Everything ever produced has a place- it comes from somewhere and is meant to be somewhere. The concept of place can be straight forward or abstract, in relation to something else (site specific or in relation to the viewer or other art works), and/or real or imaginary. If an art class were instructed to produce a work having to do with "place," I imagine that the results would be very broad. 
I thought that Kitchen (1991-1995), by Liza Lou (168) was neat. She used small glass bugle beads to create a life size kitchen, complete with appliances, food, and dirty dishes in the sink. Kitchens have traditionally represented domestic life and a "monument to women" (mocoloco). I could not imaging doing an installation so time consuming. A kitchen could easily been an overlooked place in the home- you eat there and hope that you remembered to clean the space before you have anyone over to gather there. I doubt very much that this kitchen is based on an actual place/space/kitchen. The fact that this sparkly-beaded kitchen could be completely made up makes it a bit more fanciful. The "glittery surface" is "also read as a comment on the seductive advertising that promotes the excess of consumerism" (167). This installation works on so many levels and says many things other than its "place."
Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980. Second Edition. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
mocoloco. "Art". <>
I thought that Kitchen (1991-1995), by Liza Lou (168) was neat. She used small glass bugle beads to create a life size kitchen, complete with appliances, food, and dirty dishes in the sink. Kitchens have traditionally represented domestic life and a "monument to women" (mocoloco). I could not imaging doing an installation so time consuming. A kitchen could easily been an overlooked place in the home- you eat there and hope that you remembered to clean the space before you have anyone over to gather there. I doubt very much that this kitchen is based on an actual place/space/kitchen. The fact that this sparkly-beaded kitchen could be completely made up makes it a bit more fanciful. The "glittery surface" is "also read as a comment on the seductive advertising that promotes the excess of consumerism" (167). This installation works on so many levels and says many things other than its "place."Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980. Second Edition. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
mocoloco. "Art". <>
For one reason or another, the link to the mocoloco site is not showing up on my post- so here it is: http://mocoloco.com/art/archives/001422.php
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you talk about place being abstract or straight forward. But, I believe, that maybe the idea of place can be both. Lisa Lou’s Kitchen is a good example, I thought, of being both. It’s straight forward in the sense that it is a representation of a kitchen but maybe it’s abstract too because it doesn’t hold a concrete meaning behind it. This place, this kitchen, can have endless meanings to a number of people. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Lisa Lou's Kitchen is both abstract and straightforward. It made me think of the nature of place. Even though this kitchen is not an actual kitchen and abstractly constructed it brings up the thought that all places are constructed. Even the ones that are in your mind are constructed. They are constructed by thought and fantasy instead of building materials like concrete or steel. The kitchen is an example of a place constructed from both thought and fantasy and physical materials.
ReplyDeleteLike the kitchen you have presented, 'place' is built of a number of things, of hundreds of thousands of memories and impressions and experiences. In this sense, this kitchen IS based on a specific one--the idea of 'kitchen' that Liza may base all of her domestic memories on, a sort of template from which, if I may quote something lowbrow, "all other [kitchens] were wrought."
ReplyDeleteAs Kristen said, place may be something constructed, but we have seen how powerful that construction can be. Ideas and beliefs are a very difficult things to overcome in stubborn humans, and it is for this reason that everyone should be concerned for the fringe groups who stand to suffer the most when a place is built up against them (the homeless, women, minorities, etc).
Penny Arcade comic tenuously quoted (there's cussing, if you are delicate):
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/11/12/