THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY NEWSLETTER FOR ART IN EASTERN IOWA
IOWA CITY ARTS REVIEW NOVEMBER 14, 2012
EDITION 1 VOLUME 3
WEEKLY CALENDAR
CRITIC EVENT PICKS
ONGOING EVENTS
“Philanthropic Object(ive): An Interactive
well-known figures and explores how their
Exhibition(ist),” November 13-18
creators integrated their Jewish identities
Work by Yang Meng, MA student in Graphic
at the Drewelowe Gallery in the Studio Arts
and their creativity.
Design | November 12 - 16,
Building - Emily Barwick’s MFA show strives
in Art Gallery West
to be more than just a middle finger to the
“Steps,” work by Arden Hendrie,
arts administration—this provocative show
November 5 - 30, in the Kendall Gallery
“Philanthropic Object(ive): An Interactive
traces some of the tricky paths that money
- Arden Hendrie’s work explores the
Exhibition(ist),” work by Emily Moran
sometimes takes before getting into artists’
possibilities latent in gesture, arriving
Barwick, MFA student in Sculpture |
pockets. Beware of explicit content.
drawings and paintings that are often deceptively simple, balanced
November 13 - 18, in The Drewelowe Gallery, Duncan Sheik of “Spring Awakening” talk at
on a delicate edge between the stray,
University of Iowa Theatre on November 15
accidental mark and a carefully
“You Are Here” - Fall 2012 Intermedia
at 12:00pm - Duncan Sheik, responsible for
constructed composition.
Showcase | November 12 - 16,
the music behind “Spring Awakening,” will be
in the Porch Gallery, Studio Arts Building
speaking at the UI Theater.
Studio Arts Building
Pianist Michael Brown and cellist Nicholas Canellakis, November 19 at 12:00pm at John
Exhibition of work by Teresa McCarthy, BFA
Harry Brod Reading, November 14 at 7:00pm
Colloton Pavilion at University of Iowa
student in Graphic Design | November 12 -
at Prairie Lights - Harry Brod will read from
Hospitals and Clinics - Pianist Michael Brown
17, in The Ark Gallery, Studio Arts Building
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book
and cellist Nicholas Canellakis, both of New
Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice,
York, will perform in the atrium of the John
Exhibition of work by Erin Gardner, BFA
and the Jewish-American Way. With great
Colloton Pavilion at University of Iowa
student in Graphic Design | November 12 -
wit and compelling arguments, Brod situates
Hospitals and Clinics. Brown has been hailed
19, in 3rd floor gallery, Art Building West
superheroes within the course of Jewish-
as “a young piano visionary” by the New York
American history. Brod blends humor with
Times, and Canellakis is currently an artist of
Heidi Van Wieren: I Dream In Delft, The
sharp observation as he considers the overt
the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, in
Douglas & Linda Paul Gallery | Englert
and discreet Jewish characteristics of these
which he performs regularly.
Theater, through Jan 8 Fish Nor Fowl - Ty Smith & Ken Dubin, Times Club | Prairie Lights, through Nov 30 Gretchen Caracas, Paintings, November 16 - December 29 | Opening Reception Friday, November 16 at 6 - 8 pm, Hudson River Gallery “Steps,” work by Arden Hendrie, graduate student in Painting and Drawing | Monday, November 5 - 30, in the Kendall Gallery, IMU. Closing reception Friday, November 30, 5-7 PM. Jill Kambs, “Falling Action” at the Paper Nest through December 5 UIMA Napoléon and the Art of Propaganda, On display through January 29, 2013 | Old Capitol Museum & the Black Box Theater, IMU
UPCOMING Midwest Matrix Exhibition - Selections from the Iowa Print Group Collection
Monday, November 26 - Sunday, December 2
Spring Awakening - UI Theatre Mainstage,
in Art Gallery West
8:00pm, E.C. Mabie Theatre
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14
Ethel Kjaer Baker Reading, 7:00pm at Prairie Lights Bookstore
Pilobolus Dance Theatre, 7:30pm, Space Place Theater
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16
Katie Wolfe, violin; Adrienne Kim, piano,
St. Lawrence String Quartet, 7:30pm,
7:30pm, Riverside Recital Hall
Riverside Recital Hall
Spring Awakening - UI Theatre Mainstage,
Spring Awakening - UI Theatre Mainstage,
8:00pm, E.C. Mabie Theatre
8:00pm, E.C. Mabie Theatre
Harry Brod Reading, 7:00pm at
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 17
Prairie Lights Bookstore
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 15 Duncan Sheik of “Spring Awakening” talk at
Spring Awakening - UI Theatre Mainstage, 8:00pm, E.C. Mabie Theatre
MONDAY NOVEMBER 19
UI Theatre, 12:00 pm Pianist Michael Brown and cellist Nicholas Guitar Ensemble and Jazz Faculty with
Canellakis, 12:00pm, John Colloton Pavilion at
Roberto Sion, 6:00pm, The Mill Restaurant
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Symphony Band, 7:30pm, Second Floor Ballroom, Iowa Memorial Union
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14
IOWACITYARTSREVIEW.COM
ART AND THE E X P E C TATION OF INNOVAT
ION
WRITTEN BY DAN
IEL FEINBERG
unsavory sources is well-documented. But Barwick’s project succeeds where some of
