Art is an artistic expression

Art is a type of creative communication that is based on the capacity to interpret, ascertain, imagine, and be courageous. It demonstrates new approaches to identifying and addressing problems. As a result, it stimulates tasks and improves life (Steindl-Rast, 2000). This article examines four works of art, including Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's 2007 Killing Machine. Pussyhat by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh in 2017, How Not to Be Seen... by Hito Steyerl in 2013, and Solar Catastrophe by Allora and Calzadilla in 2012. Each artistic expression and its dominant theme will be contrasted to a related piece, and their respective innovation will be explored. Figure 1 Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, The Killing Machine, 2007. Mixed media, audio installation, pneumatics, and robotics. Duration: 5 minutes. 7'10" x 13'1.5" x 8'2.5" © Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller; Courtesy of the artists and Luhring Augustine

Installation Art: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s Killing Machine and Kara Walker’s Burning African Village

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller created this artwork using a mix of materials that included a megaphone, an electric dental chair covered in pink fur together with bands and barbs, robotic arms, a disco ball, guitar and an old television (Figure 1). The subject is capital punishment with a focus on torture and killing machines. The artist's motivation was opposition to the American approach to the death penalty as well as prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The megaphone speaker is movable; it encircles the dental chair. The robotic arms hover above the prisoner probably attacking with needles. The disco ball above reflects colored lights, and the old TV light is on, creating luminosity. The artwork questions our elevation of machines at the expense of life, (Cardiff and Miller, 2007). He wants us to imagine ourselves in place of the accused.







Figure 2 Kara Walker (American, born 1969). Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching, 2006. Painted laser-cut steel, 24 x 38 1/4 x 90 in. (61 x 97.2 x 228.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum.

Kara Walker's work (Figure 2) utilizes black and white silhouettes to tell history. In this piece, she paints laser-cut steel to explore relationships based on gender, race, oppression, and power. The focus is on the civil strife that occurred in the South. A mansion, soldiers, weeping willows, small huts and slaves in shackles can be visualized, (Walker, 2006). In this ‘playset,’ characters can be arranged differently to tell a different story each time. Each arrangement, however, is a puzzle that is dependent on the arrangement in the set.

Rapid Response: Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh 2017 Pussyhat and Ahida Zanetti’s The Burqini.

The Pussyhat by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh was a protest to



Figure 3 Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh 2017 Pussyhat



Figure 4 Ahida Zanetti 2004 The Burqini

President Donald Trump’s election, (Figure 3). It is designed as a pink rectangle with perked up cat-like corners. The creators felt that the president had demeaned women in his suggestion that women 'could be grabbed by the ‘pussy.' Knitters were encouraged to produce numerous ‘pussyhats' to disapprove this. Women were to wear them in organized marches, (Jones and Volsing, 2016). The purpose was to create visual statements of solidarity and therefore correct misguided cultural and political views regarding women.

`The Burqini was created by designer Ahida Zanetti to help women overcome challenges when participating in sports, (Figure 4). It is of knee-length, has a loose-fitting top, long sleeve, a close-fitting hood, and trousers with ribbons. Across the chest is a solid, graphic transfer to control clinging and feeling exposed. Muslim women started wearing these and participating more in games. When terrorists attacked France, the nation began banning this dress, turning it into a symbol of protest. Favorable court rulings have made it acceptable in many countries in Europe, (Jones and Volsing, 2016). Like the ‘pussyhat,' the Burqini has come out to defend women against infringement of their rights.

Change Through Time Video Art: Hito Steyerl’s ‘How Not to Be Seen’ and Yael Bartana’s ‘…And Europe Will Be Stunned.’

Hito Steyerl in the piece considers individual exposure to global information conveyance mechanisms, (Figure 5). To her, these create mass political dominance that pushes people into invisibility. The art video presentation has five teachings showing the process to turn something to become imperceptible for a camera, become undetectable yet in plainly visible, turn into an invisible image, disappear, and how to merge into a picture. In the video still, this disappearance is suggested by the white background lines. Those that dissolve in this digital age become background ghosts, a generation of the politically influential and ultimately those to be haunted by the ghosts. Disappearance in the real world could refer to lack of liberty, (Steyerl, 2013). In intolerant societies, Steyerl alludes to the reality of assassinations or deportations that occur globally.



