Publics and Counterpublics

Prompt: Analyze an existing artwork/project/piece of media (TV show, game, etc) and the systems within which it operates. Try to identify: Who created it? For whom? With what materials and metaphors? With what intention? What impact? On whom? How? Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

The art work I chose is an interactive media art piece called “360degrees.org”. It was done through collaboration of interdisciplinary artists :Alison Cornyn and Sue Johnson.

The piece is designed to be a participatory investigation experience of the American criminal justice system. The project place the audience POV in the center of a prison cell while giving intimate portraits of the prisoners.

From my point of view, this piece is created for the people who concern or are curious about the issue of criminal justice and prison welfares.That is to say the work is a public art itself, it might be able to have its own audiences for educational purposes. By placing the audience in the POV of a prisoner, I think the piece provides a space for empathy to happen. Also by providing opportunities for audiences to able to learn and for prisoners to be able to speak publicly, the work has its own strong stance. After all, this is a listening happen off the court with no proficiency requirement, I think the work grabs public intention on part of justice system we often ignore meanwhile channeling through both sides of the bars.

Yes, I think the work identifies both public and counterpublic by merging the insights together. The viewers are the public while the prisoners are potentially counterpublic. Viewers are then be able to stand in the position of both sides and think whether prisoners are actually guilty or have suffered enough. By doing so, viewers and prisoners might eventually be able to come to an agreement of perspectives.

Try to identify: Who created it? For whom? With what materials and metaphors? With what intention? What impact? On whom? How? Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

Project: https://www.zeelab.xyz/Ancient-Family-Tree-Am-I-a-Descendant-of-a-Royal-Family

The project was created by artist Fan Xiang and engineer Shunshan Zhu. They began this project with the question: “Am I a descendant of an ancient royal family?” For those who are also curious about their ancestor. Then they collected the data to build a family tree. There are two versions, a 3D-printed tree and the tree on the screen. And the metaphor is the tree, obviously. The intention is to raise curious about people’s family origins. That gives a strong sense of connection to family and history. Because the user can search their family names to see the branch. The public is who has a Chinese family name. And the counterpublic is who not has.

There’s another angle to see the tree according to an author’s speech. The traditional family tree recorded only men. But how can we born without women? So there is another intention: Review the history and social we documented. We should remember women. From this angle, a public is men, or who have the right to record the history. And the counterpublic is women, or who has no right to record the history.

Analyze an existing artwork/project/piece of media (TV show, game, etc) and the systems within which it operates.

Project: MSCHF, Eat the Rich Popsicles

Who created it? For whom?

MSCHF is a collective whose creations appear online every two weeks as “drops.” Many of those drops are viral pranks. The Eat the Rich Popsicle project is a play on the radical saying initially attributed to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in response to  the starvation in the French Revolution, from the larger quote; “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.”

In present times, this slogan has been used in response to tech billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, who are criticized for how they wield power and money for personal greed rather than the public good.

With what materials and metaphors?

MSCHF applied the famous quote by creating ice cream bars with the likeness of these modern-day villians, so people could almost literally eat the rich. Eat the Rich Popsicles were available in NYC & LA via MSCHF ice cream trucks this past July.

With what intention?

This was a satirical metaphor in response to the recent tensions around these men based on multiple scandals and questionable practices, most notably at this time in the summer, the “space race” between companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin was at the forefront of controversy and conversation.

What impact? On whom? How? Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

This was a social commentary on the role of billionaires in our current society. The public in this situation would be supporters of their products, services, and practices, and the counter-public identified are those who disagree with their leadership and impacts on our present-day culture and society. Through highlighting these counterpublic ideas, I’m sure it raised awareness to those who may not be as familiar to the disparities and problematic nature of some of these companies and their CEOs.

The Art demo I like to post here is the green book, It is a movie, it is talking about a black musician who hired a white driver to drive him to make his music show tour.  It is one of the great movies under the color topic. use the drive as the first person to tell the story.

Basic information: Green Book is a 2018 American Biographical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Farrelly.

Gossip Girl (not the remake)

Who created it: Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (and by extension: Cecily von Ziegesar who wrote the book the show is based on)

 

For whom: The viewer audience of the CW, which at the time aimed to appeal to a public comprised primarily of individuals aged 18 to 34 who identify as female, also to people interested in the idea of New York “High Society”

 

With what materials and metaphors: TV, for metaphors maybe a race

 

What impact: The show had a big impact of fashion and culture as a whole. There are a lot of memorable lines that survived to be part of pop culture.

 

On whom: Mostly on younger people (teens to mid twenties)

 

How: It became a very popular show with a lot of media coverage. It also spawned sub communities through message boards and social media.

 

I think they identified a public interested in the lives of the wealthy in NYC. People wanted to know the gossip and be “in” the social circles described in the show. I don’t think there’s really a counterpublic at play.

TV Show: RuPaul’s Drag Race

Creator

RuPaul (Rupaul Andre Charles)

Created for:

Primarily – at least in the beginning, now it’s more mainstream – for gay men/drag queens and people interested in/passionate about drag culture.

Materials:

Television (Video, Audio, etc)

Metaphors:

Pageant 

Impact:

It caused a lot of cis/heteronormative people to become more interested in LGBTQ+ communities/allyship. It also brought drag culture to the mainstream and helped drag earn more respect as an art form/mode of self expression.

How was this impact created:

The show became very popular because of the personalities of the drag queens and the competition format. Having a beauty pageant also promoted the idea of drag queens as beautiful which shifted the way people viewed the marginalized community.

