Intended to Provoke: Social Action in Visual Culture[s]

The Fifth Annual Visual Culture Symposium, “Intended to Provoke: Social Action in Visual Culture[s]” will take place at George Mason University on Thursday, March 27, 2008 and I have been invited to participate.

I will be discussing the emergence of a significant number of visual art blogs at the turn of the new century. This emergence was almost immediately ignored by both the mainstream media and the fine arts world. Just a few years later art blogs not only challenge the mainstream media in the reporting and discussion of the arts, but often lead the way in in-depth announcement, discussion, imagery and promulgation of socially challenging, subversive or political art, as well as presenting historically bound street art, such as graffiti and street installations to worldwide audience.

In this presentation I will discuss the emergence of visual art blogs and offer examples of how blogs have taken over the lead from other sources and venues, as the leading proponent, critic and publicist for art intended and created in order to provoke. The presentation includes discussion and examples of work from artists from places such as Cuba and Iran, which was only recognized and discovered by a worldwide audience through those artists’ own illegal blogs or discussion of their work in other blogs or through the process knows as the “blog roll.”

Questioning accepted literary styles, the visual art bloggers also became part of the social reaction towards established art criticism, and in a way also provided a way to criticize and dissect the critic him/herself. I draw on a variety of widely read visual art blogs to establish bloggers initial discordance and break from formal art criticism and reporting conventions and the eventual alignment of many of them with the same conventions as their influence grew. As a visual arts multi-political and international force they now wield a powerful impact on what is considered an “intentionally political work of art,” such as the Abu Ghraib paintings by Colombian artist Fernando Botero or the chalcography etchings by Cuban artist Sandra Ramos Lorenzo.

The day-long Symposium is being held at the Johnson Center Cinema at George Mason’s Fairfax Campus. The day will end with a reception in the art gallery on the first floor of the Johnson Center, Gallery 123.

Schedule - "Intended to Provoke:Social Action in Visual Culture[s]"
March 27, 2008
George Mason University

9:00 – 9:30a.m. Introduction & Video

9:30-11:00a.m.
Panel 1:
1. Robles & Stein (Community Art)
2. Wolpa (Visual Culture education)
3. Cohn (Design School)
4. Campello (Art Blogs)

11:15a.m. – 12:15p.m.
Panel 2:
1. Derr (Walking/Chance)
2. Namaste (non-violent intervention)
3. McCoy (bodies in China)

12:30 – 1:00p.m.
Dance Performance

1:00 - 2:00p.m.
Panel 3:
1. Johnson (Crises & the everyday)
2. Greet (Ecuador)
3. Campbell (culture jamming)

2:00 - 2:15p.m.
Mark Cooley and Art Exhibit Selections

2:15 – 3:15p.m.
Panel 4:
1. Clements (childbirth)
2. Slavick (R&R/altered images & things)
3. Okunseinde (Fugitives)

3:30 – 4:15p.m. Keynote/Debate

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. – Art Exhibit/Reception

Legal Seminar for Artists

November 15, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 pm

Maryland Art Place (MAP) and Maryland Lawyers for the Arts (MLA) will present on Thursday, November 15, an Artists' Practicum: a guide to the basic legal knowledge necessary for artistic survival in the marketplace.

The session will cover contractual issues in the creative industry, copyright for nonlawyers, and the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. The panel includes MLA Board President Michael Yang, Esq., and board member Cynthia Sanders, Esq. The practicum will be held within MAP’s galleries. Admission is free and open to the public, but reservations must be made by calling 410-962-8565.

Last Nite

I dropped in to the opening of Nevin Kelly's first ever photography show, featuring work by Mark Parascandola and Yanina Manolova.

Considering how brutal the night was, and how icy U Street was, the opening was packed, and while there I ran into the talented artist Scott Brooks and also the ubiquitous Vivienne Lassman.

I particularly liked Yanina Manolova's "Death Time for my Body," a superbly twisted and odd dual body composition of a female body. This photographer's work is sexy and skilled and also a really good deal, as most photos are under $400.

I also liked Mark's visualization of the Alhambra, one of my favorite buildings in the world. His saturated colors really deliver striking images. I'm a little prejudiced, as Parascandola is a graduate of one of our "Bootcamp for Artists" seminars and is obviously doing well with his career in using the lessons learned there.