Postmodern Artworks - Essay Example

Post Modern Artworks -Institutional Critique Introduction Institutional critique is a type of commentary made on different art conventions and institutions. It is also a commentary on fundamental disarticulation of art as an institution (Welchman 2006, p. 56). Institutional critique tries to make more visible the boundaries between the inside and the outside, and between the private and the public (Books LLC 2010, p. 19). Fred Wilson and Hans Haacke are two artists whose works have the theme of institutional critique running through them. This paper will compare and contrast the works of Fred Wilson and Hans Haacke. It will then discuss their works in terms of the theme of institutional critique. The discussion will be based on Drip Drop Plop, 2001, glass, 8 by 5 feet, Speaking in Tongues: A Look at the Language of Display, 1999, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco by Fred Wilson and by Hans Haacke. Although both of them were institutional critics, Wilson focused much on social justice while Haacke majored on political issues and figures. Haacke was more interested in the involvements of major political personalities while Wilson took issue in the discrimination of various cultures in museums. Art Historical Analysis The works being analyzed in this paper belong to Hans Haacke and Fred Wilson. Hans Haacke’s images come from the Flash Art website while those of Fred Wilson come from Fine Art Museum of San Francisco. The images can be found from the Art Papers website. The works of Hans Haacke and Fred Wilson are classified as post modern art. Their works had the theme of institutional critique running through them as the main theme. Haacke did political art which falls in the category of Contemporary American Art (Hephaestus Books 2011). By engaging in political art, Haacke had the intention of correcting the wrongs in the political arena. Haacke did incisive and unflinching political work that was effective in exposing power and influence systems and in this he courted a lot of controversy. Through his works, he chose to examine multinational corporation ethics but also gave attention to power relations in the world of art. His intention was to alert the world against wrong positions that politicians were taking over various issues. He also sought to rebuke unethical behavior portrayed by the members of the private sector especially those in multinational corporations (Alberro & ‎Stimson, 2011). Exhibition Castles in the air Helmsboro Country, 1990 is a large scale model of a pack of cigarettes was used to refer to Jesse Helms who was a senate conservative member. He was linked to lobbying for tobacco. Helms was trying to shut down the National Endowment for Arts and he even suppressed and censored the artists and the exhibitions they made. The work was used to advocate for freedom of speech but it also recognized the donations of tobacco companies to museums during the 1990s. Castles in the air” ran from 15th February all the way to 23rd July 2012, at the Reina Sofía, Santa Isabel 52, 28012, Madrid Spain (Welchman, 2006). Through political art, Haacke seeks to question museums, economic and political institutions within the existing globalized society. On the other hand, Fred Wilson engage in hyperrealism because he was eager to correct certain things in museums that he thought were being done wrongly. Fred Wilson took along time to intervene in museum spaces because this was his way of doing institutional critique. His attention was drawn towards the creation of re-installations of museum collections which deliberately rupture the isolation and discrimination of cultures (Hephaestus Books 2011, 34). He spend a lot of his energy resisting the fixed perceptions that were established through traditional display methods in museums of art whereby different sections such as Western, Asian and African existed in separate areas. Wilson also sought to question the educational focus of the art collections that appear to segregate non western work. Wilson sought to publicize his re-arrangement strategies so that through them, museums could change their thinking about the arrangement of their collections and how these collections they help in educating their people (Books LLC 2010, 13). Drip Drop Plop, 2001, glass, 8 by 5 feet and from Speaking in Tongues: A Look at the Language of Display, 1999, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco by Fred Wilson were both produced in 2001 and 1999 respectively. Using these works Wilson displays his dominant style which is also evident in the rest of his works. As Haacke dealt with the theme of the body, Wilson dealt with hyperrealism. The two artists produced their works in the post modern period. This falls between1960 and the present. Semiotics Helmsboro Country, 1990 by Hans Haacke shows cigaretres fallen apart. A man stands a short distance away. These cigarettes were used to speak something about the funding that their peoducers were