free occupied minds

ok, so i have an essay to write. due on wednesday. and i'm quite interested in the topic - have found a few reasonably interesting examples, have yet to draw a conclusion, but i'm on my way. except for that all-important bit: motivation. holy crap, i haven't procrastinated this much in.. ooh...weeks!

anyway, so i've decided to subject you all to a cruel social experiment, and i'm going to plot out my essay on this blog here. as i said to a friend the other night - 2000 word essay? easy - only about 5 blog posts! yes, that's right kids - you get the plan, each paragraph, conclusion and the intro... heh. so, here goes.


THE ROLE OF PUBLIC 'OCCUPATION' IN ART
the outline:

intro
incl. definition of occupation (esp: difference from performance - namely gallery vs public context) and relationship to political occupation. aesthetically political/ethic of warfare/colonial history (esp. australia).

incl. relationship to situationism and phenomenology

incl. outline of chronology/trajectory -


body
beginnings
1960s - 1970s
fluxus/richard long's walk:"if an artist traditionally draws with a pencil, ;
bruce nauman studio works
ASCO East LA/Chicano - 'aesthetics of strategic warfare'
beuys (as inspiration, - all art is political when every person is an artist)


in the face of objectivism
1980 - 1990s
hardly any. who's talkin' about sitting in a space in public, when there's multi-million dollar painterly and shiny things to sell. the cult of personality and celebrity. "neo-expressionism as rejection of conceptual art." - alison pearlman.

eastern europeans: collective actions (Monastrysky) - field of artists with red thread.
brazillians - sierra/miereles

western 'occupations' became body/gender-based performance in 1980s: cosy fanni tutti's prostitution, katherine hammnet's 58%-don't-want pershing-vs-thatcher-wear, hannah wilke, vito acconci, mike parr.
...and objective/architectural with YBA in 1990s: whiteread's concrete; gallacio's ice, creed's crumpled paper/tiles/lights/doors; gillian wearing's dancing in peckham a gradual return, although based in photomedia/performance, than 'occupation'


renewed political statements/reclamations of territory
00s
Santiago Sierra - DMZ transferrance of soil, only witnessed by those part of the project - occupied territory;
Francis Alys - Walk with paint can in jerusalem - occupied territory;
Gormley - Fourth Plinth (occupied territory?)
Guerilla Disco - austrian (through fun/music not manifesto)
people in urban environments: slinkachu and cie willi dorner
flash mob (still on the performative side, but using the concept of just dropping in - not prescribed).
Creed's Works No. 850/570 - movement and occupation/public institutions


Contemporary Aussies:
Ross Gibson's Conversations,
UI - Occupations (interior, but based in public institution),
me - in a toilet somewhere.
PVI collective - on the edge of performance
Tony Schwensen's BBQ - same. but still tied in political/occupation of space.
Tent City, Canberra.
zanny begg - soldiers (cardboard people)
online: lucazoid (lucas ihlein) the 'sham


conclusion:
Largely temporary/transient works. Links to Aristotlean peripatetic practice. Links to shifting politics and possibly the overkill of 'stuff' - the object ceases to be political, just consumptive and part of the spectacle. performane is also part of the spectacle. but the person in action reclaims the political, civic and public space.


[actually, if i was going to attempt to make this interesting, i might have made it into a slideshare thing. but i can't be fucked. instead, go and check out marcus' guides to global finance and global financial catastrophe instead - it's much better. next time i have an essay due, i'm going to commission him to do my outline slides.]