VISUAL ART 10 - 20 - 30

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Installation Art Project Saskatchewan Visual Art 10-20-30 Curriculum Outcomes

CP10.3 Experiment with various art practices (eg. drawing, painting, crafting, printmaking, digital technologies, sculpture, installation) to develop new or unique ideas.

CR10.2 Examine how image development strategies are used by Saskatchewan artists, including First Nations and Metis artists, to achieve meaning.

CR10.3 Reflect/respond critically to art works of professional artists, including Indigenous artists, to explore artistic intent.

CP20.1 Engage in artistic risk taking with ideas, media and image development strategies to achieve meaning.

CP20.2 Create artworks in a variety of visual art practices (eg. drawing, painting, crafting, printmaking, digital technologies, sculpture, installation) to explore ides derived from various sources of inspiration, including Saskatchewan First Nations and Metis artists.

CR20.2 Analyze factors (eg., inspiration, technology, culture, environment, events, government policies) that influence art-making practices around the world, past and present.

CP30.2 Independently plan and create artworks, in selected media and forms, demonstrating own voice and artistic growth.

CP30.3 Demonstrate ability to innovate and take risks using familiar and unfamiliar art making processes and techniques.

CP30.4 Use inquiry to create a work of art inspired by the work of current Canadian artists whose work responds to socially relevant topics (e.g., sustainability, social justice, diversity, and inclusion)

CR30.2 Critically respond, individually and collectively, to a series or body of work by Canadian artist including works that address the impact of colonialism.

CR30.3 Reflect/respond critically on choice of discipline, content and media in the development of own voice and style.

CH30.1 Investigate how visual art in Canada can support and build relationships and deepen understanding that we are all treaty people.

CH30.2 Examine how visual art expressions have changed over time and/or inspired change in individuals, communities and societies.

CH30.3 Engage with communities to collaborate and build relationships beyond the classroom through visual art experiences.

Installation Art What is it? The term Installation art describes an artistic genre that involves a transformation of a space.

Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas outdoor interventions are often called Land art, but the boundaries between these terms overlap.

Installation art can be either temporary or permanent. Many installations are site-specific in that they are designed to exist only in the space for which they were created.

Installation/environmental art takes into account a broader sensory experience, rather than focusing on a single object like a painting on a wall or a sculpture on a pedestal.

A brief historyInstallation art came to prominence in the 1970s but its roots can be found in earlier artists such as Marcel Duchamp and his use of the readymade and Kurt Schwitters Merz art objects, rather than more traditional craft based sculpture. The ‘intention’ of the artist is key in much later installation art whose roots lie in the conceptual art of the 1960’s. This again is a departure from traditional sculpture which places its focus on form.

Places, Materials, IdeasAn installation can begin with a place/space

Create a work of installation art for a specific space within the school, an overlooked space, like the hallway or the cloakroom.

An installation can be inspired by available materials

Collect a pile of free materials. Cardboard boxes are an excellent example. Or string. Or____________? Use these collected materials as a starting point.

An installation can emerge from an idea

If you are already working on a fabulous theme in your portfolio development, go with that focus as you plan your installation artwork and add to your ongoing research and development.

Artist Research: First Impressions!Google the following artist and their work. Consider how each works with a whole space and experience rather than a discreet object. Jot a comment to help you remember each of them:

Artist Comment

Louise Bourgeoise

Cilido Mereiles

Gabriel Orozco

Rebecca Horn

Emily Jacir

Olafur Eliasson

Doris Salcedo

Rachel Whiteread

Song Dong

Annette Messager

Ann Hamilton

Looking closer. Four additional artist/installation artworks:

1. Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii – Nam June Paik

image via urbancapture.com

For this piece, Korean artist, Nam June Paik, was inspired by the US interstate highway system. The gigantic installation overwhelms the viewer with constant information and imagery via neon lights and video monitors. States, outlined in bright neon and filled with video clips, reference the artist’s imaginings of iconic symbols and experiences from each state. Paik was one of the first to use the phrase “electronic superhighway,” and this installation creates a physical connection to, not just the sheer scale of the country, but also the technical and digital revolution that has enveloped it.

This installation is a perfect way to get you consider including video and digital elements in your installation. How can you synthesize and understand media and the steady diet of corporate imagery fed to you? And how can you become more nuanced consumers and producers of work, especially in light of social media and its influence on your life?

2. The Dinner Party – Judy Chicago

image via artsy.net

Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party was a piece signaling a shift in feminist art and the status of women artists.

It appears as an elaborate banquet table arranged in a triangle with thirty-nine place settings, each dedicated to a prominent woman from history. 999 additional women’s names are inscribed on the tile floor of the installation. The power of the piece is in

how it takes a traditional domestic setting and reimagines it as a space of consequence and importance for women.

While this piece is powerful, it’s important to note the place settings are decorated with anatomical and butterfly forms. Please be respectful of yourself and others when deciding what is - and isn’t - appropriate installation art content in a K-12 school environment.

Website: http://www.judychicago.com/

In your portfolio work, this piece could be an inspiration for collaboration. How could a team of artists bring together many different ideas or different pieces of artwork into a single installation? Displaying artwork from many individuals in one large-scale installation can be much more impactful than displaying the pieces on their own.

3. Life Jacket Installation – Ai Weiwei

image via Quartz Media

Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, created a monumental installation on the facade of Berlin’s Konzerthaus. He received and collected 14,000 life vests from refugees who landed

on the Greek Island of Lesbos. These refugees had braved the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey in hopes of seeking safety. The artist/activist sought to use the installation to bring attention to the plight of these refugees, something he had done before in previous artworks. It was a piece that transformed the meaning of a seemingly simple object into something powerful and used volume and scale to impact the viewer.

