spencer tunick: moca, clevland (dvd)

watched it.

like:
bodies as landscape, ocean or giant petri dish. reminded me of watching some of the suzy lacy documentation of instigating events & human exchange as an art form - the experience being the art. in viewing as a landscape, my thoughts went to a scene in the hal ashby film "harold & maude" in which they are in a garden/arboritum with daisies by the thousands. harold commented on how they were all the same & maude saw each as unique. the images of thousands of bodies in the tunick works played off this duality >>>> seeing the forest & the trees.

dislike or personal reservations:

came across as more of a fun thing to do rather that art >>> which is ok, just would have like to hear the thoughts, intent, perspective, thesis of tunick. just sorta disappointed/short changed from this rejected or evaded aspect to public or event based art.

seems that participant interviews prior to the event would have been enrichening >>> sharing anticipated expectations as a comparison against the real experience. also interviewing staff & the hardships. you can not have that many people & not have issues. planning, bathrooms, food, misconduct, how participants were solicited, liability/legal issue, permits>>>>> which would all could be a documentary in it's own right. could have easily secured some social science researchers to have made full use of this event. i feel a sense of loss that an opportunity to glean info was lost. maybe it wasn't & if so the dvd should have referenced additional documentation/resources associated with this work.

it would have been an opportunity to create a network of participants for future works as well. seems that for the public/community artist one must always be setting up future events & networking while in the throws of a current work. even permanent public works demand this for success. i struggle with this as it is hard to be a single parent/good mom, try to maintain a household, pay bills, earn money, go to school, & find time & discipline to create art & go out & hustle new project. what i have learned is if the works are not out there >>>>> then find a need & create one.


what did i learn or can use:

not sure. just finished watching & find i need to reflect for a while. off hand, the concept of the body as a landscape >>> have brought this up a few times in here. may be of use for referencing in a paper. him addressing it would have been nice. have followed his stuff in art publications, yet do not recall his words>>> just the controversy surrounding the public nudity issues.

liked looking at the bodies.think that is part of the attraction since it is/was a social taboo. for me it is also the artist when figure drawing mindset >> one "shifts" into mode when considering light, structure,ratios,relationships >>> it was a cornucopia! although it is safe to assume this project attracted a personality and maybe a body type (& therefore biased) the sheer numbers gave me a sense of what the average person's body looks like>>> the average (white) joe or jane. just wonder why it was sooooo "white." was it intentional or a cultural filter that attracted more caucasians & less of other races. they were there, yet did not reflect the demographics/%%% of the population. interviews concerning this would have been interesting.