I found this week's reading to be considerably more accessible than that of previous weeks. The theme of place in art is highly evident in nearly all branches of art history. Relating the idea to my own earlier work as a photographer (working mostly with landscapes in rural areas of Alabama) it is especially easy to relate with, as the camera becomes a tool to relate a place to the viewer, a way to capture a feeling evident to yourself at the time. I enjoyed the selected biographies of artists who work with place as a theme. Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's The Paradise Institute seems to be an extension of John Cage's 4:33, using the sounds of ambiance to create a distinct mood within a place: "Because the noises are so faithful to what one would expect to hear at the cinema (shuffling feet, the sounds of people taking their seats), disbelief is willingly suspended." (180) Cardiff's use of sounds, space, and setting recreate an eerily common experience, while being slyly manipulated (tidbits of conversation, the movie plot, etc...).

The thorough experience created by Cardiff's Paradise Institute brings to mind the necessity of it. Does the artist really have to go to such lengths to express her ideas?: "...Whether an event is quotidian or mysterious and dramatic, the place where the event occurs colors and shapes our understanding of our experience...Our experience of place, its physical and emotional specificity, is the leitmotif of Cardiff's art."(182) I feel the emotional response she is seeking can be provoked in a much more subtle manner, for example, the smell of cold, wet pine needles instantly brings to mind a rushing reminder of the year I spent living in Decatur, AL (because apparently that's the only impression it left on me). A good photograph can put you entirely within a space just by looking at it. Certain music can instill a sense of nostalgia and put you in a very specific mood. Perhaps the great lengths Cardiff goes to is to create a universal feeling that relates everyone to a familiar experience in a place. Then again, every one's individual understanding of the place is different, making a universal understanding impossible; something pointed of by what we've learned in class about deconstructionist theory.

image: http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_423861818_269302_janetcardiffandgeorgebures-miller.jpg

Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. Themes of Contemporary Art. Second. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 179-182. Print.