Under the Same Sun - The Guggenheim Museum

“WHAT AN AMERICAN LOOKS LIKE”

Images!!

T H E G U G G E N H E I M

Under the Same SunCurator Pablo León de la Barra Investigates Contemporary Artby Latin American of Artists from 16 Countries

Puerto RicoPeruVenezuelaCubaGermanyMexicoPanamaEcuador

BrazilColumbiaGuatemalaCosta RicaBoliviaArgentinaChileUSA

http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/collaborations/map/latinamerica

WHO HAS BEEN TO TIME’S SQUARE?

Describe it.

1. LIGHTS2. Advertisements3. Tourists!!4. contructions5. Traffic6. Bad art!!7. Homeless people8. crowded.9. Mcdonalds (a big one) 10. Shops for tourists who don’t know anything11. Fake cell phones that may be real12. People taking pictures with cameras13. Police cameras for “security”14. People go here often

to consumebecause it’s in the moviesfor tourist attractions like M&M world! YUMMM and Wax museum, ripley’s “museum”because tour busses dropoff/pick up hereTheater!New year’s eve shenanigans!LOTS OF TRAIN CONNECTIONS

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WHO HAS BEEN TO TIME’S SQUARE?

Describe it.

1. Mad stores2. Mad lights3. Mad tall buildings4. Mad tourists=mad expensive5. There is a lot of noise…..oh my!Lots of people…..tourists looking up at the buildings…and homeless individuals, those people in the costumes (elmo, batman, the naked cowboys, naked painted people. Europeans, and earthlings.Annoying person that’s standing the middle of the street TAKING A FREAKIN’ SELFIE LIKE A DUMMY!TRAFFIC (BIKES, TAXIS, PEOPLE, RODENTS, FOOD,

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Join Noguchi’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB), a free after-school program for high school students. TAB members may receive community service and/or internship credit for their participation in this program. TAB meets every Wednesday from 4:30-6:30pm.

November 5, -May 27, 2015.

http://www.noguchi.org/programs/education/teens

ALFREDO JAAR

A Logo For Ameica1987Digital color Video

In the late 1980’s , Jaar created an animation that appeared on an electronic billboard in Times Square.This was during a time when Time’s Square was not so tourist friendly…but still attracted a large number of locals. His piece of artwork appeared alongside other scheduled advertisements over the course of two weeks.

ALFREDO JAAR

A Logo For Ameica1987Digital color Video

ALFREDO JAAR

A Logo For Ameica1987Digital color Video

This work challenges the visual concept of what “America” is.

This work faces the ethnocentrism that is found throughout the culture of the United States of America.

Jaar’s work bears witness to military conflicts, political corruption, and imbalances of power between industrialized and developing nations. Subjects addressed in his work include the holocaust in Rwanda, gold mining in Brazil, toxic pollution in Nigeria, and issues related to the border between Mexico and the United States.

La Nube / The Cloud2000Public InterventionTijuana, Mexico-San Diego, USA Border

LA NUBE / THE CLOUD2000

PUBLIC INTERVENTIONTIJUANA, MEXICO-SAN DIEGO, USA

BORDER

This event/performance took place at the San Diego/Tijuana border at the Valle Del Matador (Valley of Death), an ominous but telling site. This work involved balloons and music, items associated with festivity and frivolity…though there is little to celebrate in this context.

Jaar placed a cellist on the US side of the border and the balloons, 3,000 of them — in homage to the number of victims of border crossing — on the Mexican side. Contradictions abounded as it became clear that balloons and music are free from any notion of borders and can travel where people cannot.

THE SKOGHALL MUSEUM2000

PAPER, WOOD, FIRE

“I strongly believe that artists are thinkers, as opposed to object makers. My working process is 99% thinking, and 1% making. That thinking process is at the core of what I do.”

THE SKOGHALL MUSEUM2000

PAPER, WOOD, FIRE

“I created an exhibition space for twenty-four hours and then burned it away I wanted to offer a glimpse of what contemporary art is and what it can do in a community. Then by “disappearing” it in such a spectacular way, I hoped to reveal its absence”.

ALFREDO JAAR

One Million Finnish Passports1995Finnish passports

ALFREDO JAAR

One Million Finnish Passports1995Finnish passports

Finland has a historically strict immigration policy. As stubborn nationalists they accept only a tiny fraction of the citizenship applications they receive, far less than other European nations.