Website: http://aiweiwei.com/

Students seeking to address significant events or crises in their lives and the world could be inspired by this piece. Selecting objects that symbolize an aspect of the struggle, and using them to highlight or convey meaning is extremely effective. Shifting the objects out of context, and seeing them as part of a physical piece of work can convey importance or impact in a way a number on a page cannot.

4. Felix Gonzalez Torres – “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

image via publicdelivery.org

Felix Gonzalez-Torres created many artworks that took objects from everyday life and used them as metaphors for love and loss. This piece was a particularly tragic example of his work, meant to represent Gonzalez-Torres’ partner, Ross Laycock, who passed away in 1991. Using something most viewers would consider happy and whimsical, 175 pounds of brightly wrapped candy, viewers remove pieces of candy, shrinking the pile and paralleling the weight loss from Ross’ healthy weight (175 pounds) to a much reduced physical condition prior to death. The work is refilled by the museum so that a sort of eternal life is granted to his partner.

Website: http://felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org/

This interactive work showcases the way art can involve the viewer in its execution. So many people learn artworks can’t be touched in museums. But what happens when the viewer is an essential part of the process of creating meaning with the work? How can you create work that not only encourages, but requires interaction to make the piece come fully alive?

Installation art has the power to involve the viewer like no other medium. This assignment is a great way to think about your artistic potential in a whole new way!

What are your favorite installation artworks?

How do you start thinking about everyday objects as potential artwork?

Can you think of a good installation space at school, home or the community?

Questions to answer in your research of ONE installation artist OF YOUR CHOICE:

Artist_______________________________Artwork______________

1. Sketch the installation.

2. What is the relationship of the work to the space it is shown in?

3. What kind of materials are used and how do they play a role in the outcome?

4. Is this work permanent, temporary, ephemeral? Does time play a role?

5. How does the viewer interact with the work in general? Is it participative?

6. What do you think is the artist’s intention in making this work?

7. How do you relate to this work? What appeals to you about it (or not)?

Your Hands-On Studio ProjectNow it’s time to think about your own installation. You don’t need to do something on such a grand scale. These artists have enormous budgets and unlimited resources, assistants, materials. Look at Song Dong’s Waste Not Want Not…a massive installation made with the contents of his mothers house. The sheer amount of objects is massive! You can do something with very simple, inexpensive materials, or found objects.

Your piece may simply occupy a corner of a room, sit in a tree, on a shelf, in a public space like the student lounge…along a path. Some artists leave their mark by knitting arm wool covers/sweaters for fence posts, bike racks, swings…warming up an otherwise unremarkable space.

Make notes, sketches, plan your work. Watch how ideas grow and change as you begin to engage in the physical reality of making the work. You may end up with something completely different from the idea you started with….and that is absolutely fine!

Document your work thoroughly with photos and videos; the installation may be temporary but the documentation is the testimony that remains. As you will need a good record if you decided to include this work in your final portfolio review.

Some ideas…

- create a barrier/wall within a space or outdoors - use cast off and found objects, create and furnish a miniature room in a box

- alter a space in a way that creates a subtle visual confusion (turn pictures on a wall upside down)

- move something out of its context and environment

- make a tree ‘the stage’ for an installation

New Vocabulary, Terms and Definitions

A new assignment in Visual Art class often means learning some new terminology. List 5 terms and definitions that have helped you improve your art vocabulary this week. One has already been noted to help get you started.

1. Ephemeral Art - transient art works are those that only exist for a determined period of time and are not intended to last.

2. __________________________ -

3. __________________________ -

4. __________________________ -

5. __________________________ -

ABOVE: The REDress Project is an aesthetic response to THE MORE THAN 1000 MISSING AND MURDERED ABORIGINAL WOMEN IN CANADA. © JAIME BLACK 2014.For more information about the artist/project visit: http://www.theredressproject.org

Shuttlecock Carpet for the exhibition Hands On at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2017). Image via We Make Carpets

BELOW: More inspiration from We Make Carpets. Visit them here: http://www.wemakecarpets.nl and see how they use straw, skewers, crayon, rubber band, streamers, balloon, sponge, pasta, band aid, paperclip, button, and MORE!

Pencil Carpet (detail) for Jerusalem Design Week (2017). Image via We Make Carpets.

Tube Carpet 2 made for the exhibition Hands On at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2017). Image via We Make Carpets.

PROJECT EVALUATION: L e v e l

Outcome Attempted

4 76-100

3 51-75

2 26-50

1 0-25

10 CP10.3 Experiment with various art practices (eg. drawing, painting, crafting, printmaking, digital technologies, sculpture, installation) to develop new or unique ideas.

10 CR10.2 Examine how image development strategies are used by Saskatchewan artists, including First Nations and Metis artists, to achieve meaning.

10 CR10.3 Reflect/respond critically to art works of professional artists, including Indigenous artists, to explore artistic intent.

20 CP20.1 Engage in artistic risk taking with ideas, media and image development strategies to achieve meaning.

20 CP20.2 Create artworks in a variety of visual art practices (eg. drawing, painting, crafting, printmaking, digital technologies, sculpture, installation) to explore ides derived from various sources of inspiration, including Saskatchewan First Nations and Metis artists.

20 CR20.2 Analyze factors (eg., inspiration, technology, culture, environment, events, government policies) that influence art-making practices around the world, past and present.

30 CP30.2 Independently plan and create artworks, in selected media and forms, demonstrating own voice and artistic growth.

30 CP30.3 Demonstrate ability to innovate and take risks using familiar and unfamiliar art making processes and techniques.

30 CP30.4 Use inquiry to create a work of art inspired by the work of current Canadian artists whose work responds to socially relevant topics (e.g., sustainability, social justice, diversity, and inclusion)