33 Objects

DSC_4794 DSC_4796This week I went to visit the NGV, and check out the new works there. Something I noticed was there is now a lot of media art on exhibition, whereas a few years ago it was mainly paintings and stills.

One artwork that seemed relevant to our media class in particular was Charlie Sofo’s video piece, 33 Objects That Can Fit Through the Hole in my Pocket.

This arwork showed the artist’s feet and random objects fell out the bottom of his trousers after shaking his feet. It was list-like, in that the objects were random and were connected by their ability to fall through his pocket. It also reminded me of our Korsakow projects because it was extremely abstract.

When watching these random objects fall out of the artist’s pocket, I had no idea what it meant or what the artist was trying to do. The description of the artwork states that it “raises questions about perceived and actual and resourcefulness or artists, humorously critiquing criteria that claim to separate treasure from trash.”

This is an interpretation that I would never have guessed at, and I think it is an example of how ambiguous media list-like works can be, and how this does not devalue them.

Lists as Art

In order to compliment this week’s Media 1 reading, I looked into the art of lists, or lists as art. As mentioned in a previous reading, lists are considered naïve compared to traditional literature because they lack narrative and story. However, this doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable or beautiful.

I read this article about artists and their lists, unrelated to their art

And this list of artists who use lists in their art

It was interesting because the lists say so much about the people who write them, and in my opinion are more personal even than a story written by these artists might be. This because they are true, they are not fiction. Lists are compiled by what is chosen to display and what is chosen not to display. You can tell a lot about a person, or an artist by what they choose to list and what they do not.