Figure 5 Hito Steyerl, How not to be seen: A Fucking Didactic ducational.MOV File (2013), screenshot. Available at http:rhizome.org/editorial/2013/may/31/hito-steyerl-how-not-to-be-seen/.

The Artist Yael Bartana composition is a three video projection that addresses the right of

The Jewish people of Polish origin to return to their homeland, (Figure 6). He seeks to raise awareness of displacement and assimilation of people. The first video Mary Kosczmary (Nightmares) presents a politician’s return home call, the second one Mur I Wieza (Wall and Tower) sees followers join and build a settlement. The last part Zamach (Assassination) shows the killing of the politician, a tragedy that emboldens the community, (Bartana, 2011). Through borrowing from the past and present histories of Polish and Jewish people, the author avers that we reconsider the positions assumed to be final.



Figure 6 Yael Bartana ...And Europe Will Be Stunned: Mary Koszmary (Nightmare, 2007), Mur I Wieza (Wall and Tower, 2009), Zamach (Assassination, 2011), screenshot. Available at https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/30353



Contemporary Art: Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla’s 2012 Solar Catastrophe and Gilbert and George’s Sex and Money.



Figure 7 Allora and Calzadilla. 2012. Solar Catastrophe. Exhibited in conjunction with exhibition ‘Foreign in a Domestic Sense’ Lisson Gallery London.

The artists Allora and Calzadilla identify societal stress factors, (Figure 7). Socio-economic and political forces from their homeland of Puerto Rico make the mainstay of this composition. The artists utilize old solar panel cells, thrown away every two years, to highlight ‘greenwashing’ of the panels’ credentials about their being clean energy. Created abstractly, the black, white and grey surface both absorbs and reflects light. The color of the artwork changes depending on atmospheric conditions and thus is mainly decorative, (Allora and Calzadilla, 2012). The work, therefore, alludes to hypocrisy rather than seriousness today in handling environmental issues. It also conceptualizes how to create beautiful work by re-using material.

Gilbert and George on their part depict in their abstract construction, the travails of urban



Figure 8 Gilbert & George (b. 1943/1942), Sex & Money (A London Picture) 2011, Mixed Media, Each: 73.9 x 61.8 cm, Overall: 226 x 190 cm)

life in London in their work Sex and Money, (Figure 8). In this, there is a contrast between the red and black words and the vision of buildings in London. The artists in this work appear subjugated to the background, but the text in the art tells of various court cases regarding sexual harassment, (Gilbert and George, 2011). Through this, the artist tells of the cities contemporary challenges.

In conclusion, creative art takes many forms. Contemporary, social and political issues can be covered through installations, videos, and still art among others. Creative art, therefore, remains valuable in the strive to find expression.



Figure 8 Gilbert & George (b. 1943/1942), Sex & Money (A London Picture) 2011, Mixed Media, Each: 73.9 x 61.8 cm, Overall: 226 x 190 cm)













References

Allora, J. and Calzadilla, G. (2012). Everything at Once. [online] Everythingatonce.com. Available at: http://everythingatonce.com/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].

Bartana, Y. (2011). …And Europe Will Be Stunned. [online] Guggenheim. Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/30353 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].

Cardiff, J. and Miller, G. (2007). The Killing Machine. [Mixed media, sound (5 min.), pneumatics, robotics, elector magnetic beaters, dentist chair, electric guitar, computer, various control systems] New York: New York and Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin.

Gilbert and George (2011). Sex and Money A London Picture by Gilbert & George on artnet. [online] Artnet.com. Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/gilbert-george/sex-and-money-a-london-picture-a-XYmNjmaggd_Q1r6j-LJVMA2 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].

Landi, A. (2015). Telling Stories in Three Dimensions: Installation Art Today. [online] ARTnews. Available at: http://www.artnews.com/2015/01/20/installation-art-today/

Steindl-Rast, D. (2000). Creative Expression - Gratefulness.org. [online] Gratefulness.org. Available at: https://gratefulness.org/area-of-interest/creative-expression/

Steyerl, H. (2013). MoMA Learning. Retrieved December 12, 2017, from https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/hito-steyerl-how-not-to-be-seen-a-fucking-didactic-educational-mov-file-2013

Walker, K. (2006). Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching. [online] Brooklynmuseum.org. Available at: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/18564