Peter Doherty

Peter Doherty
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Monday 29 August 2011

Week 5 - Pluralism and the Treat of Waitangi


Pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi
In teaching week 5 you will discuss pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi in your tutorials.
Use this discussion, the notes in your ALVC book and the internet to respond to the following
questions;
1.Define the term 'pluralism' using APA referencing.
Pluralism in art refers to the nature of art forms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the world’s cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honors differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities. Pluralism, The Treaty of Waitangi and Globalisation. Caldwell, B (1999) Cultural context. Retrieved 16 Oct 2003 from http://www.public.iastate.edu/~design/ART/NAB/PluArt.html
2.How would you describe New Zealand's current dominant culture? i think that in New Zealand we have a very multi-cultural society today filled with Europeans/Pakeha, Pacific Islanders, Asians, Muslims etc. Originally New Zealand was a Maori and European culture but as time and technology have proceeded, New Zealand is now filled with so many different races and immigrants due to the country being clean, small and safe which is a big attraction overseas. However, people across the world who are uneducated would assume that New Zealand has a dominant Maori culture... with lots of sheep.
3.Before 1840, what was New Zealand's dominant culture? New Zealand was firstly a Maori country in which the Maori travelled from the Pacific Islands and settled here without any decent resources and touch weather conditions. The Maori then signed The Treaty of Waitangi by some Maori chiefs which then gave the British monarchy sovereignty over parts of New Zealand. After this was signed promises were then broken and ship loads of European settlers arrived. 
4. How does the Treaty of Waitangi relate to us all as artists and designers working
in New Zealand?
I think that the Treaty of Waitangi relates to artists and designers in the way that it is an ongoing feud with the Pakeha and the Maori because it is still not settled and creates and lot of tension and drama from the past, which is seen and expressed through art in the sense of painting, sculpture and designs. It is something that New Zealand history will never forget and is has been documented in art. It relates to us in the way that we must know and be aware about it to understand Maori art and history of our country.  
5.How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on regional diversity in New Zealand in particular?
it is seen has having a negative effect on NZ because people such as playstation and lego have taken aspects of the Maori culture in which they have no idea about or bothered to research properly about, and used offensive parts of the culture to sell a product and to make it more interesting because everything else in the world has been taken. This has resulted in unhappy parties of the maori culture and shows how globalization can take away so much of a culture just for competition for originality. 
-Globalization refers to the increasing unification of the world's economic order through reduction of such barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas. The goal is to increase material wealth, goods, and services through an international division of labor by efficiencies catalyzed by international relations, specialization and competition.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization)


6. Shane Cotton's paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton's work 'Welcome'(2004) and 'Forked Tongue' (2011) to analyze what he is saying about colonialization and the Treaty of Waitangi. 
'Welcome' (2004) Shane Cotton 
  
  
        
