Guerilla Girls
Robin Riskin '12 | January 18, 2009I was researching Nao and the Anonymous Was a Women grant she received, when I accidentally stumbled upon this little jewel: the Guerilla Girls. These feminists dress up in gorilla gear and protest sexism, racism, and corruption in art. Their motto is, “Fighting discrimination with facts, humor and fake fur.” They ask, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?” They have a book Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerilla Girls’ Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes. When the Broad Contemporary Art Museum had an exhibition with 97% white and 87% male artists, they wrote a letter of protest, signed, “All our love, Guerilla Girls” (detailed in the New Yorker article I found). They visit colleges with lectures, performances, and workshops. Think we can get ’em at Haverford?
Art for Airports
Sam Kaplan | January 17, 2009In June 2005, while in Vietnam, Harrell Fletcher visited the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. The experience so affected him that he returned several times, eventually photographing every image and caption in the museum. These photographs became “The American War,” Fletcher’s ad-hoc re-presentation of the museum material he had encountered in Vietnam.
As a reproduction of another exhibition, “The American War” raises issues of originality, of context, and of cultural exchange. In a conversation with artist Michael Rakowitz, Fletcher described the work as an example of the “bootlegging” he encountered in Vietnam:
Outside of the War Remnants Museum … people [were] lined up selling stacks of bootlegged books on the Vietnam War. … The books [were] about the Vietnam War, but they were written by Western writers and were originally distributed in Western countries. … The other thing that I found really fascinating was that many of the images in the museum itself were copied from American magazines and newspapers. They just took publications like Life and the Chicago Sun-Times, re-photographed the images in them, enlarged and framed them, and then hung them along with original images taken by Vietnamese war photographers.
Thus, in the spirit of “The American War,” although admittedly without the political weight, I re-present three images from Peter Tonningsen‘s “Flotsam and Jetsam,” which I encountered in the Oakland airport yesterday (only three images are on display in the airport; these, along with seventeen others, are available on his website): Read the rest of this entry »
aloha
Ali King '09 | January 16, 2009i write from maui where it is raining. i am wearing pajamas in my family’s hotel room. my mom is ironing a shirt. my brother just clipped his finger nails. my dad is unpacking. today we may go to a whaling museum. i would like to see a whale. yesterday i looked for some out our rental car’s window. waves look remarkably like whales, especially when you’ve never seen a real, live whale.
amy sedaris
Jane Holloway |amy sedaris is coming to haverford.
can we figure out how to make this woman an honorary friend or something? she’s rude and she’s crude but she’s also awesome and apparently bakes great cupcakes. she’s coming to school the friday of the week we get back – january 23rd. next week, guys.
she kind of makes sense with nao. i’m thinking of nao’s character “rosa” that she performed on the joan rivers show in 1992:
www.naobustamante.com/rosadoesjoan.html
also maybe nao’s “hero” performance fits in here somewhere? :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu4ptXbWLsg
they both have this special affect thing going on. amy goes on david letterman all the time and she’s not totally serious with it but i always wonder if she is herself or not. i think that’s nao’s gig too in some ways. i guess there’s a little sasha fierce in all of us. anyway, have a look:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OYzRlPlJ09U" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Aunt Catherine
Duncan Cooper '09 | January 13, 2009For the love of Jen
Julia Ryan BMC |
In response to Jen Delos Reyes’ desire to see theanyspacewhatever exhibit at the Guggenheim, I schlepped to New York City in hopes of being her eyes. Something that has always fascinated me about art, that was demonstrated well in this exhibit, is the different reactions that individuals can have to the same pieces of work. Theanyspacewhatever exhibit really was just that: An exhibit that could be whatever you make of it. If you read Jane’s entry about her experience with theanyspacewhatever exhibit, you would know that she was strongly affected by the Rirkrit Tiravanija’s video installation, Chew the Fat. The aspect of theanyspacewhatever exhibit that grasped hold of me was Douglas Gordan’s textual installation entitled Prettymucheveryword…. In this piece, Gordan engraved and adorned the walls, corners, nooks and crannies of the Guggenheim with seemingly random, but heartfelt little phrases such as, “I Still Believe in Miracles,” “Everything is going to be alright” and, “I just want to talk with you.” Being a complete sap and closet inspirational quotation lover, I fell hard for this. What I found so genius about this aspect of the exhibit was that no matter what a viewer was going through or thinking about, there was a way for them to relate these abstract phrases to something going on in their personal life.
Just as Jane and I both loved this exhibit for different reasons, every person who walked through the upwards spiraling show was given something unique and meaningful to take away from it. When it comes down to it, isn’t giving the viewer an experience of their own one of the main points of art?
Here’s a little something so that you can all feel like you were there with me…
OPEN AUDITIONS!
Ali King '09 | January 8, 2009WORK WITH POPE.L!
Calling all adventurous, dynamic, risk-taking performers for some groundbreaking creative collaboration! Pope.L needs a cast of 18 performers and a film/lighting crew for his residency’s culminating performance shoot (filmed performance) at Haverford College on Wednesday, March 26.
Pairing the experiences and identities of civil rights martyr Emmett_Till and Spielberg’s E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial, Pope.L’s innovative performance piece is a murky exploration of curiosity, misunderstanding, alienation and fear.
Beginning Tuesday, January 20, Eli and I will be tabling with audition/event details and sign ups in the DC during meals. Auditions will be held the evenings of January 25, 26, & 27 in 10 minute slots. Pope.L is looking for a random, yet enthusiastic and dedicated assortment of performing talent. Beatboxer? Flautist? Clown? Soprano? Mime? Improvisor? Magician? Drummer? Hummer? Ballerina? We want you in addition to ever-valuable technically talented camerapeople and lighting gurus!
As part of the event you’d need to commit to rehearsals the few days before the performance (more details to come), but that’s it! FAST & FURIOUS. Plus, you’ll be privy to the chic among friends happenings throughout the artists’ residencies.
This is quite a unique opportunity for performers at Haverford; think it over and sign up! Tell your limelight-loving friends!
Feel free to contact Ali – aking@haverford.edu or Eli – nbloodpa@haverford.edu for more information!
Hey There
Charles Watanasutisas '10 | January 7, 2009Who knew there were so many Jen Delos Reyeses? And they’re all spread out around the globe. I’ve friended all of them in the spirit of among friends. I wonder how many of these other JDRs will friend me back? There’s some nifty social commentary lurking around here somewhere, I know it!
My name’s Charles, by the way, and along with Julia I’ll be working with Jen this semester.