I overheard someone describe Julika's visit as being "guilty until proven innocent". I think that's an apt description. Our time together went fine, but seemed to stray from my original intent to her interests. Interestingly, it went much more like a crit with my peers than with my professors. I could quickly sense that she wasn't a professional educator, which is totally fine, just an interesting observation.
What artwork/proposals did you present?
I presented all of my work again, with the exception of the Electro-bike. She responded most to the "I'd Hit That" photos, and to "Jiz Laden". She responded least to the meditative works, quickly wanting to sensationalize them, conceding that approach would take them from their original intent, but make them into pieces "galleries would love".
What topics did you discuss? What was the nature of this discussion?
We discussed whether or not there was a need to sensationalize work, whether quiet, meditative work has a place in today's art world. I confided that I was tired/weary of sensational/negative work in the artworld, and felt that the time was right for refreshing/uplifting/optimistic work.
What were the critical reactions/ suggestions to your ideas/artwork?
Again, she suggested pushing the sensationalist/shock elements of the work.
What was a suggested plan of action?
She suggested pushing the "I'd Hit That" piece to make it as offensive as possible, to make as many people as possible, angry as possible. Then to see what position that puts me in, and whether or not I like being in that position.
She also suggested taking the sound sculpture piece I intended as a peaceful meditation piece, change some of the elements to a sonic portrait of the inner-city, complete with gun shots and red points of light to act jointly as sniper scope sights and bullet wounds.
In reference to my saying that I wanted to make "refreshing" work, she suggested I open a spa.
Lastly, she said that I should spend the whole semester making work about my penis. Which is reassuringly executable as I plan on having my penis around all semester.
What insights / new questions / ideas did you take from the meeting?
I felt a very strong mark of the "old avant garde" when dealing with her and her perspectives- a strong ownership/control ethos, and an aggressive/defensive/closed clinging to of her own ideas/opinions. I feel like those were once the necessary ingredients for becoming a sucessful artist, yet markedly contrast to today's open/cross platform ethos. She revealed a clarifying perspective in suggesting what the "galleries would love", in that she's coming from the perspective of a successful artist, and my perspective so far has been of scholarly artist. I'd like to consider all points and be open with my work (open source projects - Pure Data, Lunix, Wordpress, GNU Project), yet as the market illustrates, those ideas might be handy in getting "off the ground", it's the closed systems that often succeed the most (Microsoft, Apple, etc...)
How did this meeting affect how you will proceed with your project / proposal?
I think that I could, in the spirit of Harroll Fletcher's "Conflict Kitchen", or Oliver Herring's "Three Day Weekend", arrange a performance piece where the "art" directly administers to people's aches and pains through a team of massage therapists in the gallery space. We could even use the tiresome and problematic posturing of traditional gallery/museum art viewing as a departure point.
Also, i'd like to propose a test- I will engineer two versions of my hanging piece: one to the best of my original intent, and the other the best of her specifications, and enter as many shows as I can with both versions. I have a heart for the inner-city, having worked with inner-city kids in gangland Santa Ana, California for almost 15 years. My work there was always to provide the kids with positive interactions and encouragement to follow their constructive pursuits; however, I was closely exposed to the tragedy and loss of life that happens all to frequently in those places. While I believe that making sensational work moves art into the realm of entertainment, I am curious if that's indeed what gallery-goers are looking for. Recontexualize entertainment, present it in the gallery setting, and would-be movie-goers can feel better about themselves being consumers of "high-brow" intellectualism. I can always spell out the terms of the experiment in the artist statement.
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