'Forked Tongue'(2011) Shane Cotton
Shane Cotton’s work always has some Maori culture reference discusses in his paintings about conflict and culture. “Forked Tongue”, which features a cliff face, a fantail, some Maori designs and a tracery of red lines these symbols or metaphors become starting points for an elaboration on the links between the physical, historical and spiritual landscapes(John Daly-peoples,2010). To me this painting has references to American Indian stories told by artworks talking about myths and the land, which is interesting in the way that he is telling a story to viewers about. I think that in his past paintings as well as these that he is saying about the treaty of waitangi that it is a past not to be forgotten and to appreciate the Maori land left. 
In the work “Welcome” it talks about the Treaty of Waitangi and colonization in the way that it is talking about Maori and Pakeha with Jesus Christ at the top of the lithograph and at the bottom a representation of Maori. The contrast of Jesus, the Maori symbol and the black and the white fantail show confrontation and the use of the title ‘Welcome’ has a contradictory sense in the way that Pakeha made themselves welcome and became very unwelcome once they went against the Treaty.  
7.Tony Albert's installation 'Sorry' (2008) reflect the effects of colonization on the aboriginal people of Australia. 
Research the work and comment on what Albert is communicating through his work, and what he is referring to. 
Describe the materials that Albert uses on this installation and say what he hopes his work can achieve. Define the term 'kitsch'.
Tony Albert's practice reveals his interest in mass-produced products from Australia's history and what these say about dominant beliefs. By collaging, sculpting and transforming images, brands and texts, Albert succinctly reframes modern Indigenous Australian history through its representations in 'kitsch' material culture. His work Sorry 2008 was inspired by former prime minister Kevin Rudd's formal apology to Indigenous Australians on 13 February 2008. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Drb9RbW3Tw) “Each represents a false identity, manufactured black faces made to fit white society” Tony Albert 
He uses manufactured that he has collected all his life of black faces that white companies have made and have used them in this display, the faces appeal to a mainstream sensibility of what aboriginal people are. The figures in this work relate to the people who were effected by the policies that were cut off from who they were and their culture. The apology is suggesting that it is still a word and a gesture but the aboriginal community are still waiting for something out of that gesture or what will be the future. 
He says that ‘it’s reverse racism’ ‘it is the whole idea of taking something derogatory or used against you and putting it in a positive way’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6afMy0rlqq8 
8. Explain how the work of both artists relates to pluralism.
They both talk about their culture in their work which is a strong aspect or pluralism that they both show. Also I think that they are both hopeful and positive about the future and hope that there will be change for their culture. 
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Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality



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3. Kehinde Wiley Count Potocki, 2008 oil on canvas, 274.3 x 274.3cm

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4. Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm
Kahinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation. Wiley lives and practices between Beijing and Brooklyn.
  1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly. 
No-one today- even for the first time- can read a famous novel or poem, look at a famous painting, drawing or sculpture, listen to a famous piece of music or watch a famous play or film without being alluded to, parodied and so on. Such contexts constitute a primary frame which the reader cannot avoid drawing upon in interpreting the text. 
Chandler, D (2003) Intertextuality. Retrieved 9 Oct, 2003 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/transcript/volume2/issue2_2/sculpt/sculpt.htm 
This is saying that without even realizing everything in the modern world has a reference, nothing is original people take what they want, change it reuse things and make it their own. It is something we do automatically to help us understand works by comparing it to references in our head that help us make sense of the work. 
ALVC semester 2 book
  1. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work. 
