project47

Today’s discussion about the prison and the readings were really interesting in particular the debate about Julian Opie’s work on the wall of Wormwood scrubs struck me as a multi-layered argument which seemed impossible to pin-point, however I thought it was interesting in this example how much responsibility we placed on the artist to create a work that was seen as beneficial or attractive to its location when the style of his work is typically flattened and simplified images of the ‘real’. His art isn’t suggestive of  dramatic, hyper-dreamlike forms or creation that escapes reality but evokes a more minimal and uniform method of depicting the real. So knowing this about the artist, is it the lack of research on the artists part towards the prison in creating a piece that is just a “wall on a wall” or is it the responsibility of the prison to consider the art and its meaning and effect on the space in considering an artist? I thought it was also interesting the comment Becca made about what the prisoners were working on in their art class, and they wanted to paint their dreams in order to escape their reality…so therefore knowing this preference of artistic surrounding and focus, why have an artist such a Julian Opie to create/ install a piece that seems to ignore that completely. So I guess to relate to our involvement of the sites, maybe responsibility is not a one dimensional aspect. Not only as a group of students/ artists/ activists/ interventionists etc etc do we have a responsibility to benefit these particular sites and the people who interact with them but is it also the responsibility of the sites to communicate why they need to benefit and how? maybe..?