OPEN ART BLOG
L’art, le numérique et après (Art, New Media and after…)
[French] Open Art Blog se propose de multiplier les points de vue et les entrées sur les formes avancées de la création contemporaine. Renouvelé, dynamisé, asservi ou libéré par l’irruption du numérique, l’art investit les lieux, les formes, les supports et les médias qui lui étaient jusqu’alors étrangers. Participatif et social, galactique et local, jouant du vivant comme des mécaniques, traquant l’humain jusqu’au bout du réseau, l’Open Art traduit la réalité polymorphe de la création actuelle dans sa forme la plus ouverte. Ludique ou critique, politique ou poétique, il n’épargne aucune des formes qui nous aident à penser et à voir le monde qui nous entoure et ceux qui le peuplent.
OPEN ART BLOG est produit et nourri par les étudiants du cours d’Art Media du Master CEN et Master NET de l’université Paris 8 sous la direction de Maurice Benayoun.
[English] OPEN ART BLOG contributions are also written by the students of the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong Prof. Maurice Benayoun.
YOU ARE AN ART CRITIC
Public art in MTR Yau Tong Station
Art work does not only exhibit in the gallery or museum but also the public area. We called them public art. Rosanna Wei Han Li is one of famous public art artist who have a well-known art work shows in MTR Yau Tong Station –Entrance A forecourt titled “People passing by, people lazing by”. It is a group of six ceramic sculptures which contain different postures. Li’s concept is « Slow down and relax; Eat heartily and be glad; Spend more…OR less; Live without regrets ». In the article, I would like to share with you about how the art work impress me and the improvement of them.
Firstly, it is a good way to catch passengers and residents attention by fat human shape sculptures. Being a fit or thin people is a popular trendy in Hong Kong. However, Li does not like to show something normal. Her sculptures all are fat people which present in a leisure way such as eating doughnuts, sitting and reading, standing and fanning with paper pan, etc. I appreciate her idea. Her idea seem to put a green point on a red color paper. The relaxing attitude sculptures really bring a better atmosphere to a crowd MTR station. When the passengers see the sculptures, they may feel happy and less pressure to go back home. Besides, “keep fit” which is a term really including stress because we need to control our habit every moment. These sculptures are telling people that we do not need to do this and just kick out. Thus, it is really effective way to transfer this message by using a visual way.
Although the art work is nice, there is still some room of improvement. The art work can be improved by increasing the interactive with the public. Li said that “I hope the group of sculptures may also serve as a meeting point for MTR passengers and people living in the neighborhood.” However, there is no place to provide to the public so how can it be a meeting point? I suggest that there should be some empty chairs and tables between each sculpture. Hence, the public can integrate into the art work and feel the relax atmosphere in order to make it more likely a public art.
Furthermore, the art work can be more creative by adding some high-tech elements. I propose that there can be some sensors into each sculpture, for example, an infrared-red sensor. If the sensor detected some people, the sculptures would play corresponding sound effect. For instance, the feeding bird sculpture will play the creaking sound. I believed that the passengers willing to interact with a vivid Art work more than a silent work.
Besides the positive sides, I have a doubt which is the fat shaped sculptures may bring a wrong message to the public. Some people may affect and think that fat is relax, is good life style. It is totally an unhealthy concept. General speaking, citizen lifestyle is busy, if we encourage them to live lazy, they will do less exercise. And it is not the artist original idea but it cannot avoid. Therefore, I suggest that a description should put near the art work to let people understand what the artist original idea which can avoid wrong guessing cause bad society influence.
In conclusion, Li’s art work is a nice public art but still have room of improvement. If the art work adds some new elements, it can be more attractive. Also, the artists should consider the influence to the public if it is a public art.