giving to Jesse Helms who was pushing for penalties against the National Endowment of Arts. Hans Haacke had a lot of interest in the criticism of political and social systems. Just like Fred Wilson, Hans was an institutional critique artist. In many of his works produced after the late 1960s, his major focus was on the art world and the exchange systems between corporations, museums and corporate leaders (Hephaestus Books 2011, p. 14). In his work he maintained his out-spoken nature on the demystification of the relationship between businesses and museums and the specific practices they are involved in. Although Haacke and Wilson were institutional critiques in the art world, the two had totally different approaches to the theme. Haacke chose to be a critique of political and social systems as well while Wilson sought of restricted himself to the critique of the things happening in the art world (Hephaestus Books 2011, p. 25). As opposed to Haacke, Wilson took the approach of examining, questioning and deconstructing the way art and artifacts were traditionally displayed in museums (Welchman 2006, p. 61). He made use of sounds, wall labels, non traditional object paring and lighting to make his viewers to see that change in context has the power of creating change in meaning. Through his work where he often juxtaposed evocative objects he could make the viewer question the limitations and biases existing in cultural institutions and the way they shape the mode in which institutional truth, display language and artistic value are interpreted (Books LLC 2010, p. 45). Both Fred Wilson and Han Haacke did their work through exhibitions. They could arrange for exhibitions and invite an audience before which they could display their works and send their message. They chose to do many of their exhibitions in museums because both of them were interested in reaching out to fellow artists. Apart from using exhibitions they also used museums and galleries as a medium for investigation of ideas (Hephaestus Books 2011, p. 10) One difference between Haacke and Wilson is that Wilson puts much of his focus on sculptures and such forms of art while Haacke focused on large scale paintings and installations in which he targeted museums and corporations. His attention still remained on political issues and figures. Haacke’s works are about the ways and functions that economic, political and cultural institutions take. These institutions operate as active tools in constructing and transmitting identity and ideological values that support the expansion of globalization (Books LLC 2010). Trough his Helmsboro Country, 1990 image, he constructed systems of relations using elements from normal life. He therefore sought to reveal the existing relationship between social behavior and art. The selected images from both artists do not actually work together. They were only included because they were produced under the same artistic theme of institutional critique. All of them were produced for purposes of institutional critique. Figure 1; Hans Haacke, Helmsboro Country, 1990 This image was painted. It has a good organization of objects. It is in a controlled environment and with enough gallery space. It critiques the behavior and a cigarette company. The images are from different artists and they communicate different things. The images by Fred Wilson communicate issues related to social justice and racism while those produced nu Hans Haacke provide information about politics (Alberro, Stimson, 2011, p. 45). Figure 2; Drip Drop Plop 2001 glass 8 by 5 feet by Fred Wilson This image shows substances dropping from the wall. Figure 3; From Speaking in Tongues: A Look at the Language of Display, 1999, Fred Wilson was trying to show how images should be displayed in museums without giving spaces places to those associated with certain races and cultures. The rest of his images shown below had the same purpose (Welchman, 2006, p. 45). Figure 4; From speaking in tongues Image by Fred Wilson Figure 5; From speaking in tongues image by Fred Wilson In conclusion, the paper has discussed the existing similarities and difference between the works Hans Haacke and Fred Wilson. Both were artists involved in institutional critique. However, Haacke dealt with political matters while Wilson was fascinated by social justice and racism in museums. Bibliography Alberro, A., ‎Stimson, B. 2011. Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists Writings. MIT Press. Books LLC 2010. Institutional Critique Artists: Michael Asher, Matthieu Laurette, Kendell Geers, Hans Haacke, Institutional Critique, Qi Peng, Carey Young, Andrea Fraser, Daniel Buren, Hugo Debaere, Fred Wilson, Thierry Geoffroy, Marcel Broodthaers. General Books LLC. Hephaestus Books 2011. Articles on Institutional Critique Artists Including: Michael Asher (Artist), Carey Young, Daniel Buren, Marcel Broodthaers, Hans Haacke, Andrea Fras. Hephaestus Books. Welchman, J.C 2006. Institutional Critique and After. JRP/Ringier. Read More