ARTH3101/5101 Critical Issues (Fall 2023)

                                                                                                     Blog Post #3 Post Colonial Art:Ethnicity Imani Burke  Sexuality and Race  Post colonial Art introduces many different categories artist have been using to theories their art for centuries now. Post colonial art refers to work responding to the aftermath of colonial rule. " Postcolonial theory, which underpins postcolonial art, does not simply relate to the time after which a nation gains independence from its colonial ruler. It analyses and responds to the cultural legacies of colonialism and the human c...

     In her article for Huffpost , Priscilla Frank discusses the debates around art history's "problematic faves", and whether or not their more controversial paintings should still be shown in museums, at least within their currently presented context. Frank discusses many paintings with questionable content and backgrounds, delving into the debate around them. The first of which being Thérèse Dreaming by Balthus.      The model in the piece,  Thérèse Blanchard, modelled for Balthus from the age of 11 to 14, from 1936 to 1939. Despite her young age, the piece seems to be depicting her in a very sexual light, which doesn't sit well, especially in the modern age. On November 30th, 2017, a local named Mia Merrill would petition the Metropolitan Museum of Art to either removed the painting from show amend the wall text associated with it to acknowledge the paintings problematic nature, stating: "...in showcasing this work for the masses without providing...

   In an article written for The Conversation , Vivien Fryd argues that since the 1970s, long before the start of the #METOO movement, artists have been bringing attention to the issue of rape and sexual assault in art. Fryd goes on to describe the way in which Renaissance era paintings depicting both Greek and Roman mythological figures which glamourized the action of rape, presenting it in an almost heroic light. She goes on to discuss the works of Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz, as they were at the forefront of the movement to create a visual counternarrative and raise awareness about sexual trauma in the modern world. They created seven complex works of performance art in Los Angeles to recontextualize rape in the public eye and bring awareness to the violence of the act. One Fryd decides to focus on is Three Weeks in May (1977),  wherein Lacy would stencil in the word "RAPE" in bright red over a municipal map of the city over places where woman had been raped ...

     Ben Zhao, a professor at The University of Chicago, has created a program called Nightshade, designed to “poison” AI image generators to stop infringement upon artists’ copyrighted work. Nightshade works by shifting pixels in artwork, confusing the technology on the work’s subject– thus making it possible for an AI generator to transform what is supposed to be an image of a dog into a picture of a cat and so on. The hope behind the creation of this tool is that enough people will use Nightshade that AI generator databases will become unable to produce accurate outputs. Creators of Nightshade include Ben Zhao, Shawn Shan, Wenxin Ding, Josephine Passananti, and Haitao Zheng– at the University of Chicago. The creation of Nightshade comes in response to repeated claims from artists that AI generators, such as Stable Diffusion, DALL-E, and Midjourney, use copyrighted works in the database they draw from. So far, very few laws have addressed this issue– hence the creation ...

Refik Anadol: Unsupervised AI and AI generated art is taking over the art industry and raising many concerns and questions. Atreya Mathur, the Director of Legal Research at Center for Art Law talked to us about copyright and fair use of AI.  An incident with David Slater, the Naruto Case, sparked questions. David Slater, a photographer, was sued for copyright infringement when he created a book of Naruto, a monkey, who took a picture of themself and were claiming that Naruto is the owner of that photo. The copyright office then stated that “No copyright is awarded to non-humans” - so what about computer generated art? Who owns the right of the artwork when created on a computer? In today’s AI programs, such as Dalle 2, the Terms of Use states that the prompt input by user gets the right to the art property and liability. If anyone tries to sue any artwork created by AI, they will have to sue the software company. So in this case, the person can create AI art and reproduce it for pr...

Claudia Page   Blog #4 - Tamara Lanier v. Harvard for Daguerreotypes of Enslaved Ancestors “It's time for Harvard to stop doing the same to our family.” - Tamara Lanier Tamara Lanier with her mother and photo of Papa Renty (via Hyperallergic, courtesy of Lanier) Tamara Lanier grew up hearing her mother tell countless stories about their family history. She remembered specific stories about an ancestor referred to as Papa Renty. He was a slave who was able to gain access to Noah Webster’s Speller, or the Blue Back Webster. At this time, slaves were not allowed to have this book, and owning one was illegal. Papa Renty worked all day, and studied the speller all night. He was remarkably intelligent and charismatic, as he taught himself to read and spell, and then taught others.  Lanier remained extremely close with her mother up until her passing. While she was dying, Tamara promised her mother that she would put together documentation of their family’s ancestry. Shortly after ...

HaleyBentley Blog post #4 In the fall and in the winter, Toronto’s Museum of contemporary Arts was the most visited destination of the main art excursions. There was a new place made in the latest gallery district in the west towards the end of the city. MOCA Toronto is easy to get to. Most people use the subways, buses, cars, or even bikes. At this specific museum, visitors will experience the work of two internationally celebrated artists, named Phyllida Barlow and Liz Magor, whose upcoming exhibitions offer a very wide variety and even bold approaches to sculptures. On view is a selection of works from The Wedge Collection, based in Canada, as one of their largest private collections, which is based on Black identity and African diasporic culture. Most of these collections will be able to be viewed starting September 7 th, 2023, and it will end Feb 4 th , 2024. British artist Phyllida Barlow’s immense sculptures and bold drawings will be able to be viewed in “Eleven Columns”(Ne...

      I would like to preface this with a disclaimer: First of all, yes, I am aware how late this is, I have talked to Joanne about it. Secondly, as this is a documentary on the events of World War II, I feel the need to specify that I am a non-religious white American of European descent, and my only connection to the War itself is through my late Grandfather who lived and fought through it as a Scottish troop. When I speak on these issues, I wish to do so with as much care and sympathy to those groups most affected, and to not attempt to overstep in anyway. With that being said, let's review.     The Rape of Europa  (2006) is a documentary chronicling the immense amount of damage dealt to the art of Europe from the start to end of WW2, and how even today the art world is still recovering from its injuries. Much of the damage was of course executed by the Nazi party, as Adolf Hitler and his architect Hermann Wilhelm Göring would target not only nation...

On October 19, 2023 the publication ArtForum published an open letter addressing the current events of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The letter, signed by artists Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, Kara Walker, Tania Bruguera, and Cecilia Vicuña, alongside thousands of other creative workers, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to allow for aid and resources to be delivered to the city in the midst of carnage wrought by Israeli forces retaliating against the Hamas attacks from October 7 (Nayyar). The letter speaks of silence regarding the situation as unacceptable, and urges that institutions be put into place to prevent the targeted assault on Gaza (Velie, Di Liscia). This letter elicited pushback from several organizations and artists that claimed that the letter was uninformed, as it did not address the Hamas attacks on October 7, with some accusing the letter of promoting antisemitism.  Wealthy patrons of many of these artists, such as Martin Eisenberg, began to also reac...