Week 6: Be a Genius -> Remove the Frame

In "Removing the Frame" with Mary Jane Jacob the limitations of working in a museum are spotlighted. Jacob's main intention is to bring art closer to life, through an interactive participation with an audience over an extended period of time. Through social interaction, the audiences role is transformed from the spectator to the participant. Jacob argues that museums aren't neutral, that in fact they are powerful agents in the construction of the cultural identity of art and its people. That is to say, she believes museums call the shots and have a huge impact on the art world. There's this kind of a power struggle going on in the art world. Who gets to decide what is worthy to be deemed 'art'? In the museum, the curator decides. Who gets to dictate what is showing at the museum? In the museum, the curator decides. Who gets to define art? The curator of the art museum, because they are selecting the art that goes it to the museum, deeming it 'worthy' enough, and in turn the art they select defines art. Jacob wants to move back to the community constructing the cultural identity and define art in the terms they see best fit for themselves and the community. Basically, long story short, what Jacob seems to be saying is that the institutionalization of art is bad. Indeed, art is art, but the impact/the message changes depending on the venue. If seen in a museum, art has a different impact then when that same art piece is viewed outside or in a participatory setting. Jacob wants to free art of the space and the authorization that museums manifest, and instead give art freedom to roam, freedom from the frame that institutionalization imposes on it. Through her work with art, she is transcending the space both "physically and conceptually" and bring it back to its primal forms, turning away from the need for validation and recognition that the museum/institutionalization imposes. She gets satisfaction in her work because there is a real sense of dialogue, a genuine and primal connection between the artist and the curator, the curator and the audience. With this dialogue, all parties are involved in the creation and viewing of art and connected to one another. Jacob also emphasizes the importance of art being not just an experience for the privileged, as it most often is in museums, but instead audiences of all classes, races, and genders being able to experience the fullest impact that art has to offer. It is interesting to note that, for Jacob, it is not so much the material or medium being considered art, but rather the contextuality of art that is important. That art has a different impact on the audience whether it is institutionalized, or whether it is set free in a more participatory sense. That the same piece of art can make a completely different impact depending on where it is seen, and who has access to it, is an astoundingly liberating concept.

In "You Don't Have to Have a Penis to Be a Genius" with Guerrilla Girls, the anonymity of it all is intriguing and striking. Anonymity. Who ever really wants to be anonymous? A nobody in a sea of somebodies? Most people live their life and create their art in search of validation from institutions, hopeful that they will be recognized and praised for the life they live or the work they do.  But for the Guerrilla Girls, anonymity is the main goal. And what's striking about it is that it is extremely powerful. The deindividualization of a group of women striving for a common cause, without receiving any individual recognition, is selflessly powerful. The GG strive for women to act as a figure of sensibility in the world of art. They emphasize that feminism should be sexy and funny, and are striving for equal representation of women in art because they feel like they are underrepresented. Using the term 'guerrilla' to represent both a word and an action simultaneously is a brilliantly deliberate act to demonstrate that the GG are not only a group of women, but a group of women with a purpose who strive to participate in the transformation of gender roles in art through anonymity. They desire that a fundamental shift in the representation of women in art be of utmost importance, specifically with women as artists in a cultural setting. They feel it is their responsibility as women artists to work for change on a social and cultural level, and they use their anonymity as a vehicle for promoting the issues at hand and shifting focus to art itself and the issues it's representing, not the people behind the art, as a vehicle to diminish the frustration and isolation that these women feel/have felt- and instead focus on promoting feminism and other social issues through anonymity. They are challenging the infastructure of the art world, as Jacob is doing. more on a civil rights kind of agenda, on a gender conscious level, through a communal and collaborative approach with both the artists and the audience. They are using deindividualization to change the consciousness of the (art) world, and giving a voice to people (women in particular) who want to participate in art, society, culture, what have you, but get lost in the system, while simultaneously making art more accessible to the masses.