I went home to rest for a week - it is Spring Break, after all. I found myself taking care of little projects here and there, and wishing I had a robot to do my work for me. Ah, that would be nice. So, as I picked up things here and there, I came across a National Geographic Magazine. The main article is titled "Merging Man and Machine The Bionic Age". It is fascinating and talks about how bionics help people see, hear and walk again and a bit about hybrids.
Perhaps it is because Passover approaches and I have been thinking about the need for remembering and cleansing, but as I read Prof. Paula Levine's article "Seeing the Past in Present Tense", I thought about the importance of rituals and remembrances. When the children of Israel left Egypt after four centuries, much of it in slavery, they were commanded to keep a yearly remembrance of the Passover. To this day, the youngest child at the table is asked what this day means - its significance. And even in the 21st century, in many households the old leaven is cast out. And, in many others, spring cleaning has begun. Only by rituals, by commemorations, by celebrations, by anniversaries is the past remembered and perpetuated from one generation to the next.
Which one of us was present when the Declaration of Independence was signed? Were any or our parents or grandparents or great-great-great grandparents there? And yet, here we are, two hundred thirty-odd years later, still celebrating the birth of a nation that promised a new form of government. We visit our nation's capital and see the monuments that point to our past. These are visible structures that serve to remind us about those that came before us. Yet, despite these visible landmarks, we forget.
Is it any wonder then, that a hidden monument would be forgotten so quickly? Without ritual and remembrance even the most poignant monument will cease to be remembered. Its purpose will be erased by time when those who built it no longer live. I thought it sad that this great, tall Monument Against Fascism, War and Violence and for Peace and Human Rights has been forgotten. But, if it remains hidden, if it is not commemorated in one way or another, it will remain unremembered. So, too, shall die the stories about the Old Mill Road, when the mill is no longer at the end of the road.
Although I should be used to this by now, I am still amazed at the differing vision that others have about the same things that I have thought about or perhaps haven't given much thought to. Not that I haven't thought much about the Eiffel Tower. For a few years now, I have been planning a summer trip to Europe, to France, to Paris and to the Eiffel Tower, in particular. I have visited vicariously that city of light and that towering presence through novels, readings, photos, my friend's travels and now through Barthes' essay "Eiffel Tower". But, I have never thought of the Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel in quite the same way Barthes presents it. I guess that my view has been changed forever. And, I haven't even visited it yet.
Roland Barthes was a renowned French literary critic and philosopher, who delved into many arenas. He is particularly known for his writings on semiotics, which is the study of signs and symbols and how these are used for communication and in language. Pretty heady stuff. As I read this essay, I found myself at times nodding and at others scratching my head. It was almost as if I were trying to figure out the definition of "blue"; not the feeling, but the color. And yet, upon reflection and further examination, I can say that I enjoyed the way he deconstructs stuff and builds it back again.
But, back to La tour Eiffel. How this steel structure becomes imbued in our minds as the symbol of Paris is rather a mysterious process. And, yet, Barthes shows us just how we tend take an image and turn it into a symbol. It seems to be a universal "happening", for lack of a better word. We see an image and our minds add meaning, history, depth to it. It is almost as if we need to fill in the blanks, and those blanks are what is not said in the image. We want to understand the whole story and so, we add all those layers of knowledge, all those other ideas, all those other stories, add a few connections to other similar images and produce a new and different whole from the one presented. And, so we begin to build myths surrounding images. Those myths that, to paraphrase Barthes, are the ideas that are held as truth or unquestioned by a group, a people, or a culture.
Barthes takes us through the Eiffel Tower's different levels of meaning, pointing out its uselessness, its emptiness, its "mimicry" of other tall, slender shapes that have been built through the ages. It is a paradox, for that very structural uselessness has served as the platform for millions to attain a bird's eye view of the city. It's emptiness served to point the way to the skyscrapers that followed, and its "mimicry", transformed the obelisk into a more graceful shape.
Barthes points out that the tower is both seen and seer, for its presence is ubiquitous in Paris. Since one can see it, it follows that it must see us. When one climbs it, and views the city, the landscape is transformed, and for a moment one can feel at the top of the world. This reminded me of the feeling I felt from the top of the World Trade Center, looking out over the Hudson River, towards the Jersey shore, or even the exhilaration I felt the first time I stood on the observations deck very nearly at the top of the Empire State building. I could see so very far, and yet near too - so many buildings, so many windows, so many cars, so many people. Just as I was seeing, who was seeing me?
Just as the Empire State building or the Statue of Liberty are symbols of New York the Parthenon of Athens, and the Pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris. Barthes reminds us that the symbols of other places must be entered, for they are solid. In contrast, this tower is open. Barthes asks "How can you be enclosed within emptiness, how can you visit a line?" This is the one question I will ask myself as I ascend the tower in its oblique elevator.