In Wiley’s work he has many references to renaissance artists such as Tiziano Vecellio and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Wiley’s paintings reference history in a contemporary manner, also I have noticed that he only paints black men and with the reference of high class portraits from the renaissance, black men have taken their position. In ancient times this would of never ever been done or thought of because of the position of black coloured people in society. His paintings really show how time has changed and how free we are in todays age. Also the frames around his paintings show the importance of the people in the paintings, like the importance of the people painted in the renaissance such as people with money and kings and queens. Turning his aesthetic on end, he used his trademark references to older portraits to add legitimacy to paintings of this generation’s already powerful musical talents. In Wiley’s hands, Ice T channels Napoleon, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five take on a seventeenth-century Dutch civic guard company. (http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html) ‘He's a brilliant renaissance technician with hip-hop subject matter’ (http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/kehinde-wiley/)-  I really like how this has been described by interview magazine because it shows how intertextual he is, in the way that he takes things and adds his own touch to it and makes it his own. Little people get credit for the references that are used. He also references French Rococo, Islamic architecture and West African textile design
3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.
Each individual artist and student belongs to several overlapping cultures and subcultural groups. Art can communicate multiple identities within one culture as well as make cross-culture comparisons. Artistic processes and products may also show cultural mixing. (Caldwell,1999)
Wiley is putting black American men into paintings and positions of people for an example from the renaissance portraiture where men were painted showing wealth and power. Wiley is contrasting these cultures by adding largely sized black American men (for power effect) and putting them in a royal like pose. He displays in a great fashion in his work of how the world is changing and are free to do a lot that should of been allowed a long time ago. The more freedom the gain the happier society is. He makes figurative paintings that “quote historical sources and position young black men within that field of ‘power.’” His “slightly heroic” figures, slightly larger than life size, are depicted in poses of power and spiritual awakening. He deliberately mixes images of power and spirituality, using them as a filter in the portrayal of masculinity (http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11)
ALVC semester2 book 
4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonization, globalization, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 
In his work he is breaching stereotypes of what black people are portrayed as, normally if you think of a black person I associate them with gold chains, baggy jeans, rap and hip-hop this is due to movies. He is making his work so that people realize that there need no be any hierarchies of society and skin colour. He has put famous rappers in a position of history references bold, royal white men in a throne or on horse back. 
‘Wiley may have redefined portrait painting for a new century’ (M.I.A,2011). Wiley’s work . It’s obviously a comment on youth culture and it’s a comment on consumption patterns, but it’s also a comment on who gets to be in those sort of important moments in picture making. (Q&Q With Kehinde Wiley,2008) this shows that Wiley was challenging societies norm and making a decision about who can be in high society paintings, and is breaking down the barriers that are still vaguely there on white society being superior. Also his work could create discussion on the choice of his references as he uses them in a joke-like manner and people might not appreciate the mockery that is almost in the paintings where powerful white figures used to stand. However, I find them fascinating and extremely clever in the way he breaks the norms. 
5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.
I think that Wiley is a highly intellectual person and has some great knowledge and ideas on the world today, I found an interview very interesting with him in the way he has so much to say and knows so much.. http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/interview_paintings.html  
Wiley in the interview talks about how you cannot define hip-hop and how black american presence in the world have responded in places everywhere from china to india etc.. Hip-hop is global is how he describes it having characters from all over the world. He is embracing the fullness of the culture what used to be a political act an act of reformation and conformation of who we are in the world in the south bronx, in the 70s, it has gone so well that you see it in the streets of Tokyo...
I love how he displays ideas and how talented he is in being a photorealist. His paintings have a dreamy effect on them and seem quite humorous.  
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Week 3- Hussein Chalayan


Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.
1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

 Afterwords, 2000


Burka, 1996

Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?
Fashion is a popular trend describe in the dictionary however, people can have their own views on what is and isn’t fashion. What I believe makes fashion is a statement that people make something with a wow factor to me and something that I take an interest in visually. Fashion is up and coming and constantly changing. People have their own opinion on what is fashion and what isn’t for an example there is the latest fashion of colour blocking. 
It is hard to establish the difference between the words art and fashion because there is an art in fashion, in the creative sense of the ideas and the making. Both artists and designers have similar interests and influences. I feel that there are many different ways of thinking about what art actually is, but in fact there are many genres that would classify under the word art such as architecture, digital design, fashion design. Art is what you make of it, it is a text in which gives you something to talk about or to think about. In the work Burka (1996) I think that the ideas that were challenged to the viewers and the wearer show things to think about such as femininity of the female and the burka.
I think it would of initially offended many people who were not interested in the artist before hand because in a way at first glance it seems that Chalayan is going against all the islamic cultures values and morals. But when you look into the text more, you realize that he is making a statement on women in burkas rights and femininity. Hussein Chalayan was the first to go there. He sent oddly pubey models down the runway with only their faces covered way back in 1998. The New York Times, unable to call it for what it was – adding genitals to something we don’t understand – called it “a provocative exploration of the Islamic women’s place in society using the chador as a fulcrum”. (Would you wear a burka?, 2010)- I believe that Chalayan’s burka to me is not necessarily fashion although it was a collection but I think that his ideas in this went beyond the thought of fashion able to wear and became more of a statement that got people thinking and discussing world wide and deals with the issues of the burka, ‘femininity, modesty and identity’ (Hussein Chalayan- Burka, 2010).  
In the work Afterwords (2000) it shows wearable, portable architecture displaying clothes able to transform into tables, suitcases and chairs. I feel that this shows a lot of art, architecture and minimum fashion, I do not think that Hussein is fazed by what is fashionable or starting trends, he designs to be creative and to evolve ideas for the viewers in his garments. His last pieces of Afterwords, shown in the show I feel are so incredibly amazing and mind bottling on how he made these that the seem so clever almost too clever for the runway. Like McQueen Hussein is so talented in the way that they both incorporate the best of their skills in their collections and leave the outstanding for last. If the collection was just clever portable architecture it wouldn’t be the same and those significant last pieces. ‘chalayan uses fashion as a medium for expression’ (Hussein Chalayan fashion + video, n.d)
I like quite a few architects: renzo piano, jean nouvel, parts of zaha hadid, rem koolhaas and mies van der rohe, alvar aalto and le corbusier. Quite broad, but again, parts of what they do.’ - Hussein Chalayan. 
2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?
Art is everywhere, whether it is recycled and made into something, something that is already branded, something that has been made from scratch, art is on t.v, the internet, advertising, product design and much more. Therefore the meaning of art does not necessarily change when he has used other products to make his art to sell their product. It makes it more popular, is a clever marketing strategy for both Chalayan and the product owners however, at the end of the day it is still something made and creative and presented in an exhibiting way. It is up to the viewer to decide if it is still art, however, I believe so because in a post-modern world anything could be art if the artist decides it is so. This just shows on Chalayan’s work that he is very creative and talented in many ways whether it is selling, creating and designing top-notch pieces of art or clothing. The result was The Level Tunnel is a 15 meters long and 5 meters high traveling installation that captures the essence of Level Vodka. Essentially Chalayan looked at Level as a means to echo all aspects of it from the bottle to the drink itself. (Tunnel Info General, 2008) In doing this people were blinded folded and listened to the flute that was made out of a level vodka bottle, they also activated the smells in the vodka by walking The individuals going through the tunnel might feel like they re able to feel the smell or taste the sound resulting in a synaesthetic experience. Drinking the actual vodka at the end completes the experience of the tunnel but if not it may feel like the vodka is still consumed by other means. (Tunnel Info General, 2008).


The Level Tunnel, 2006


 Repose, 2006


  1. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analyzing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?
A video installation telling a story based on identity, geography, genetics, biology and anthropology. The film questions whether the extent to which identities can adapt to new environments. (imdb, 2005) The art movements that I can recognize from reading about this film (because I cannot find a video online) are modernism, post-modernism. Modernism in the way that they believed that science would fix everything, I think that Chalayan has a love for science and technology in the way that he said in an interview ‘technology creates new possibilities and i think it creates in a way new realities and new connections between things that maybe you couldn’t do before. I feel like it’s a really exciting tool but then again depends on how it is used.’ (The Art Of Fashion, 2009) he also takes advantage of science and technology and uses it to his advantage (which is not a bad thing) in the way that he is always using technology in new and exciting ways to create amazing works. I think the scientific revolution has also had an influence on this film such as progress the idea that humans could be improved by science, and science is the key to expanding all human knowledge. 
http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/art_projects.absent_presence.overview/
ALVC semester 1 hand out book 
4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?
I think that it makes it more special and significant when an artists makes their own pieces of work, we do all know that the ideas obviously come from the artist but everybody needs some assistance especially when artists have such grandiose ideas that would be impossible to achieve alone. Also when artists start to get loads of money such as Damien Hirst they are allowed to get lazy and get assistance and work on other projects. I find sometimes a bit disappointing when I find out that the artists has not actually constructed the piece such as Damien Hirst’s shark, but at the end of the day it is their own quirky weird ideas. It is important for the artists to make their own pieces when it is in their area of focus. 
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Monday 22 August 2011

