesn’t have this relationship with the past. In the film itself she has the literal ties to the island history—working at the U.N. and being Vietnamese. However, while on the island she is very disconnected and does not understand what has happened there until it is explained to her. The language barrier between the two is also significant, it separates the two of them but they are also able to communicate effectively.

Overall, the Whitney Biannual was very interesting and had a lot to offer. As video art and technology progresses, the question of theater vs. gallery will continue to be an issue that will hopefully have a resolution through the work itself.

Whitney Biannual – The Island

Lygia Pape – Divisor

Rheanna

While at the Met Breuer, I screened many films and viewed many pieces by Brazilian artist Lygia Pape. The film that caught my attention the most was one titled Divisor (Divider). The piece featured a large group of people wearing one large white sheet with holes in it for their heads while they walked down a large street. The film itself was a recreation of Pape’s performance art piece of the same title that was a statement against the dictatorship in Brazil at the time. What interested me about the film was how the sheet created a large mass out of the individuals that wore it. It forced them to walk and march in a very uniform manner, which was highlighted by the blaring white of the “divider” itself.

The film also featured many close-ups of the people wearing the sheet. The camera would often pick one person out of the group and then follow them as they walked down the street. This allowed the viewer to closely gauge and watch the reactions of those participating in the film. At times, the participants would even pull out a camera to take a picture or film the spectacle around them. This made think of our culture today and our desire to capture video and pictures constantly. The film focused on some of these individuals as they looked through their cameras, walking along with everybody around them.

At various points in the film, the participants would duck out of the head hole of the sheet and disappear underneath. It was impossible to see them under the huge white fabric. Because the “divider” made the people walk and look like a uniform military or police, I wondered if the Pape was trying to suggest death at these points in the film. The other participants continued to march in the same order and fashion that they did before, but as the film continued more and more places where there were once people was now just a white blank space.

Even though I could not pinpoint exactly what Pape might have been trying to suggest in this piece, watching the massive shape of people and movement was quite mesmerizing  and beautiful. I noticed that much of her  work, including some of her other films, dealt much with geometric shapes moving in a space. The final image of the piece was the “divider” now void of people and just moving as it were a flag in the wind.

Lygia Pape – Divisor