So, this is the recipe for the Chance Art project that I blogged about a few days ago
Ingredients:
1 sheet of paper(8½ x 11 or bigger)
1 die
1 fine point pen (sharpie works)
8-12 different colored pencils
utensils necessary for drawing circles (dinner plate. Salad plate etc)
a list of friends to call (or email list, or facebook list)
telephone or computer
Recipe:
1.Toss a die.Add 1 to the result.This is the amount of circles that will be drawn on the page, after you have all your results.
2.Make a list of the colors your have available, i.e. red, yellow, purple, green, white, etc. (I chose mine from a set and picked out every third pencil – color names were those on the pencils themselves).
3.Call the first name on your list and ask the following questions:
a.Please choose a number 1 thru x (depending on the number of circles you’ve drawn)
b.Please choose a color (from your list of colors)
c.Please choose another number 1, 2 or 3)
4.Write down each of these answers. A chart is useful to keep track of answers.
5.Call the second person on your list and repeat steps 5 through 10.
6.Repeat until you have exhausted your list.
7. Draw your circles using a fine point pen. Size will depend on the number of spaces chosen by respondents. Depending on the number of circles, they may overlap in order to fit on the page.
8.Using fine point pen, divide each circle into the total amount of sections selected by respondents, like you would a large pizza (8 lines)
9.Now, take the colored pencil that matches the color chosen, and color 1,2,or 3 sections in circle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. In other words, the first number chosen tells you which circle to color, and the second number chosen tell you how many sections to color.
10. Fill in the sections starting from the top and clockwise sequentially. Do not skip sections
11.Number each circle 1, 2, 3, etc (place numbers outside, but next to each circle, or just remember the number of each one)
Note:you can also, or instead, send a mass email to your contacts with these questions and simply fill in your circles as you open the emails returned.Or, you could send a request to all your facebook friends and get answers that way.
Genetic Engineering is really a fascinating topic, and much can be said about the possibilities that are opened for helping humans, and perhaps animals, in attaining a higher degree of health.
It is interesting to see a phosphorescent leaf, or frog or butterfly, or _________. You fill in the blank. But, how does that leaf, or frog, or butterfly feel about being a freak in nature? Do they have their own sense of self? And do we cause great violence to these other organisms when we impose our own will upon them, and change their existence? How can they tell us? How do we know?
Will changing their life story result in karmanic retribution? Am I willing, as an artist, to possibly cause pain and suffering to other life forms, not because of my need for nourishment and survival, but because I want to experiment in a different type of art?
I love the possibilities of Google Earth. I learned more about how putting together a movie works. I enjoy traveling virtually around from place to place, putting the markers in, adding the photos, and then recording. I like watching the final product.
I am perplexed when I play my recording and my movie plays differently. I wonder what step I missed and how to go back to the place where everything was working.
I will figure this out, and end up with the movie I want. It will just take a bit more work.
REBECCA GOLDFARB: IMPLIED April 3rd - May 1st, 2010 Opening Reception: Saturday, April 3rd, 4-7 PM
Baer Ridgway Exhibitions is pleased to announce our first solo exhibition with San Francisco-based conceptual artist Rebecca Goldfarb. Goldfarb's show, titled Implied, will host new works based in sculpture, installation and photography that hint at a myriad of concerns relating to human consumption, the environment and the meaning of everyday objects. In viewing Goldfarb's exhibition, one is presented with a perceptual experience, creating an opportunity to give further consideration to, in the artist's own words: "the infinite and in-between space where language, thought, memory, and sense interact as ways to investigate the act of thinking and seeing."
Goldfarb's continues her interest in minimally composed color photographs with a new series in red, yellow and blue, titled "Who Is Afraid of Fuel, Food or Water?" With this piece, the artist extends the conversation between Robert Irwin's 2006 installation, "Who's Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue3" and Barnett Newman's 1966 painting, "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?" As Irwin attempted to carry the two-dimensional exploration of primary color into a third dimension, Goldfarb reintroduces materials, concepts and titles that bring a new language to the equation.
"Goldfarb's approach to words and titles allows for the possibility of thinking through the difference in terms of language, as opposed to simply its referent. But it seems that Goldfarb is not simply suggesting a retreat into a realm of word play. Rather, her formal strategies and titles frequently suggest that "materiality" is not to be understood as simply a self-evident category, but rather a marker of what kind of perceptions we bring to the table." - James Thomas
Rebecca Goldfarb received her BA in Art and Environmental Studies from Pitzer College in 1996 and her MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004. Goldfarb has recently been granted a residency at Kala Art Institute and recognized as a finalist for awards by Artadia and James D. Phelan. Her work has been exhibited at various galleries and venues, including Todd Hosfelt Gallery, Steven Wolf Fine Arts, Lincart and Queens Nails Annex, among others.
More information and images can be viewed on our website: www.baerridgway.com
BRX is located at 172 Minna (between 3rd and New Montgomery) in downtown San Francisco, next to the SFMOMA. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00am to 6:00pm.