Week 2 Post-modernism


1. Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

  • Postmodernism is difficult to define, because to define it would violate the postmodernist's premise that no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truths exist
  • Postmodernism started in the 70s and was the failure of modernism 
  • “New age of thinking”- work on your own opinion, what we see is equal to what other people see
  • The distinction between art and the consumer product became blurred
  • ‘Post’ is latin for after and ‘modernism’ refers to the modern period 
  • In postmodernism one has left the idea of a grand narrative- society is more fragmented 
  • No unified theory guiding society 
  • Many prefer to live under a global, non-political government without tribal or national boundaries and one that is sensitive to the socioeconomic equality for all people Postmodernists are typically atheistic or agnostic while some prefer to follow eastern religion thoughts and practices. Many are naturalist including humanitarians, environmentalists, and philosophers
http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/2009fall/engl3130/studentessays/popart_files/image017.jpg
Notes from Gabriel’s ALVC class
ALVC book 
2. Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist.
‘The post–modern artist is ‘reflexive’ in that he or she is self–aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking about his or her cultural self in history, in demasking his or her own pretensions, and promoting processes of self–consciousness.’
       -Copyright © (text only) — Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe — This essay appeared originally in What is Art?...What is an     Artist? (1997) http://arthistoryresources.net/modernism/modpostmod.html 
3. Use the grid on pages 42 and 43 to summarize the list of the features of Post-
Modernity.
To summarize postmodernity artists have adopted new forms of how they view and make their work. From the grid it shows that postmodernity, in my understanding shows that artists play with ideas surrounding irony for maybe a humorous effect but in the depth of the work, there is a serious meaning behind the work. Artists have taken recycled materials and chosen different mediums to create art with and society began to accept that, but not at the beginning of post-modernism. Their works show hyper-reality where you cannot distinguish reality from fantasy because they seem more powerful. The texts give the appearance of real things but actually aren’t. Artists play with the ideas around reference a text of a text where it ends up not being able to distinguish the original reference. The artists experiment with random, out-there genres that people wouldn’t dare use before this time. Artists in postmodernity stand for their rights and opinions and being able to be in an ‘open society’ and can do what they like with their art and also feel they have to right to state what is art.
4. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work are Post-Modern.
  • He is a rebel in the way he produces and shows his art from the norm like Ai dropping a 2000 year old Han Dynasty Urn, this makes you wonder about his work and why is he doing it. It take the approach in postmodernity that he is ‘challenging official seriousness’ but is actually being serious. 
  • 30years or even less before this, this would not be considered art it would be discrimination. Even today people will have their own views on this artwork and Ai himself, and some people with appreciate it and some people will be disgusted with it. This is what postmodernity is about, is that the artwork produced by postmodern artist is not for everyone but creates discussion and allows people to have their own opinion 
  • His art has been called ‘shock art’ which is like playing with an ‘out-there’ genre. 
  • It is ‘hyper-real’ you do not know if it is actually the urn in the images its hard to believe. 
  • People would question this to try and figure out if it is actually art, like Duchamp’s toilet. 
  • He wants to show a different system of valuation 
  • His work shows ‘intertextuality’ in the way that he uses readymades such as this ancient, Han Dynasty urn as a base to display the ‘Coco Cola‘ famous logo on it, this shows references that we recognize that reference something else.  
  • He plays with the idea of ‘irony’ when he uses this urn, which has an ancient past that people would normally keep and value, by substituting it with another value when he puts it in a museum glass pane. ‘Reinstalling value but replacing historical significance with a newer cultural one.’ http://dailyserving.com/2010/07/ai-weiwei-dropping-the-urn/ 
  • it shows popular culture on the ‘Coco-cola’ popular logo on the urn which also talks about the ancient urn and it is a big contrast of the two, which shows ‘hybridity’
 Ai Weiwei dropping a Han Dynast Urn.
'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994), Ai Weiwei

