Tomorrow we will be meeting with performance artist Milan Kohout see:
http://www.mobius.org/mobius_artists.php?id=milan
We will be meeting live with him and I am asking you to look at as much of his work (extensive portfolio on Mobius and youtube) as you can find before commenting on his talk and work.
BIO from Mobius:
Milan Kohout (now a US citizen) is originally from The Czech Republic. Here he got his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was an independent artist in so-called "Second Culture". Later he becomes a signatory member and art activist of the dissident human rights organization CHARTER 77 (group of mostly artists was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1985 and initiated non violent Velvet Revolution which toppled totalitarian regime in 1989). Following many interrogations he was forced by CZ security police to leave his country in 1986 due to his political art activism. After several years in a refugee camp he was granted asylum in the United States. In 1993 Milan received his Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Since 1994 Milan has been a member of the Mobius Artists Group (www.Mobius.org). Here he has created many full-scale Performance Art pieces (both collaborative and solo) His work concentrates mostly on the subject of human rights (recently rights of Roma/ Gypsies) and politics (critique of totalitarian capitalism and fundamentalist religions) As Mobius Artists Group member he has participated on numerous international art exchange programs and festivals around the world (China, Croatia, Taiwan, Czech Rep, Poland, Cuba, USA etc). and has been the recipient of number of awards, grants, residencies (Grant from The Fund for US artists at Intern.Festivals, Tanne Foundation Annual Award, First Prize at Intern.Theater Fest.in Pula, Best National Czech.Independent Film Award, Arizona State University residency,PSi conference in London 2006 etc.) He has been teaching Performance Art& Politics at TUFTS University and Massachusetts College of Art and video at The New England Institute of Art and Newbury College in Boston.
12 comments:
Milan Kohout was an intriguing speaker and very entertaining, a rebel with a cause. I viewed his relationship with people and his work like a bad relationship. For example- in his view of American culture- we the American people and our government are the ones in a bad relationship and Milan and all other artists are the friend who is trying to show the seemingly helpless that they are under control and should acknowledge that it isn't right and do something about it.
His satirical antics in my view are a better way for his audience to stop and engage his message; it becomes a more inviting approach for participation. Once he has successfully done that, it opens up conversation to a more philosophical view of our culture. I refrained from asking him how he thought America has gotten to such a police state, but answered my own question when really thinking about what our country is based on- and it is capitalism and this "screw your neighbor" view. Throughtout history we have commanded and conquered for the sake of peace and justice. For whom?
I think as New Media students, especially in this day and age, who are fed MTVBUYMORENOWANDBEHAPPY culture- we should be upset and feel cheated and used. And as progressing as artists, we should carry a message that demands change. Anyone can call themselves an artist- the word is so convoluted that each one of us (in our minds) has a definition of what it is. But in respects to all aspects of art, it should carry a simple message and that is 'we are not going to settle for things being defined by a "higher power" but let us define it (whatever that it may be) for ourselves.
I asked Milan if he had always had a problem with authority? Dumb question- yes? I mean, anyone who has eyes and ears can clearly see that their is something wrong with the world and it starts with law enforcement. Do these people really believe in the law that they are protecting or do they find it to be a shield and a paycheck for them to just be apart of the system of "good patriots" of their country?
I wanted his response because I just didn't want the work to speak for itself, I wanted to understand what his intentions were, what kind of message he was trying to send- or what it would lead to.
Lastly, I was real greatful of this opportunity. And although Milan detests the technology, it wouldn't have been feesable without it.
Todays guest lecturer was Milan Kohout, sort of a rebellious artist as one may view it. The online lecture was a bit rough to understand at times, but not too bad.
In response to Steve Crowley, with ZERO condescending tone in this I promise, I was unaware that you were an artist. I know that you enjoy technical toys, and coding at times, but I was unaware that you were an artist. On a personal level, what sort of mediums do you prefer? I've seen you spray paint from our 12 frame assignment in 304, but I didn't feel that it was a passion of yours. I'm actually mildly excited to learn something new about you.
As far as Milan is concerned, I feel that I must agree with Stephen, without the technology this would not have been possible. Yet, your disapproval makes you more of an interesting character to me.
Am i personally turned off by the constant use of technology? Yes. But am I also a contributor to such an issue?
Most certainly.
Vicious I know,
I found that the lecture with Milan Kohout was very interesting and that his dedication to a subculture such as 2nd life was very refreshing and at the point of the discussion where he described how we as Americans in this society are left to our own minds, where we are trapped not only by the repressive higher authority and culture, but also by ourselves, which we do so under the pretense that we should not be miss led when being lead by a leader that has been elected by us when the truth is we elect a person to in order to take care of all our issues for us, we elect in order to be free, when really we give up our opportunity to be heard.
