Ways of Seeing
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.”
The phrase is always “seeing is believing” but this quote brings up an idea that what we see doesn’t necessarily prove what we know is true, at least to our brains. The disconnect between what we see and know feels like it shouldn’t exist, but it does subconsciously.
“Perspective makes the single eye the centre of the visible world. Everything converges on to the eye as to the vanishing point of infinity”
I just like this quote because I’ve never thought of a vanishing point in that way before. Its always seen as a point of reference but this quote is correct, that it’s infinity through a single view. It changes the vanishing point from reference to something almost ethereal.
Khan Academy
“But, at its best, it taps into our most basic shared instincts: our physical and psychological needs for food, shelter, sex, and human interaction; our individual fears and self-consciousness; our concerns about life, the future, and the world we live in.”
I’ve always viewed performances as almost spiritual experiences. Whenever I catch a good performance, I feel something visceral in my core, in a way. It always felt like it reached into a part of me I can’t normally reach consciously, and this quote captured that feeling very well.
“Ironically, the need to position performance within art’s history has led museums and scholars to focus heavily on photographs and videos that were intended only as documents of live events. In this context, such archival materials assume the art status of the original performance. This practice runs counter to the goal of many artists, who first turned to performance as an alternative to object-based forms of art.”
Performance archiving is a very hotly debated topic. Art preservation is super important to me (which is why I collect physical media whenever I have the chance), but it’s also very difficult to preserve art in its original state, no matter the medium. Performance is especially difficult because no matter how advanced recording technology gets, a recording will never truly recreate what the performance was like in person, and this quote explains the issue with it.
Yoko Ono
“Even at her early age, her work was considered as too radical by many, so it did not receive much recognition and acceptance. It was only later on when she became involved with American jazz musician/film producer Anthony Cox that she gained some recognition, for it was Cox who financed and helped coordinate her “interactive conceptual events” back in the early 1960s.”
Yoko Ono, to this day, is a divisive figure, likely not for the reasons she wanted. Despite her success, she absolutely had a less than positive view in the public eye. I think this quote is important to mention that disapproval from the public has always been an element of her career, long before her very public relationship with John Lennon.
“As she explained, art represents a way of showing people how you can think, and even though some people think of it as a beautiful wallpaper that you can sell, Yoko Ono rather perceives it as a direct connection with activism.”
Art is directly connected to the time it was created in, and any person who claims otherwise usually misses at least a bit of the meaning. Especially in times of high political tension, art should be connected to activism, and I think Ono understood that better than most.
Shaun Leonardo
“And so art wasn’t really within my vision as a child: I never quite know what inspired me, other than the moments where I did see and take in art.”
I like the idea of not realizing you want to embrace art for a long time, especially not realizing how impactful it was in your life right away. I’ve had a similar realization with my own artistic career and I like hearing professionals have similar experiences.
“The workshop, the platform of teaching and learning, is in and of itself the performance. It doesn’t lead to another output or product.”
Half of art is the preparation, and it is doubly true for performance. While the kind of performance I do is very different from Leonardo, any performer can tell you how much goes into preparation, and also that you can’t really skip out on it. Taking the preparation seriously is important, and considering it a performance in itself is a way to do it.
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