Instructions: You are to respond to the following three prompts after completing the assigned reading (there are also links embedded in the second and third prompts). Please do not conduct additional research. You must work on your responses independently and they are to be phrased in your own words. If you quote from the assigned readings, please keep it to a minimum, and include proper citations. Answer all part of prompts and number answers. Plagiarized responses will not receive credit. Each response should be roughly a paragraph or two in length, single or double-spaced. Use all resources and links.
1. While our focus this week is on Identity Politics, it would be remiss of us to overlook the work of well-known contemporary artists Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Briefly address how one of these artists brought together some of the strategies and aesthetics associated with both Dada and Minimalism in the creation of New Hoover Quadraflex, New Hoover Convertible, Hoover Dimension 900, New Hoover Dimension 1000, 1981-86 (Figure 26.2) or The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991 (Figure 26.6).
2. Explain the significance of the 1993 Whitney Biennial (and related controversy) as addressed in the essay by Corbett and Saltz. Then select artwork by two of the artists who participated in the 1993 Whitney Biennial from this week’s Chapter 26 PowerPoint to describe and analyze as representative of Identity Politics.
https://whitney.org/exhibitions/biennial-1993#exhibition-photography
3. Many artists working at the turn of the twenty-first century abandoned traditional media and combined elements of numerous media in the production of their artwork. This has resulted in what is often referred to as the Post-Medium condition. Select one of the following artworks to discuss as Post-Medium; explain the media used and the subject matter explored: Christian Marclay, The Clock, 2010 (Figure 26.32) or William Kentridge, drawing from Felix in Exile, 1994 (Figure 26.43; to watch Felix in Exile in its entirety.) https://vimeo.com/groups/animation/videos/66485044
4. The so-called culture wars of the 1980s and 90s started when “conservative legislators began a concerted assault on government funding of art containing sexual or otherwise challenging content” (Arnason and Mansfield 695). Do you believe that there are certain rules of decorum that artists must adhere to? Should politicians be able to determine which artists/artworks merit funding? What constitutes an offensive artwork? Please substantiate your discussion by discussing relevant examples of artworks (they do not need to be from this week’s readings).
