Burcu Avci VA430 Presentation

VA 430 PRESENTATION / BURCU AVCI

“MEAT WEAPONS” BY
DIMITRI TSYKALOV, 2012
representational

This piece, entitled “Meat
Weapons” by Dimitri Tsykalov
presents the concepts of death
and violence by representational
means. Here, the gun is
composed of human meat and
organs, depicted in a purely
realistic manner. Apart from the
weapon, the wet, tense hands

adds on to this effect.

The image builds a direct relation
with the gun, the person holding
it and the person suffering from it.
The cause and effect
relationship, the moment of
shooting and the moment of
death or consequences of
pushing the trigger are combined
into one single photograph with
a representational manner.

“NUCLEAR WASTE ENCAPSULATION AND STORAGE FACILITY” BY
TARYN SIMON, 2007
verbal supplements

Taryn Simon is a photographer. Her work, specially “An
American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar” series aims
to document inaccessible information to citizens in U.S.
Each photograph of this artist has a story within and they
are mystified in such a way that without knowing the title
of her works, it is not possible to interpret the content of
them.

Here, this particular image shows nuclear-waste capsules
which contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. The
blue glow is created by the “Cherenkov Effect” which
describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a
charged particle, giving off energy. The temperatures of
the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The
pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a
human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule
would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10
seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites
in the United States.

“FUTURE SELF” BY
rAndom INTERNATIONAL, 2012
genre or medium

“Future Self” is an interactive
installation, generating a 3D live LED
sculpture by detecting moves of the
participant. The end result is a
temporal, yet delicate sculpture. (This
work constitutes a good example for
temporal duration as well.)

For analyzing this work, the first thing to
figure out is the technological
unknowns. Our first glance brings
questions about the medium or genre
of the work. What kind of a work is
this? How does it work? What happens
when we interact with it? What is the
technical background used by the
artists? These questions hook us and
we want to learn more or experience
the work. This desire of interaction is
merely based on medium and genre.

“TSUNAMI” BY
JANET ECHELMAN, 2011

material

Fish net from Mahabalipuram.

Who would believe such a local material would become the
key aesthetic element in this high-tech urban installation?
Janet Echelman’s “Tsunami”, set in Sydney, is a layered,

amorphous, dynamic sculpture taking the shape of the wind.
The grid structure of the material establish a digital touch to
this work connotatively. Specially this feature, combined with
vibrant colors and strong lighting, transforms the rural into
metropolitan.

“MIMICRY CHAIRS” BY
NENDO, 2012
scale

In London Design Festival 2012, Nendo, a
product design company, used eleven
points of Victoria and Albert Museum for
exhibiting their installations of white, metal
chairs. The tricky point to this series was
that the chairs repeated themselves in
such a way that each chair differed from
one another in a non-industrial approach.
More importantly, the way they are

assembled together made it possible for
them to harmoniously become an
architectural element of the museum.

The key to understanding such a work
depends on relating it to scale: A chair as
an industrial product is a human-scale
product on its own, yet these installations
released the concept of chair from its
scale and industrial boundaries and
transformed it into a series of architectural
forms, questioning space.

“LAYING OUT NAPKINS NEAR SUDOMERE” BY
ZORKA SAGLOVA, 1970
context

Zorka Saglova layed 700 white fabrics in the shape
of a triangle on Sudomer, by doing so she
reconstructed a historical war site, on which Hussite

Wars took place between Czech and Roman
armies during 15th century. According to legend
Czech women layed their headscarves on wet
grass of the battlefield during war and that caused
Roman horses to lose their balances, which
became the key factor for Czech in winning this
battle. The triangle points out the feminist stand of
the artist.

This land art not only depicts a legendary war
scene as a memorial. It also speaks of peace by
simply using the color of the fabrics.

“CAPRI BATTERY” BY
JOSEPH BEUYS, 1985
temporal duration

In this installation of Joseph Beuys, chemical
energy of the lemon is transformed into
electrical charge by a plug. As the lemon
spoils in time, the light fades as well. This
piece has a touching story. Beuys created
this art work during last days of his life, in
Capri, the Italian island famous for its lemons.
So, this work has an autobiographical aspect
that metaphorically connects temporality of

life, being, energy and death.

