Global Contemporary
1980 CE to Present
TOPIC 10.4 Theories and Interpretations of Global Contemporary Art
The study of art history is shaped by different theories and interpretations of art and art making that change over time and may be generated both by visual analysis as well as by scholarship. These theories and interpretations may be used, harnessed, manipulated, and adapted to make an art historical argument about a work or a group of works of art. Intended meanings are often open-ended and subject to multiple interpretations.
(10) 224. The Gates.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. American. 1979-2005. Site-Specific art.
Learning Objective: Video installation
Themes:
Water
Religion
Death
Man vs. nature
Installation
Technology
Duality
Passage of time
Museum: San Francisco MOMA
The Gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude was a mixed-media installation that was placed in New York City, US and spanned 23 miles long as a work of site-specific art.
The installation was comprised of 7,503 gates across footpaths in Central Park. Each 16-foot-tall gate had a piece of saffron colored fabric hanging to 7 feet above ground level. The widths of the gates matched the widths of the walkways. Gates were set down to avoid drilling. The structures formed an oval path that intersected. There was no start or ending points.
© Panoramic Images/Getty Images
The Gates introduced eye-catching color into the landscape and infused light into a winter scene. Orange contrasted with brown and gave off the “spring is coming” vibe.
The work was temporary with all materials intended for recycling or sale.
Function
The installation was free to the public. The artists wanted to alter the experience of walking in the park to be an original, temporary experience. A golden ceiling creating warm shadows for visitors, as well as a refuge from city life. It encouraged people to go outdoors. It made people look and drew attention to the landscape.
In aerial view. The Gates looked like a golden river that appeared and disappeared among the trees in the park.
How does art respond to and impact our relationship with the built environment? What is natural? What is “constructed”?
This work helped to move visitors from being unaware of their surroundings to aware and engaged.
Content
The Gates was only exhibited from February 12th – February 27th, 2005, in Central Park.
The fabric moved organically with the wind. Light moved through it mirroring the visitors’ movement underneath it.
The installation was inspired by Japanese Shinto tradition of torii (gates) that mark the transition at shrines from the secular to the sacred.
Context
The husband-and-wife artist team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude developed the concept for the art installation in 1979. It was not produced until 2005. For this reason, we can consider it as linked to environmental/site-specific art of the 1970s.
The Gates cost $21 million. The artist financed the project themselves. There were no sponsors, instead they self-fund every project and sold merchandise related to the exhibition. Part of the costs of the work were wages for 600 workers to install it. The team also paid for security guards at night.
The artists had to submit proposals, attend meetings, and make presentations to both the City of New York and the Central Park Conservancy administration. In 1982, they received a 251-page rejection.
The election of Michael Bloomberg, in 2001, who was a fan of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, was the turning point.
Central Park was constructed in the 19th century and was meant as a city refuge. It recalled ideas of the Victorian pastoral and picturesque.
People criticized The Gates for interfering with man’s relationship with nature. But the irony is that Central Park itself was constructed in the 19th century as a city refuge.
(10) 239. The Crossing.
Bill Viola. American. 1996. Video art.
The Crossing
Photo © Kira Perov
Learning Objective: Video installation
Themes:
Water
Religion
Death
Man vs. nature
Installation
Technology
Duality
Passage of time
Museum: San Francisco MOMA
The Crossing by Bill Viola is a video/sound installation that uses a double-sided screen on a freestanding piece of clear acrylic. It was shot using high-speed film that achieved 300 frames per second in great detail. Viola reduced the speed of the playback to extremely slow motion. This enhances the drama. Sound amplifies the experience.
Function
The artist wanted to create an immersive sound and video environment to dwell on transformation and change as well as growth and decay. These are inevitable processes.
Slow-motion is not just a technological choice. It is meant to invite a meditative and contemplative response. One that requires the viewer to concentrate for longer and slows us down. This increases our awareness of movement, detail, and change. This creates a connection between the artistic and spiritual experience. We could interpret it in a religious way, even though the work makes no direct iconographic or religious overtones.
Content
There are two different video sequences that are simultaneously shown.
- Water + fire = duality
In the water video the male figure walks slowly towards the camera. After several minutes, he pauses, staring directly into the lens. A trickle of water overhead appears until he disappears in a deluge. As the water ceases, the figure has vanished.
In the fire video the male figure walks slowly towards the camera. After several minutes, he pauses, staring directly into the lens. A flame starts at his feet and spreads over his legs and torso until he disappears in flames. As the fire dies down, the figure has vanished.
This draws on universal truths about life and death from Eastern/Western traditions. Fire/water is a barrier between this world and the next. Humans struggle to survive both of these in disasters.
Flames
- Shiva Nataraja
- Parliament
- Chartres Cathedral (destruction, rebirth)
Water
- Biblical flood by Michelangelo
- Great Wave
- Basin
- Slave Ship (destruction, cleansing)
These elements often symbolize change, redemption, transformation, and renewal.
The act of self-annihilation in the figure’s disappearance serves as a metaphor for destruction of the ego.
The title The Crossing is in references to the crossing of an individual to a different state of being.
Context
- Describes a childhood experience of almost drowning as “beautiful” and “without fear”.
- Viola is a devoted Zen Buddhist.
- In college, he majored in religious studies, psychology, and electrical engineering– all clearly visible here.
- Inspired by Nam June Paik, an early innovator in the field of video art.
- Even though the art object has greatly changed, the themes of life, death, religion, redemption continue.