80 likes | 209 Views
Appropriation as an Antimodernist Antidote. Buchloh and Baudrillard. Benjamin Buchloh. Every “act” requires a subject (duh?) Assume that the subject of the “act” is calculated and deliberate. Therefore, cognitive and theoretical intentions and performances are imposed upon the “act.”
E N D
Appropriation as an Antimodernist Antidote Buchloh and Baudrillard
Benjamin Buchloh • Every “act” requires a subject (duh?) • Assume that the subject of the “act” is calculated and deliberate. • Therefore, cognitive and theoretical intentions and performances are imposed upon the “act.” • “Each act of cultural appropriation constructs a simulacrum of a double negation, denying the validity of the individual and original production, yet denying equally the relevance of the specific context and function of the work’s own practice.”
simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum simulacrumsimulacrumsimulacrum
Jean Baudrillard • Simulation Theory • Interaction between reality, symbols and society • Society has replaced reality and meaning with symbols and signs • Human experience is of a simulation of reality rather than reality itself.
Before modernism: The image is clearly a placeholder for the real item that it represents • Modernism: Industrial revolution. Distinctions between image and reality break down due to the introduction of mass production. The concept of the original is threatened due to the precision of reproductive technologies. • Postmodernism: Simulacrum precedes the original and the distinction between reality and representation breaks down. There is only simulacrum • `
An Example • Sherrie Levine http://www.aftersherrielevine.com/imagesA.html (Walker Evans)
Vroom vroom • Appropriation is a vehicle to refute the tenets and principles of modernism. • The notion of immanence in particular. • Whodunnit? • Intrinsic vs extrinsic • The line between what is internal and external is blurred
In summary • Art cannot be said absolutely to be about the authorship of the content of the work. • The plinth as an idea is toppled, and external factors must be considered. • The selection process of the appropriated work and the agency of the selector in its presentation validates the work in its new context.