1. How is the festival theme of vulnerability reflected in
the works?
I think vulnerability is not only reflected well within the theme of this particular festival, however it is reflected in all artists whether successful or not. As a student artist, it is easy to fully understand the concept of vulnerability; creating a work you invest a part of yourself within the work, you take the time to build it to perfection and yet allowing it to be seen is a huge step. It’s a huge step in the sense that our hard work is put up in front of tens, hundreds or even thousands to see. We allow it to be judge and by allowing ourselves to let our creative product, our work, even all the sweat and tears unknown to the viewer that goes along quietly with our art to be critically reviewed and received is where we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability is the fear and anticipation of being exposed to an attack whether it’d be physically or emotionally. In art we see it constantly from critics and viewers, attacks on pieces in which they say:
“I love it.”
“I hate it.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s ugly.”
As said before, the work and effort put into the piece is put on the backburner, quietly attached to the work yet unknown or unseen to the viewer or critic and only known to the artist.
In one work in particular by Jeff Huckleberry, I believe his performance speaks to the labour of love that comes with creating art. I see it as addressing the pain in which artists endure except physically available for the audience to see. It’s the emotional harm or vulnerability manifested to such an extreme point that shocks the audience and allows them to experience the performance in a way of fear and pain like all other artists go through; for example the bursting beer bottles and the idea of being cut up and mangled from glass shards created a reaction from the audience that was sympathetic and concerning rather than just a critical view point as they regularly give. In a sense, by showing vulnerability in a different way/sense the audience and viewers changed their stance on critically viewing art; instead they weren’t critical at all, they were sucked into the feeling in the moment it seems by the original posters description of it.
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I think vulnerability is not only reflected well within the theme of this particular festival, however it is reflected in all artists whether successful or not. As a student artist, it is easy to fully understand the concept of vulnerability; creating a work you invest a part of yourself within the work, you take the time to build it to perfection and yet allowing it to be seen is a huge step. It’s a huge step in the sense that our hard work is put up in front of tens, hundreds or even thousands to see. We allow it to be judge and by allowing ourselves to let our creative product, our work, even all the sweat and tears unknown to the viewer that goes along quietly with our art to be critically reviewed and received is where we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability is the fear and anticipation of being exposed to an attack whether it’d be physically or emotionally. In art we see it constantly from critics and viewers, attacks on pieces in which they say:
“I love it.”
“I hate it.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s ugly.”
As said before, the work and effort put into the piece is put on the backburner, quietly attached to the work yet unknown or unseen to the viewer or critic and only known to the artist.
In one work in particular by Jeff Huckleberry, I believe his performance speaks to the labour of love that comes with creating art. I see it as addressing the pain in which artists endure except physically available for the audience to see. It’s the emotional harm or vulnerability manifested to such an extreme point that shocks the audience and allows them to experience the performance in a way of fear and pain like all other artists go through; for example the bursting beer bottles and the idea of being cut up and mangled from glass shards created a reaction from the audience that was sympathetic and concerning rather than just a critical view point as they regularly give. In a sense, by showing vulnerability in a different way/sense the audience and viewers changed their stance on critically viewing art; instead they weren’t critical at all, they were sucked into the feeling in the moment it seems by the original posters description of it.
__________________
2. What thoughts do you have on vulnerability in relation to
art production, in terms of your own experience or research?
As stated before, I believe all artists are vulnerable. Art is not a mathematical equation where you are either right or wrong. Art is the manifestation of creativity combined with many other factors of influences based on what the artist wants to portray. Art can be considered an opinion of the artist to relation of the world around them and by allowing for this opinion to be shown to the world.
For myself personally, vulnerability may not be a key concept within my work however, it is always tied to my work because of my own inhibitions and fears. When creating art, sometimes the concepts art so dark, twisted or plain weird and I have my sense of vulnerability to what others may think of the work, what they may think of me; whether it’d be my skills as an artist or just my character as an artist or person. It’s more or less the vulnerability towards failure or to misjudgment.
__________________
As stated before, I believe all artists are vulnerable. Art is not a mathematical equation where you are either right or wrong. Art is the manifestation of creativity combined with many other factors of influences based on what the artist wants to portray. Art can be considered an opinion of the artist to relation of the world around them and by allowing for this opinion to be shown to the world.
For myself personally, vulnerability may not be a key concept within my work however, it is always tied to my work because of my own inhibitions and fears. When creating art, sometimes the concepts art so dark, twisted or plain weird and I have my sense of vulnerability to what others may think of the work, what they may think of me; whether it’d be my skills as an artist or just my character as an artist or person. It’s more or less the vulnerability towards failure or to misjudgment.
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3. Do the performances communicate the ideas the artists are
putting forward in relation to vulnerability? Why or why not?
I
believe that all the works are closely linked and represented vulnerability in
a strong way. Personally my favourite use of vulnerability are the works from performance artists showing self affliction. The performance pieces are able to show case physically what vulnerability is to the audience. It shows the affliction of emotional and physical pain which represents the struggles of the artist. This idea of vulnerability shown by the artist is also reflected within their viewers. With a piece of art, a viewer is able to critically judge immediately the piece by saying they 'love' it or they 'hate' it. However, with a performance piece the viewer is unable to come to such a quick judgement, therefore the power is taken away from the viewer during the spectacle. They rely on the artist to take them through a journey in which can confuse, shock and awe them. The viewers are thus just as vulnerable as the artist. The fear of seeing the artist mangled, the fear of whats coming next, the shock of the performance leaves the viewer feeling vulnerable going through a roller coaster of emotions and feelings. It is interestingly beautiful to be able to capture the audience and bring them through the feelings in which us artists feel on the regular. As said before, the self affliction aspect of vulnerability brings in the paradox of leaving the audience just as vulnerable as the artist.
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Pictured below are works of my own that have brought to light my vulnerabilities of fear and judgement by others due to subject matter, conceptual ideas as well as just the difference in which my art was composed compared to other student works:
Kristina Jovanic
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