Observing this, Jaar managed to get 1 million Finnish passports printed up to represent the number of people who should have been nationalized as Finnish citizens but weren’t.

ALFREDO JAAR

One Million Finnish Passports1995Finnish passports

Finland is a country that only has 5.4 million people (compared to the 8.4 that live in NYC).

Only 5.5% of the population in Finland was born in another country, compared to the USA, where almost 12% are born in another country.

ALFREDO JAAR The work was considered to be so controversial by the Finnish government that it was placed behind a bulletproof glass wall.

ALFREDO JAAR

…and every passport was incinerated in after the exhibition

was finished.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MOTIVATED THIS ARTIST TO MAKE THIS? P3

Artist Intentions1.2.3.4.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MOTIVATED THIS ARTIST TO MAKE THIS? P8

Artist Intentions1.2.3.4.

ALFREDO JAAR

“As I never studied art, it is a fascinating process to ascertain what communicates with a viewer, how it communicates and with whom it communicates. I never forget that communication does not mean to send out a message; it means to receive an answer. If there is no answer, there is no communication.”

SO WHAT’S YOU’RE ANSWER TO ALFREDO JAAR?

1. The point he’s trying to raise with his art revolves around social issues….2. These are issues that we don’t really pay attention to…and it needs to be brought up to our attention.3. He’s very hopeful4. His work is helpful…people are able to see the flaws in the issues he brings up in his work. YOU NEED TO SEE THE FLAWS TO MAKE A CHANGE.JOE: The MTA ANTHONY: Busses are always crowded….and you can’t feel the wind.Gissell: homelessness.

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SO WHAT’S YOU’RE ANSWER TO ALFREDO JAAR?

1. Answers can be built upon one another…like a CONVERSATION.2. Knows his work is controversial, and will create a conversation….it’s not just something on the wall.3. Forces people to take a side in a debate.4. Stop polluting my planet.5. IT’S IN YOUR FACE! Makes you ask questions. 6. Good advertiser for his work….it’s disposable but people still will pay to see it….but is he just trying to make money?

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ALFREDO JAAR #MIDNIGHTMOMENT

A Logo For Ameica1987Digital color Video

Every night from 11:57pm-Midnight

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTDUE MONDAY

As teenagers we’re often told what to do and what not to do. Much of our actions are controlled or censored by adults.

If you could say anything you wanted to anyone you wanted…and be COMPLETELY UNCENSORED…what would you say?

Write a 1-minute speech……without any censorship whatsoever.

TANIA BRUGUERA

Tatlin’s Whisper #6 (Havana Version)2009, Color video

TANIA BRUGUERA

Tatlin’s Whisper #6 (Havana Version)2009, Color video

In a performance at the 2009 Havana Biennial, Tania Bruguera provided temporary platform for the free speech normally denied in Cuba. Members of the audience were invited to take the stage and speak uncensored for one minute, after which time they were escorted away by two actors in military uniforms.

TANIA BRUGUERA

Tatlin’s Whisper #6 (Havana Version)2009, Color video

A white dove was placed on each speaker’s shoulder in allusion to the one that landed on Fidel Castro during his first speech in Havana after the triumph of the 1959 revolution.

LET’S DO THIS.

VLADIMIR TATLINWHO THE PIECE IS NAMED AFTER

Monument to the Third InternationalPlanned: 1919 after Bolshevik revolutionBuilt: Never.

• Was a portrait painter for a long time, turned to sculpture/architecture

• Favored Geometric forms

• Felt that all art should have a purpose.

VLADIMIR TATLIN

This whole structure was to be built on an rotating axis running up the center, where Cube at the base would make a full rotation once a year, the pyramid in the middle would rotate once a month, and the cylinder would rotate once a day

Furthermore, the cube would house lectures and legislative needs,The pyramid was for executive functions and…the Cylinder was for publications and radio information…including a broadcast screen that would display messages to the public.

Monument to the Third InternationalPlanned: 1919 after Bolshevik revolutionBuilt: Never.

OTHER WORKS BY TANIA BRUGUERA

The Burden of Guilt 1997-1999Decapitated lamb, rope, water, salt, Cuban Soil

TANIA BRUGUERA

Immigrant Movement

InternationalOngoing

Socially Engaged Artwork

108-59 Roosevelt

AvenueQueens, NY

11368

What struggles to immigrants face? Who represents immigrants politically?

