funny but is it art?
In the piece entitled “hit em’ up” the artist xtina1693, or better known as Kristina Williamson, uses you tube as a sounding board. This is by no means a finished project but rather a sketch of a larger idea she is interested in. I received this as part of her weekly email in which she asks her community of artists to critic her work. The video starts with a slight move of a red blanket on a bed of similar color. Music starts and what happens next is what you imagine the original video to look like; bopping and gesturing but instead of Tupac it’s the artist covered in the blanket making these gestures and dancing performing as if channeling Tupac. It’s a funny sight. The video goes on and you notice the movements get more indignant, at the same time you get glimpses of a naked knee and behind the figure you notice a drawing of a women on the wall and a sun drenched window with plants and you begin to ask; who is underneath? is she naked? The end of the song quells our question and out emerges a woman in underwear to turn off the video camera, and at that point you wonder is this art or just an average 14 year old playing on a sunny Saturday. In that respect you tube provides a sea of information that can be and will be interpreted in so many ways. As easily as this can be read as deconstructing rap videos to their base form of the music and posturing you can also clam it to be an American’s funniest home video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYiBs4-3KRs



Hi All,
I am a little confused at the moment…are we supposed to be commenting on the “Funny but is it Art” video? Because if we are, why hasn’t anyone done so? I was just curious. OK, so I’ll be the 1st to take a stab then.
This video left me disturbed. I still have this nervousness now as I am writing. The video did leave an impression, but it wasn’t really a funny one.
When I pressed the ‘play’ button, the piece seemed playful, but soon felt redundant in its’ body language and mood…not much change was happening. In the middle section, I started to yawn, then something started to transform me:
I wasn’t just hearing the music but I really listened to the lyrics & the message of the rap song. It was so VIOLENT!
The performer was still hiding under the sheet shaking (her?) body but I felt all the anger, pain and fear flooding out of Tupac, which was def. highlighted & brought to life by this blanket performer.
From a personal POV, I imagine the blanket performer felt vulnerable & exposed. She had to hide as a way of protecting herself from being totally emotionally naked. Her body gestures (especially the ENDING) were so expressive & raw. She must’ve immersed herself deeply into that role (just like an actor) in order to get her message across so potently.
The comments above, are simply a very subjective of what I thought took place here…ugh, I am still confused & a bit shaken.
It felt very weird to get emotional over a red dancing blanket…sheesh.
Cheerio!
you aren’t supposed to comment on this it was our assignment see below
b. Look at some net.art pieces. Choose one that resonates or provokes you in some way and write a couple of short paragraphs about it on the blog. Tag your post “net.art” and “critique”. You can use the following links to search for some net.art pieces or feel free to search on your own as well:
http://rhizome.org (under the Art tab, you’ll see “Rhizome vocabulary” — click on “netart”
http://transition.turbulence.org/blog/
http://transition.turbulence.org/networked_music_review/
Actually, Toby – I do encourage people to comment on other people’s posts and comments. It’s a vital part of the dialogue – to reflect on not only our own thoughts but others’ as well.
So to answer, yes the assignment was to look at some net.art pieces and post thoughts, but as a general rule, feel free to comment everywhere and anywhere – it’s considered a part of class discussion.
~Josephine
i guess i was responding to her asking if the assignment was to comment on that piece
Ah, ok – no worries. Needed to clarify that stuff anyway.