Did it form a public/couterpublic:

I think that a counterpublic (drag) became more of a public as a result of the show. The drag community itself remains a counterpublic, but the show has a massive fanbase which brings it more into a public sphere.

 

Mike Diva, an American film director, special effects artist, musician and YouTuber, created this video work in 2016, 5 months before the presidential election. I believe the intended audience was young people who Mike Diva felt connected with, young people on the internet who are somewhat familiar or at least have some interest in Japanese pop culture. However, the video blew-up, and I think it was actually well-received from both pro-Trump and anti-Trump, or completely politically indifferent people.

 

The video is similar to the style of videos that Mike Diva made over the years, a little bit craziness, with strong nihilism vibe. I think the intention is to poke a little fun of the craziness we were facing in reality. However, I also assumed when Mike Diva made it, he did not take Trump’s possibility of actually winning the election seriously at all. Thus he was able to make such free and fun video. While the video first went viral, it was generally being celebrated, except some mainstream news channel mistaken it and took it literally as a celebration and show of affection for Trump. The creator had to go on to social media to clarify that he was in no way seriously showing love for Trump as a candidate.

 

Fast forward, 5 months later, when Trump actually got elected, some people went back to this video and the creator, accusing them to somewhat help boosted the popularity and coolness of Donald Trump. Through this case, we see an interesting shift of public and counterpublic. Before the election result, the public seems to be people who too find the video funny as Trump seemed to be no real danger at all. The counterpublic at that time might be the people who actually loved Trump already, and did not enjoy this sort of goofy and stying of making fun of him. After the election result came out, some of the people in the original public group might become the counterpublic, as they now suspect a level of association that creation like this might have undermined or helped Trump to gain votes from younger generation. As to me, while I have had a sense of odd feeling whenever watching it, my love for this art piece has never change.

 

The piece of art that I chose to analyze is the Pussyhat Project. The Pussyhat Project was started in 2016 by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh in response to the rhetoric used toward women and minorities during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. After Trump was elected as president, Krista was planning to go to the Women’s March in DC. Jaynah was unable to attend but wanted to make her voice heard, so the two of them started knitting pink hats for protesters to wear.  They shared the pattern freely and widely through social media and knitting circles, and encouraged people to make hats for themselves and for others as a way to protest and participate. They also hoped to de-stigmatize the word “pussy” after tapes of Trump using the word were surfaced.

The materials used for this was pink yarn and crochet hooks. The pattern was designed to be really easy, but it also used the metaphor of “pussycat ears” to underscore the reference to “pussy.” The pink hats were wildly popular during that march and others in subsequent years.

The public created by this project is the onlookers — people who are watching the protests, news organizations, people watching the news, and politicians. It also creates the counterpublic of women and people supporting women, and specifically those who did not support Trump.

Analyze an existing artwork/project/piece of media (TV show, game, etc) and the systems within which it operates. Try to identify: Who created it? For whom? With what materials and metaphors? With what intention? What impact? On whom? How? Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

The project I chose is Sayonara Wild Hearts which is an indie game created by Swedish developer Simogo. The game is described as a “pop album video game.” It narrated a story that a heartbroken girl lied on the bed. The heroine that the divine arcana created transformed into a butterfly and she transported the girl to the alternate universe. Then, the girl transformed into a masked heroine. She defeated different foes and collect their pieces of heart. Finally, She then imagines herself as each of her former foes, and proceeds to fight each in turn. Instead of defeating them, she forgives them with a brief kiss. She came back to real world and reconciled with the past. Finally, her broken heart healed. 

The project is under game industry system. The creators made the game for indie gamer and female player mainly. By acting tarot’s characters and playing the story of the hero defeating the enemy, Game developer presents heroinism and encourages girls to face difficulties positively. The foes in the game are the barriers faced in real life. Players defeat all of them and finally forgive them by kiss, which means we need to turn difficulties into motivation. Also, we have to accept our fail and look forward. 

I am not sure about the public and counterpublic for the game. A public the artist identify might be the players who want to see a story line about hero rather than heroine. A counterpublic might be players who support female hero which is opposite to the majority game market.

The artwork I am studying is how to explain pictures to a dead hare by Joseph Beuys.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=984356421694886 

At the beginning of the performance, Beuys locked the door of the gallery’s solo exhibition from the inside, leaving the gallery audience outside. So they can only observe the scene inside through the window. Beuys, whose head was smeared with honey and gold leaf, began explaining the painting to a dead rabbit. He whispers to the dead thing he is holding in his arms, and wanders the corridors, passing from one work to another. Occasionally he would stop and return to the center of the gallery; stepping on a dead fir tree lying on the ground. Three hours later, the onlookers were allowed into the room. Boyce, on the other hand, sat on a stool in the entrance area, with his arms around the hare, his back to the onlookers.

 

Q: Who created it?

A: Joseph Beuys.

 

Q: For whom?

A: Humans in limitation.

 

Q: With what materials and metaphors?

A: The rabbit is the material.

 

Q: With what intention?

A: In many religions, the rabbit has a widespread, ancient, and symbolic meaning. For example, in Greek mythology, it is related to Aphrodite, the god of love; for the Romans and Germanic tribes, it is a strong symbol of fertility; and in Christianity, it is associated with resurrection. The “gold leaf mask” worn by Beuys during the performance also derived such interpretations, such as gold symbolizes the power of the sun, wisdom, and purity, while honey is a symbol of rebirth in Germanic culture.

 

Q: What impact?

A: This piece is meant to remind humans of their limitations.

 

Q： Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

A: Public. This piece is meant to remind humans of their limitations.