TANIA BRUGUERA

Immigrant Movement

InternationalOngoing

Socially Engaged Artwork

108-59 Roosevelt

AvenueQueens, NY

11368

Opened in 2011 in Corona, QueensEngages local communities, social services, and elected officials to reform immigration laws.

TANIA BRUGUERA

“I’ve been inspired by anything that is an attempt to implement Utopian ideas. Restrictions also trigger me, especially when someone says, “No, it is not possible.” Lately, the revolution in the Middle East (Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria) has had a great impact on me. These events were some of the first manifestations, together with WikiLeaks, of significant revolutionary actions in the 21st century.”

WHAT ABOUT YOU?? P8

How do you react when someone says “No, it is not possible.” ?

1. Gabriel: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. 2. JONO: IF THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY.3. JULY: Okay fine. You’re not worth arguing with….stupid head.4. KD: Makes me wanna try harder to prove them wrong.5. CHELLEY: OH REALLY NOW? HAVE YOOOOOUUUU TRIED?6. G-THANG: Open your mind bro, expand your imagination.7. RY-GUY: makes me wanna question them to ask WHY it’s not possible.8. “it MAY be possible.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?? P3

How do you react when someone says “No, it is not possible.” ?

1. Motivates you even MOAR!!!! MOAR MOAR!2. It may be impossible for “you” but not for me!3. Peeps be mad lazy Or like vania’s braces (bodily control) 4. You try to prove them wrong.5. ….sigh…admit defeat. *cries*6. Makes you question whether or not it actually ISPossible.Changing the worldGoin’ to mars!

Being the next Kobe (or LeBron…gametime…..now. Go. GAMETIME!

ABOUT TANIA BRUGUERA

TANIA BRUGUERA tries to activate viewers’ interest by recontextualizing powerful images.Her artwork draws reference from significant social and political events. She is also interested in the widespread apathy that has followed in the wake of several failed social revolutions. (think of #occupywallst )

Define these wordsApathy: sounds like “sympathy” or “empathy”No feelings at all….a lack of emotion…..”I don’t care”Context: background info on a topic. This answers “why” something is the way it is.

Recontextualize: to change how something is viewed by people. To change the background on something.

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ABOUT TANIA BRUGUERA

Tatlin’s Whisper #6 (Havana Version)2009, Color video

TANIA BRUGUERA tries to activate viewers’ interest by recontextualizing powerful images.Her artwork draws reference from significant social and political events. She is also interested in the widespread apathy that has followed in the wake of several failed social revolutions. (think of #occupywallst )

Define these words

Apathy: Lack of emotion or not caringContext: Background info on an issue….OR….the surrounding issues around a given thing. Recontextualize:To CHANGE the way people perceive things. People may take a new stance on issues

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DONNA CONLON & JONATHAN HARKER

Drinking Song2011Digital Color video with sound

DONNA CONLON & JONATHAN HARKER

Are there any shared histories between the USA and Panama?

1. AMERICA BUILT A CANAL TO CONNECT THE EAST AND WEST SIIIIIDES OF AMERICA2. THE USA “ENCOURAGED” PANAMANIAN INDEPENDENCE3. NORIEGA SCANDAL

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DONNA CONLON & JONATHAN HARKER

Are there any shared histories between the USA and Panama?

1. USA building a canall.2. Columbia once was in charge of parts of “Panama”

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A MAN A PLAN A CANAL PANAMA

First thought up by Charles V (the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain) in 1534.The French tried to do it in the late 1800’s but MALARIAThen the USA took control in 1904 and finished it a decade later.

DONNA CONLON & JONATHAN

HARKERDrinking Song2011Digital Color video with sound

What’s the relationship between the USA national anthem and Panamanian Beer?

1.2.3.4.

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JONATHAN HARKER

Tocumen2005 Born in Quito, Ecuador

Lives and works in Panama City, Panama

JONATHAN HARKER

Tocumen2005

The postcard thing started out as a very personal project: I wanted to keep in touch with a woman that had gone far away. In those days, we travelled around the city taking photographs for Mogo magazine, and we began to see things with new eyes, a little like tourists. Almost all the photos were taken by other people: strangers on the street, accomplished artists, housemaids, or friends. The slogans and logotypes were inspired by the official discourse used to promote Panama in and outside of its borders.