 5. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist
to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern.(Use your list from point 6.)
  • Banksy’s work shows a lot of irony mainly 
  • He uses stencils to make statements 
  • “This painting is a call for peace. The man holding the flowers is militant like. Banksy flower thrower calls for an end to the atrocities committed in this world in the name of war. The flowers here are carriers of peace and when thrown they will scatter and bring peace. This is the basic idea behind the painting.” http://ricochet.com/member-feed/When-Art-Does-not-Imitate-Life-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Banksy 
  • in an article about the Banksy book it proves that Banksy’s work ‘challenges official seriousness’ and shows ‘irony’ ‘provoke an immediate smile before the brain thinks about the messages behind them, or reads the accompanying words.’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1528685.stmideo2mp3.net/ 
  • This work that he has is so famous because it has a lot of power and a big message to it that shocked and got the world thinking, this shows that his work is just as good and successful as painterly works from past times, therefore his work is ‘equivalent’ to other works from the past 
  • He plays with surfaces, because he does not just stencil on walls of buildings (mainly he does) but on nature and things messing with nature. 
Los Angeles (2008), Banksy
 'Flower Riot', Banksy

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Wednesday 27 July 2011

WEEK ONE

1. What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?
Claymation before even researching it, I think that it is animation and clay put together. Claymation came about in the 1980s and is a method of animation in which clay figures are filmed using stop-motion photography. 
  1. What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?
‘Experiment’ was supposed to be a “surrealist garden of Eden where all that is natural goes awry”
Firstly looking up ‘The Garden of Eden’ I found out that it is something that has come out of the Bible as the place where Adam and Eve (first man and woman) lived after they were created by God. For many medieval writers, the image of the Garden of Eden also creates a location for human love and sexuality, often associated with the classic and medieval trope of the locus amoenus. 
In the Bible the description of The Garden of Eden says- 
‘Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.[...] The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.’ 
The story from the Bible says- 
God charges Adam to tend the garden in which they live, and specifically commands Adam not to eat from theTree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve is questioned by the serpent concerning why she avoids eating from this tree. In the dialogue between the two, Eve elaborates on the commandment not to eat of its fruit. She says that even if she touches the fruit she will die. The serpent responds that she will not surely die, rather she and her husband would "be as gods, knowing good and evil," and persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve eats and gives the fruit to Adam, who also eats. At this point the two become aware, "to know good and evil," evidenced by an awareness of their nakedness. God then finds them, confronts them, and judges them for disobeying.
God expels them from Eden, to keep Adam and Eve from also partaking of theTree of Life.. The story says that God placed cherubim's with an omnidirectional “flaming sword" to guard against any future entrance into the garden.
In the account, the garden is planted "eastward, in Eden," and accordingly "Eden" properly denotes the larger territory which contains the garden, rather than being the name of the garden itself: it is, thus, the garden located in Eden. The Talmud also states (Brachos34b) that the Garden is distinct from Eden.
Experimentet is an installation recreating a Garden of Eden from hell. It's a garden covered with creepy flowers. They are so big they dwarf visitors, their colours and shape are nauseating. Sun never lights up the garden, it's set in a perpetual crepuscule, in the basement of the Padiglione delle Esposizioni (the ex-Padiglione Italia in the Giardini of the biennale.) http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2009/10/nathalie-djurberg-who-won-the.php 
It is a story about sexual awareness and the creativity of which that is a part.
Her work has been called a ‘Surrealistic Garden of Eden’ this is because when I first looked at the clay flowers and the video presented in the ‘Experiment’ exhibition I felt like it was rather bizarre, and dreamlike in meaning this it gave me the impression of a display of something out of a theme park such as the log flume ride at Rainbows End or a dark abandoned flower shop. This video of the exhibition that I watched online (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWrPZGgudMM) gave me the feeling that it has been given this name because no one noes what the garden of eden looks like and this is an interpretation of a good and bad world and that we are blind sometimes of what goes on and blind to the difference of bad and good. The flowers are pretty but surrounded with darkness, strange music and odd events in the claymation videos. ...Evil, bad, good fruit, bad fruit, poisonous but pretty and uneatable, fake, unnatural. 