The idea of performative art as a way to express an idea in a time based form, seemed to be very interesting, and intrigued me to think about different ways that it could be used. A down side to performative art is, that if you are doing something that people don’t all agree upon then you are likely to have the police called on you. Minor detail, yet in some cases it can really reinforce the message you are trying to convey. Lastly, Milan brought up the idea or truth rather about how when he lived under a communist system, and was involved in second culture, he was more free than he was when he came over here.
He also mentioned how we are bombarded by media, and all these other distraction everyday to keep us from realizing that we are not as free as we think. We are caged in our own selves and enslaved to our own minds and we don’t even realize it, I agree with him on this point, but I also think that in time we can find a way to be more free, and that in order to be free from the things that are bombarding us we need to first be conscious of them, and be conscious of what they mean, and what they are doing to our decision making. How we allow the influences around us in our everyday lives to manipulate our decisions is paralleled to our ability to think freely for ourselves. I’m not saying don’t buy things from stores and don’t feed the system, rather fist be conscious, then decide fro yourself, and perhaps at some point in time and space we will be able to find true freedom.
I really enjoyed watching this lecture with Milan - he is an engaging and charismatic artist, and has some very interesting views on many things.
I was especially affected by what he said about vertical vs. horizontal communication. He asserted that more socially-oriented societies communicate horizontally, whereas here in America we communicate vertically - that is, we use a sort of "middle man" (usually some form of technology such as the internet) to communicate with each other. The way he spoke made this seem to have negative connotations - students living next door to each other call or IM instead of speaking face-to-face, and this kind of vertical media communication can have control over the masses. I hadn't really thought of it in this way before. The internet is a truly amazing tool, in that it enables communication between people who otherwise might never speak - iChat pals from Europe, for example, or old elementary school friends on facebook who go to colleges across the country from each other. In this respect, the internet is wonderful, as are phones and other sorts of vertical communication tools. But at the same time, going on what Milan said, it made me realize that we have become a cold, disconnected culture. We prefer email over personal communication, because it is easier; we don't actually have to interact. Willie - just like you, I, too am guilty as charged. We in this society are only contributing to the problem. Can we change it? Not likely; technology is too valuable to us. But we can certainly make an effort to be more personal - at least, I shall try to do so.
I really liked what Milan had to say on that issue, and I also enjoyed viewing some of his performance artworks, and I admired his courage for continuing to do drastic social pieces, even when he would get arrested - stick it to the man! One which really spoke to me was his Black&White: Negotiation piece. This was the one involving the communication sticks between the whites and the gypsies. At first, just watching the video in the background I didn't understand what was happening (this was probably also because I had no context for it other than the short description), but when he explained it, I thought it was beautiful, especially the splattering of the paint - very poignant.
I hope we get a chance in the future to speak with Milan again - he has a lot fo great insights into things.
Todays guest lecturer was the charming Milan Kohout. A rebellious one, but a riot to listen to.
Performance art. Using your body to convey a message to a larger group. even if it's a political piece between the gypsies and whites, or even pleasuring yourself in public.
Creating a second culture to provide for the common good. To get away from the vertical communication and get back to the horizontal communication.
Steve, I agree with what you have to say about the way that we are fed media left and right, and we don't realize the harm that it's doing to us in the long run. I think understanding this point that you brought up only helps us to understand our role in the bigger picture.
Raphael, feel free to bring this guy back at some point for another lecture.
Will-
I do not take offense to your comment- no worries. But you did prove my point (that we all have our own definition of what it means to be an artist) The technical gadgetry that I "figit" with and other coding is merely a hobby, but by what definition of art does this not fall in? Does it depend on the context of which you implement code, how it is used? That's debatable.
I believe anyone could consider themselves an artist without having to paint or draw- it all depends on their craft. They may not be "good" but that is also subjective.
According to the dictionary an artist is:
1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.
2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, esp. a painter or sculptor.
3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.
4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist; an artist of the dance.
5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.
6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He's an artist with cards.
7. Obsolete. an artisan.
I do paint/draw as a hobby (if I were paid to do it, it would no longer be a hobby but rather a job) but I do not have self-made business cards that say "Stephen Crowley- self-proclaimed artist". Anyway, I am not comfortable in calling myself an artist. It's just a shorter than saying "one who creates things in an artistic manner".
Thank you for showing interest- I would be happy to show you my drawings and other work that are in the artistic realm.