The guy in the photos is the part of me that still feels like a foreigner in his own country, and that fails to understand what that whole “his own country” stuff is really about.

JONATHAN HARKER

Isla Grande2002

JONATHAN HARKER

Ancon2002

JONATHAN HARKER

Marbella2004

JONATHAN HARKER

Transîstmica2002

JONATHAN HARKER

The reality around us is socially constructed. The place where we live, history, and our own personal and collective identity are products of a turbulent process of selecting and combining governed mainly by biased interests and ideologies which are full of contradictions. We seek to comfort ourselves with stories that have a beginning, a middle and an end, in which all things are clear and all the pieces fit. But life is not this way, and not all stories are designed to be like this.Making art is to tell stories differently.

La realidad que nos rodea es algo construido socialmente. El lugar donde vivimos, la historia, y nuestra misma identidad personal o colectiva son productos de un accidentado proceso de selección y combinación regido principalmente por intereses parcializados e ideologías repletas de contradicciones.

Buscamos reconfortarnos con historias que tienen un principio, un medio y un final, en las cuales todas las cosas son claras, y todas las piezas encajan. Pero la vida no es así, y no todas las historias tienen por que serlo.Hacer arte es contar historias de otra manera.

DONNA CONLON

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, USALives and works in Panama City, Panama

Coexistence Photos2008Photographs of leaf-cutter ants carrying artificial leaves painted as flags.

DONNA CONLON

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, USALives and works in Panama City, Panama

Coexistence Photos2008Photographs of leaf-cutter ants carrying artificial leaves painted as flags.

DONNA CONLON

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, USALives and works in Panama City, Panama

Coexistence Photos2008Photographs of leaf-cutter ants carrying artificial leaves painted as flags.

DONNA CONLON

Trash Trees2004A series of photographs of trees encountered with trash placed in them. Panama City, Panamá.

DONNA CONLON

Trash Trees2004A series of photographs of trees encountered with trash placed in them. Panama City, Panamá.

DONNA CONLON

Trash Trees2004A series of photographs of trees encountered with trash placed in them. Panama City, Panamá.

DONNA CONLONSimilar to Drinking Song, the Trash Trees series shows how brands are integrated into our “natural” environment. Consumer products have woven themselves into our daily existence in more than just one way. They continue to pop up and surprise us in all of the locations we wander into.

As an Artist Duo, they examine contradictions in the construction of Panamanian national identity, as well as political and societal disparities between Central America and the United States.

Conspicuous Consumption

DONNA CONLON & JONATHAN

HARKERDrinking Song2011Digital Color video with sound

What’s the relationship between the USA national anthem and Panamanian Beer?

1.2.3.4.

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RE: PRESENTATIONDonna Conlon and Jonathan Harker’s work deals with how countries are represented in pop

culture (popular media)Do Now: Write a list of countries and jot down how you think they’re represented. Start with

these countries:Japan – They love tech and innovation…and they sell it too! Nuclear pollution. DA EARTHQUAAAAKE IN Fukushima. Karaoke singing! J-POP is a thing that people listen to especially HOO-LYO. Fetishes?Japanese commercials are mad bizarre. Suicide rate is among the highest on the planet. Anime!Spain – running with the bulls….bullfighting. Cataluña trying to secede from spain. Flamenco. Francisco Franco…..maybe we don’t learn about him…Mad raw steaks. Neo Nazis….they’re a thing. 56%youth are jobless. 18-30 y/oGypsy culture is comin’ back!Brazil – FúTBOL!! 2016 Olympics. Gang violence. LOST THE WORLD CUP SO BAD.FAVELAS (extreme poverty….”ghetto”) complicated “recylcing” programRiots…THE RIO STATUE….CHRISTO EL Redentor! The Amazon. CarnivalHonduras- La Mara – mad dangerous gang. Highest murder rate in the world.Greece – Rocky white beaches. Philosophy, white togas, economic crises, LAMB. Greek economy tanked the Euro. “Neo-nazis”