By LWM53075134
JR is a French artist who considers himself as « neither a street artist nor a photographer”. He began his career as a teenage graffiti artist. Later, he started to flypost large black-and-white photographic images in public locations since the age of 17. Beginning at Paris, JR pasted people’s portraits up in the streets, basements and on the rooftops. Later, he created several projects including Portraits of a Generation, Face2Face, Women Are Heroes and Los Surcos de la Ciudad in different places such as Israel and Palestine.
After winning the TED Prize which is awarded annually to ‘One Wish to Change the World’ in 2011, JR started the “Inside Out Project”. This project is an ongoing global multimedia, participatory art project which transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. In the following paragraphs, this unique “Inside Out Project” will be discussed and the concepts behind it will be analyzed.
The impressive 16 large-scale black and white portraits on the roof of IFC footbridges which is in Central district of Hong Kong is only one of the 4467 projects in the world. This project is powerful and still spreading because people can take part in the artistic process during the pasting phase. This large-scaled involvement of the whole community in making art is rarely seen before. Starting from taking pictures, printing it out to pasting it in public spaces, even ordinary people can create their own art work which can be seen by everyone in the world.
Besides getting the communities involved, people express what they stand for or care and tell their personal stories through taking pictures of themselves. A self-portrait is actually the easiest and direct way to do so. Once JR said “I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world inside out.” This idea is common in all JR’s projects. For example, in Women Are Heroes, women who live in Brazil were taken pictures and their portraits were pasted in many places there. JR wanted to highlight the dignity of women, their real daily lives and experiences, and the reality which is different from the one shown in the media. “Inside Out Project” is the same, people’s real expression and lives are shown through these black and white images.
For example, in Ciudad Juarez of Mexico, 1180 portraits were pasted to show the underrepresented faces of a city known for crime. In Georgetown of Guyana, 601 portraits show the Guyanese children who have witnessed acts of violent acts against their families and themselves. In Caracas of Venezuela, 220 portraits show mothers who have lost a child because of violence. These things are always neglected in social or media reports. However, people from all around the world can see these stories because of “Inside Out Project” now.
In conclusion, “Inside Out Project” or other projects created by JR are actually very different from other street arts or graffiti. These portraits of people are so real and each of the portraits is unique and tells story which the media may not show. JR has done an incredible job, he has not only changed the location of showing art work from gallery to public spaces. More importantly, he let ordinary people get involved in the creating process. In these artistic acts, the spectators become the artists. JR’s work combines art and action and break the boundary between different races, sex, color, religions, ages and nationalities. I think Hong Kong people could participate more in this project in order to create a city of their own.
Nelson LEE Laam Cheun 53021758
Human is mainly made of 5 elements- Oxygen (Red LEGO) Carbon (Blue LEGO)
Hydrogen (Green LEGO) Nitrogen (Yellow LEGO) Calcium (White LEGO)
Our earth is mainly made of 5 elements too – Fire, Water, Forrest, Soil, Air
Humans are living in the earth, we are stick together. Earth provides different elements for our living. Fire provides fuels for cooking. Water and air are the main parts of their bodies. Forrest provides shelters. Also, soil provides land for growing plants. We cannot survive without the earth. However, we destroy it during the rapid society development. Civilization and industrialization creates much pollution. Recently, new types of virus appeared and also global warming is getting more serious. The earth is dying. The black LEGO represents it. I want to warn the people concerning the problem that we have now. We should stop our wrong behavior and save the world.
Why LEGO?
LEGO is my favorite toy when I was small. It is traditionally thought that LEGO should be combined together in order to construct a sculpture or a model. However, I want to make something different this time. I would not combine the LEGO together and also I would like to break them in to smaller pieces. I want use them to present the elements of earth and human. I would not combine them, I would just put them in the different parts in the art work.
There will be a human model. It will be divided into 5 parts representing 5 elements of earth and human. The black LEGO will represent the destroyed part of earth and the health of human. The size of the art work is around 2 meters high.
Where
I want to show the art work in some crowed area, e.g. Time square, Festival Walk, Sogo, Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. As my message is a global issue, everyone has his own responsibility to save the earth. I want this message being widespread.