Wow Milan is my new hero. I am usually kind of put off by performance art. I don't know why. But Milans work was so inspiring. I especially loved his piece with the cage. I don't think it would have worked as well if he was not apologizing. This tactic was perfect since peoples automatic tendency to get defensive was slowed down just enough to get them really thinking. If he had just stood in their and told them how stupid they where , they would not have been even the slightest bit open to hearing him.
Beyond the sheer awesomeness of his work, Milan was just a frikin cool guy in general. It was refreshing that he spoke so openly and honestly to us instead of trying to talk down to "students". When you hear him talk, you really get the impression that he believes in what he is saying.
It would have been very nice to take him up on his offer of having the meeting in real life instead of via the internet. With someone like Milan, you'd really rather sit with him at a bar and have a dialog that does not involve a mute button. I think that says a lot for new media communications and people in general. More and more we are divorcing ourselves from a personal dialog. We may gain the ability to speak over long distances but we are losing a lot in the process. I suppose people said the same thing about the telephone though.
Great class and a truly, truly great guest. Thanks for getting him to talk to us Raph.
Hi Will and Stephen.
I think the line between who is and who is not an artist is a tricky one. Personally, I despise art and artists. Yeah, I'm not going to make many friends with that statement. Let me clarify. I mean to say that I despise the words "art" and "Artist" I think these words have become so watered down and bastardized that its really lost all meaning in our culture. I consider just about everything art (from traditional paintings to children's dancing by themselves to someone peeing in the street). If you bring something in to this world that adds to it, then you have created art. The real problem with this definition is that those who strive to create any particular established artform will always try to exclude the others and anyone without the slightest traditional art talent will try like hell to make a living copying whatever art-fad of the week makes them money. So fuck art. Or at least the lofty, artsy community. We all participate in art 1000 times a day and if anyone needs to be told that they are, then they probably wont notice the art around them anyway.
I agree with James and Kory - Milan was excellent, and Raph should definitely invite him back to speak with us at some point!
Thank you for taking time to respond to me steve.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and the fact that you did not take offense to my prodding.
Milan was a hoot, at least I thought so. Then again I am all for rebellious art. I think it's important to have a political agenda (in my opinion). Art should questions the boundaries of what we will believe. I know when I see religious art, I get a little overheated because it has been such a saturated concept in our culture, and where do we draw the line and start asking new questions. I think that is why new media is so amazing because we are asking those questions and breaking those "american ideals" (such as Milan). Consumerism is at an all time high, and we are being sold ideals, not products. These products make us seem a certain way, do we really need 300 different models of phones? Not really, but each suit a different kind of person. It is a very privatized act to keep everyone feeling like they have to be an individual and that these products will help them fulfill their lives.
There is a lot of research on how marketers scheme gender into their products. I am reading a book right now called "Packaging Girlhood" - which talks about selling images, and I think Milan's work reflects those kinds of social paradigms of questioning what capitalism is doing to our identities. Marketers really fixate on making us unhappy people because if we were satisfied then we would not be buying products.
Milan seems very traditional in a lot of ways when it comes to mediums, but there is a contradiction that seemingly pulls out of having to have the technology around. In our culture it is hard to survive without such concepts as technology. But, our perceptions of what technology is is a large portion of that, anything can be considered technology as long as it has a practical use to aid a person. Regardless, I think Milan's work is a great breath of social awareness. Often we become too caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day to day living (at times a huge illusion in our society), that we forget to question. I know I am always questioning pieces of our society (esp. media), so Milan's work is very interesting to that part of my mind. Also, I like satire, so it helps that there is a portion of that as well.
As a person very interested in sociology, I see new media as the practical application of sociology (which is why i love both so much), so this kind of work that raises questions about our culture and society, really intrigue me, and I really cannot separate my political, societal, and moral beliefs when I do work in new media (as can be reflected in my portfolio), so when artists like Milan raise these questions, it really just amplifies my want to do work that keeps raising questions and really just probing at cultural memes.
Stephen brings up a great point about MTV CULTURE. (we'll call it that, because anything that is trash can be MTV CULTURE in my opinion). I think we often focus on the distractions of what is in front of us. It's just like dinner time, if we sit, our eyes follow our food, and eventually becomes unconscious to do so. I think marketing and this MTV CULTURE are the same way. Just as Stephen said though, we should feel cheated, it's not art (which is a lot more deep than A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila), it's just images of things that marketing thinks we wlil like. HERE IS A QUESTION: do we actually like them, or have we meet so saturated, that we like whatever the images tell us? I think that's the difference between art and "trash" is that art is a forum for discussion.
Personally, even when I watch TV I think about societal consequences of relationships, gender, media, etc. I am a critical analyzer of all media, but a lot of people are not.
Just a thought...but fully agreed with Stephen.
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