The Above photo is a constructed environment with video installation constructed for the Museum of Modern Art in N.Y. This art work contains lights, disks, four videos, bleachers, and music. I was drawn to this clip because it portrayed stereotypes of African Americans. All of the videos portrayed the same African American male turning counter-clockwise while reciting the stereotypes of an African American. This minimalistic art reminds me of the Warhol videos mixed with Robert Morris' untitled slab, (1968); white, clean and simple. The color also portrays a major role of the art in my opinion. It's as if the African American male is surrounded by the white society in America. The clip is almost five minutes long and can be seen here.
C&R 1000 had a very interesting outlook on this particular piece: "Adrian Piper’s video works on racism are challenging, infuriating and surprising. Surprising because along with their poetic word play, didactic tutorials, and transformations of museum space into a loaded social arena for a society in denial, they also provoke honest and questioning discussions about race long after exiting the exhibition. It’s not often art gets you to interrogate yourself or your liberal attitudes under the guise of critiquing the artist’s work. Piper’s examination of her personal hurts around her blackness open us to the covert nature of racism as well as the more visible manifestations, such as the Rodney King beating. But it is in subtle videos like 1991’s Please, God, with young girls recorded dancing jubilantly in front of a store window, that we get a sense of the yawning cavern of unresolved troubles brewing beneath the bland and nebulous term ‘racism.’ Against the children’s good spirits scrolls a litany of prayers: “God lead them away from self-sacrifice. God help them to disobey. God teach them to fight back. God keep them from learning their place. God protect them from the rage and contempt that will accompany their understanding. . .” It is a prayer that terrifies even as we devoutly wish it to be granted. That’s the razor’s edge of Piper’s best work, when her insights become our own private contemplation."(The Museum of Contemporary Art [MOCA], Downtown).
Piper, Adrian. "Adrian Piper Research Archive". Adrian Piper.com. Dr. Constanze von Martin.
3 October, 2008. 11 November, 2009.<http://www.adrianpiper.com/art/g_what_its.shtml>
Lassarow, Bill. "www.artscenecal.com". Bill Lassarow. 2008. 12 November, 2009.
<http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2000/Articles1000/CR1000.html>
C&R 1000 had a very interesting outlook on this particular piece: "Adrian Piper’s video works on racism are challenging, infuriating and surprising. Surprising because along with their poetic word play, didactic tutorials, and transformations of museum space into a loaded social arena for a society in denial, they also provoke honest and questioning discussions about race long after exiting the exhibition. It’s not often art gets you to interrogate yourself or your liberal attitudes under the guise of critiquing the artist’s work. Piper’s examination of her personal hurts around her blackness open us to the covert nature of racism as well as the more visible manifestations, such as the Rodney King beating. But it is in subtle videos like 1991’s Please, God, with young girls recorded dancing jubilantly in front of a store window, that we get a sense of the yawning cavern of unresolved troubles brewing beneath the bland and nebulous term ‘racism.’ Against the children’s good spirits scrolls a litany of prayers: “God lead them away from self-sacrifice. God help them to disobey. God teach them to fight back. God keep them from learning their place. God protect them from the rage and contempt that will accompany their understanding. . .” It is a prayer that terrifies even as we devoutly wish it to be granted. That’s the razor’s edge of Piper’s best work, when her insights become our own private contemplation."(The Museum of Contemporary Art [MOCA], Downtown).
Her work is extraordinarily emotional and personal. I can’t help but wonder what her experiences were/are like as a bi-racial female. I can’t help but wonder if she was raised to think a certain way about herself. However, I do feel that she has unresolved issues. I hope that the election of our current president and the much more diverse government that we now have helps contribute to her healing wounds of this society we live in.
Piper, Adrian. "Adrian Piper Research Archive". Adrian Piper.com. Dr. Constanze von Martin.
3 October, 2008. 11 November, 2009.<http://www.adrianpiper.com/art/g_what_its.shtml>
Lassarow, Bill. "www.artscenecal.com". Bill Lassarow. 2008. 12 November, 2009.
<http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2000/Articles1000/CR1000.html>
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