RE: PRESENTATIONDonna Conlon and Jonathan Harker’s work deals with how countries are represented in pop culture (popular media)Do Now: Write a list of countries and jot down how you think they’re represented. Start with these countries:Japan – origin of sushi, whole lotta anime, gaming industry, martial arts.Wacky commercialsRacism that exists within the country. Issues with pollution (radioactive pollution), very high suicide rateSpain – running of the bulls, MADRID FUTBOL WHAT!, conquistadores, flamenco, Tomato throwing festivalProtests against the government, rampant poverty, 56% youth employed.Brazil – Christo the Redeemer, favelas (ghetto), protests in the world cup, beaches. STUNNING DEFEAT IN WORLD CUP, plastic surgery , FESTIVALS!child prostitution, , protests in the world cup, Human trafficking, systemic inequality, Honduras – systematic inequality, highest murder rate in the world, gang violence, Greece – Parthenon, worst economy in Europe, mythologyRise of fascists.

OPENING ON FRIDAY NIGHT

Donna Conlon and Jonathan HarkerInvisible HandsFriday @6pm

MINERVA CUEVAS

1. A place where you buy clothes…..dresses, fancy shirts, pretty expensive 2. Children in Ecuador slaving(making) over clothes???3. Seasonal clothing lthat looks like people going on vacation.3.

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Have you heard this word? What does it mean to you?

MINERVA CUEVAS

1. COMFY UNDIES!2. CLOTHING STORE/COMPANY AND THEY HAVE A TON OF OVERSEAS FACTORIES? MAYBE?3. EXPENSIVE

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Have you heard this word? What does it mean to you?

MINERVA CUEVAS P8

Typical Features of a “Banana Republic”Income InequalityCorrupt Alliance of Big Business and Big GovernmentHigh Incarceration Rate of CitizensTorture used by AuthoritiesHigh Child Mortality RateUnchecked Police Corruption and an Ever-Expanding Police State Issues with Hunger and Malnutrition

What Countries do you think are dealing with these issues?

What countries dealt with these issues in the past?

MINERVA CUEVAS Del Montte—Bananeras2003Acrylic screenprint on wall

MINERVA CUEVAS Del Montte—Bananeras2003Acrylic screenprint on wall

Cuevas’ image is centered on the image of a banana plant over which she places a modified version of of the “Fresh Del Monte Produce” logo. This narrates a history of tension between major transnational banana companies and various Latin American countries, Guatemala in particular.

The doubled letter in the “Montte” modified brand name refers to José Efrain Ríos Montt, the military president of Guatemala in 1982-3, who was responsible for the genocidal slaughter of the indigenous Ixil ethnic group.

http://www.bananalink.org.uk/content/where-bananas-are-grown

MINERVA CUEVAS

Minerva Cuevas was born in Mexico City, Mexico.She studied at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Mexico City in 1997.

Cuevas has been working as an artist and activist since 1992, utilizing video, stickers, installation, radio, Internet, public actions and print. The tools are used and assembled at Cuevas’s self-created company Mejor Vida Corp., which is a fusion of art and politics. The artist’s main interests are homelessness, freedom, information, corporate behavior and advertising.

MINERVA CUEVAS

MINERVA CUEVAS

MINERVA CUEVAS

Bordering on illegal activities, and with the aid of technology indispensable in digital life, Cueva distributes, for instance, bar code stickers, that can be used for shopping at a reduced rate, or student cards, allowing for a reduced entry fee at museums, theaters, cinemas and such. Also on offer are ready-made subway tickets, letters of recommendation, as well as other services. The products can be obtain free of charge via a website.

MINERVA CUEVAS

Dodgem2002Installation at Mexico City amusement park

Minerva Cuevas intervenes in an amusement park ride by pasting the logos of multinational oil corporations onto bumper-cars. Here she comments on recent energy politics characterized by a permanent war among the petroleum companies (referred to ironically by the artist through the aimless bumping of electric cars) looking to control the international markets with the ultimate goal of private profit.

LET’S SHARE SOME IDEAS!

Create a postcard for a country of your choosing.The photo on the postcard must be generated by YOU. NOT THEM INTERWEBS.Think of a slogan for your postcard…and how you choose to represent this country.PHOTO DUE ON MONDAY 9/15

When we’ll be doing some photoshop work…On a flash drive or emailed to yourself

You’ll need high resolution images for this project.Need a camera? Borrow one from me!