This is supposed to be like a bit of a disaster with flowers made of wax leaking onto the floor, it has a disastrous, monstrous look to it yet it is so wonderful and imperfect. The movies and the flowers go well with the words ‘awry’ and ‘surrealistic’ because they mean bizarre, wrong, wonky, strange which go with the aspects of the movie such as decapitation. 
3. What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?
Djurberg confronts us with things that we do not want to think or talk about such as issues with right and wrong. She portrays gruesome things such as rape and decapitation but in a sick humorous way to make it bearable to watch and then gather the information she is trying to tell. There are emotions of fear in her videos that she provokes and Djurberg herself is a person that is not afraid of pain, and feels that “Most people have feelings, have heartaches or are afraid of dying or of pain.” 
4. How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?
She has used a child like type of animation such as the children’s series Wallace and Grommet.  
  1. There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?
“That is why you do art. It’s for the stuff you don’t dare talk about.” - Djurberg. 
I find this statement relevant to this question because in todays age we do not really have any limits to as far we can push the boundries that it why art is so fasinating because people can let their mind run completely free through art by expressing themselves and problems that have not been brought to the surface that people do not want to bring, through discussion and chats. Therefore people are making work that was innocent and sweet into something outsiders see as disturbing because they are telling the truth or a discussion that needs questions to get answers. It creates something for viewers to really think hard about instead of just being attractive to the eye which is simply easy. Innocent and sweet also starts to get a bit boring after a while therefore going to the extreme of taking that idea and making it disturbing is appealing to artists. Also in todays modern world we are beginning to realise that not everything can be perfect or made perfect there are always going to be disasters and bad things happening in the world and I think that artists today as well are developing on that idea of imperfection and are making pieces of art more disturbing because they want to show the harsh reality of the truth behind things. They have realised that it is not just about making a piece of art beautiful it is about self expression, views and what is going on with the world around us. 
“I think most of the women in my videos are really beautiful,” Djurberg said, “but I am also attracted to not-so-perfect looks. For me perfect is boring. Everyone who thinks they are a bit ugly tries to hide it. And the hiding is unattractive, but when I see someone who stands up for how they look, it takes my breath away.” This shows and relates to her work that she is not into perfection and finds it boring.
  1. In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?
I think that her work uses different mediums, such as claymation, photography, sculpture, painting, music and the stories that she tells in her short claymation films. They are very strange and kind of blew me away when I first saw them because I did not no what to expect. I think that they chose her work because she is an upcoming artist and has a lot of strangeness to offer to people and a lot to tell in her work, her work provokes questions for the audience which is important and gives you a lot to view, absorb and think about.  
  1. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.

The snake film was the first video I watch on Djurberg on Youtube and it started off funny, and a little odd, but happy, then I got completely into it and was a bit horrified when the snake all of a sudden turns on the person and starts decapitating it. She does amazing displays as well such as her garden of eden. I thought her work was odd and hard to watch at first but I think after thinking about her work and what kind of emotions and horror it brings to the surface I find it interesting of what she is trying to convey and what is going through her mind when making them. I like the dark side to her work because it has depth to it. 
The video was pure Djurberg, whose twisted scenarios tend to begin with fairy-tale sweetness and dissolve into grisly sadism- August 19, 2010
Clay Mates, Talk | By LINDA YABLONSKY | August 19, 2010
 “That is why you do art. It’s for the stuff you don’t dare talk about.”
  • kind of like with Alexander McQueen he wanted to show in his work things that people do not want to see or talk about ‘war, religion, sex etc’ like Djurberg she finds that she doesn’t want to talk about stuff she wants to make it to show it instead 
“I think most of the women in my videos are really beautiful,” Djurberg said, “but I am also attracted to not-so-perfect looks. For me perfect is boring. Everyone who thinks they are a bit ugly tries to hide it. And the hiding is unattractive, but when I see someone who stands up for how they look, it takes my breath away.”


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