Event 3: Color Light Motion with Marisa Caichiolo

 On May 12th, I attended the Color, Light, and Motion online event with speaker Marisa Caichiolo. Prior to attending this event, I had no knowledge of the fact that kinetic art was even its own subcategory of art, let alone exactly what it was or its implications for the art and science communities. I was able to gain a lot more insight into this art and its effects by viewing and hearing about works by artists such as Marisa Caichiolo herself, Julio LeParte, and Martha Boto. 

Kinetic art incorporates motion into its design and composition -- artists use mechanical elements, as well as natural forces, to create movement. The movement can be subtle or energetic, and it adds a dynamic and ever-changing dimension to the artworks (“Kinetic Art Movement Overview”). 

The example I found most intriguing from this event was a piece by Marisa Caichiolo titled "How Else Can I Serve You?" This piece discusses gender inequality through performance art; the artist "unfolds a web of her own hair, a sort of strange vine, onto "the body" that defines the repertoire of silverware, providing a new meaning for the utensils’ dual semantic-linguistic nature," (“How Else Can I Serve You?”). 

In attending this event, I also learned how kinetic art was being used to evoke social and political change, particularly in Latin American countries. Marisa Caichiolo explained that groups of artists in Latin America worked together to create political statements. Around 1970, an artist named Julio Le Parc transitioned to creating political artwork, such as punching bags depicting figures like police, politicians, and judges. Kinetic art pieces such as these are important because they show us a glimpse into a lost time when a utopian spirit, combined with movement, light, color, and technology, reflected a sense of optimism (Vasquez). Overall, attending this event provided me with insight and a new perspective surrounding a type of art I didn't know anything about and its implications for society.


Works Cited

“Kinetic Art Movement Overview.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement/kinetic-art/. Accessed 3 June 2023. 

“How Else Can I Serve You?” MARISA CAICHIOLO, www.marisacaichiolo.com/how-elsa-can-i-serve-you. Accessed 9 June 2023. 

Vasquez, Mario. “Kinesthesia: Latin American Kinetic Art.” Art and Cake, 22 Dec. 2017, artandcakela.com/2017/12/18/kinethesia-latin-american-kinetic-art/.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 9: Space + Art

Image
Although outer space and art are widely different aspects of the human experience, they both have the same goal – to better understand the human experience. Artists challenge the boundaries of what is possible, especially through works and pieces of science fiction. Artists "…have continued to be instrumental catalysts in our quest to conquer the unknown, because they imagine the future before it happens – as the saying goes, life imitates art," (Maldonado).  Space art by Charles Bittinger shows the solar system as imagined in 1939 Ideas such as a "space elevator", a structure made of carbon nanotubes that stretch from earth to space as introduced in the 1976 science fiction novel The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke, envision concepts that have yet to be imagined or implemented (Vesna). An even earlier such example appears in the 1865 science fiction novel From Earth to the Moon , which proposes a projectile launch to the moon using a giant cannon, explor...
Read more

Week 1: Two Cultures

Image
  The idea of “Two Cultures” has been instilled in me – perhaps somewhat subconsciously – from a young age, and has perpetuated even to my college years at UCLA. Fitting into the categories of a “STEM major” (whose classes are usually confined to South Campus) or “humanities major” (whose classes are typically in North Campus) is how most students make snap judgments about others upon first meeting them. To students, there appears to be quite a divide – “majors like economics and psychology, straddling the line between STEM and humanities, have found themselves in the midst of a cross-campus crossfire,” (Jung). In C.P. Snow’s 1959 Rede Lecture, “Two Cultures and The Scientific Revolution”, he reinforces this idea that there is a fruitless rivalry between ‘physical scientists’ and ‘literary intellectuals’ at the heart of the separation of the Two Cultures. However, he also adds that educational institutions themselves, and not simply the judgements of others, are fueling this divide...
Read more