“NUDE #4” BY
SCHINICHI MARUYAMA, 2012

relation to art history

Maruyama’s “Nude” series has a questioning
attitude towards the conventions of “nude
photography”.

As we look at his work, we sense the presence of
the human body through motion, proportions and

color, yet can not see the nakedness as directly
and openly as this genre dictates. We only trace
the clues of the body behind a curtain of motion.
Here, the control of the male gaze disappears,
leaving space for our imagination to perceive
and appreciate human body from a different
aesthetic perspective. Nakedness is not presented
as a condition of nudity. Presence of the body
makes it nude.

This disintegration from the history of the genre is
the strongest statement this work conveys.

“VENUS DE MILO” BY
ALEXANDROS OF ANTIOCH, 130-100 BC
persisting in time

Venus de Milo, an ancient Greek sculpture depicting
goddess of love and beauty is one of the most famous
statues of our time. The fame of this figure relies not
only on its aesthetic qualities. It is the subject of a
number of art books with its story.

Briefly, the history of this statue includes; its discovery in
1820 in Milo -an Aegian island, negotiation with the
Ottoman Empire to bring it to France, damage to the
arms during transportation to France, assemblage of
the upper and lower halves, moving to a village
during World War II, its promotion to the world as the
best Venus statue by French.

The story of this piece is still an ongoing issue: It has
been reflected to various art works and popular
culture products. Focus magazine was even sued for
using the image with giving her middle finger up.

“ERRATUM” BY
JEREMY HUTCHISON, 2012
iconographic tradition

Description:
“Erratum” is a London based art project. Within this
project, several daily objects are manufactured to be
dysfunctional on purpose and will be sold in a pop-up
store under the brand “Erratum”.

Identification:
This project is inspired by the errors of workers of
industrial production and aims to draw attention to
poor labor conditions as well as the meaning of luxury.
“True luxury has no function” the artist states.

Interpretation:
As reading the campaign visuals and products, we
immediately sense the upside down(!) references.
Though colors, clothes, interior have signs of a luxury
lifestyle; the unfamiliar composition, pipe without a
bowl creates a sense of humor. This image can be
read as a critique of luxury consumption.

For me, this project is an oxymoron within itself since it is
being trapped to its own set up by commodifying itself.

“THE INVISIBLES” BY
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA, 2010
formal properties

“The Invisibles” is an installation produced for Kartell Gallery in Salone del Mobile
Milan, 2010. The designer, Tokujin Yoshioka, is famous for his dreamy installations that
make use of specific materials for presenting a concept within which the spectators
are lost, mentally and physically.

The purpose of the installation is promoting the polycarbonate “invisible furniture”

series of the firm. The display of the product is narrating the product itself as an art
form. Yoshioka achieved this by transforming the formal properties of polycarbonate:
Transparency, clearness, strength and lightness poetically into the notion of a
“snowflake” which totally intertwines with the idea of invisibility.

GOLDEN “JUICY SALIF” BY
PHILIPPE STARCK, 2000

attitudinal gestures

"My juicer is not meant to squeeze lemons; it is meant to start
conversations.” Philippe Starck

Juicy Salif, designed by Philippe Starck, is an iconic piece for
the industrial design world. This so called “lemon squeezer” is

famous for its attitude towards form/function duality; its spider-
like sculptural form is much more ahead of its function. This is
why it is seen more of an art object rather than a product.

For the 10th anniversary of Juicy Salifs launch, 10,000 pieces
were individually numbered and gold plated by the producer
Alessi. The gold plated version is worth mentioning here,
because the citric acid in lemon eroded the gold plating.

The idea of transforming a product into an unusable
“collection item” is a provocative, ironic approach to design
discipline itself.

“MAN HANGING OUT” BY ‪
DAVID CERNY‬, 1996
biological responses

Freud was known for his fear of death.

In this statue, David Cerny portrayed Freud as
someone in-between life and death hanging
himself in Old Town, Prague. Spectators often
shockingly misrecognize this work as a real suicidal
attempt. Some call the ambulance, some call the
police. This artwork is a success in evoking fear of
(witnessing) death.


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