the more “groundbreaking” works fail. Other
Emily Barwick’s show Philanthropic Object(ive): An Interactive Exhibition(ist) opens this week in the Eve Drewelowe Gallery at the University of Iowa. The show is a retrospective of a project that Barwick has been working on for the better part of three years known as “The Lap Dance Scholarship.” The scholarship functions as a typical arts funding source with the exception that the source of funding is entirely transparent: a dancer, Hailey, earns the money while performing at a strip club. The project strives to cause the viewer to be critical of sources of funding. In the gallery is a wall with the mission statement of the scholarship and documentation of
that an artist has some commitment to try
artists’ works have fallen victim to becoming
to do something new. This is at odds with
spectacles of sexuality. In this case, the
the common notion that everything has
spectacle overshadows the greater goal of
already been done before, which would make
the piece, be it our personal relationship to
it logically impossible to do anything new. If
capitalism to how money shapes our emotions
everything has “already been done,” it is only
in certain situations. Barwick’s piece cleverly
through the ignorance of the past that we judge
avoids this trap by simply stating the facts
that artists are being creative. To see beyond
about the scholarship program through text and
this paradox it will be helpful to consider
documentation. The installation of the show
several competing ideas of what it means
is non-confrontational not sensationalizing.
to be “new.”
The matter-of-factness directs the viewer away from the piece’s shock value, instead inviting
The expectation of innovation in a capitalistic
contemplation of the issues she is interested in
market is governed by a need to out-do others
elucidating. The show is not intended for only
in order to have a larger slice of the pie and,
an art audience, but deploys the message in a
more often than not, in order to simply survive.
way than can resonate with individuals outside
One must innovate to increase supply in order
the ‘art world’ bubble.
to meet demand, or to increase prices to take advantage of the demand for a more innovative
Shifting the audience or re-introducing an
product. In the market, innovation can range
“already done” concept to a new audience has a
from a completely new product to one that
great deal of value. Doing something again also
is more efficient, cheaper, more sustainable,
adds emphasis to a particular idea. In a way,
more attractive, etc., than anything that
any expression at a new time or in a new place
existed previously. As a result, people fetishize
is new, simply by being done at a different time
‘the new’ in all aspects of life. Our desires for
or different place. Whether or not the concept
the same).
‘the new’ have been cultivated by consumer
at the root of the work has been used at other
driven society and by schemes such as planned
times and in other places does not ipso facto
Barwick joins a long history of performance
obsolescence, so we now seek out something
guarantee that the work is irrelevant.
the previous winners. The remainder of the space is dedicated to Hailey, and shows the stripper at work through a series of explicit photographs, video, and even contains an interactive work that allows the viewer to strip and cloth a life-size Hailey like a paper doll. (Spoiler Alert: Barwick and Hailey are one in
artists’ works that have challenged our levels comfort with the human body—maybe none more significant than Marina Abramovic, whose Imponderabilia required viewers to walk between two nudes standing in a doorway if they wanted to enter the next room. More recently, other artists have used nudity to invoke conceptions of money and economics — maybe none more direct than Zefrey Throwell, whose Ocularpation: Wall Street consisted of a weeklong strip poker game in a gallery window to comment on capitalism and Myla DalBesio’s Young Money which involved the artist performing lap dances in the gallery with the intentional absence of any money exchange for the service.
new even when functionally it is not necessary. Artists are of course not absolved of all duty But many artists would say the pressure for
to acknowledge their sources, if for no other
‘newness’ is not driven by the consumer’s
reason that if an art piece is original in concept
impatience with seeing something similar
and context, but looks similar to what came
again, but by something greater. While art
before it, the similarities may serve as a
cannot divorce itself from the pressures of the
barrier and prevent the audience from getting
art market, to say that these market driven
to the original and significant achievement
demands are the only thing at play when
in the art. Barwick does this in a lengthy
feeling pressure to do something new seems
“acknowledgments” page citing her art-
mistaken. A second model for ‘newness’
historical precedents.
might reside in intellectual property. The idea of intellectual property is based on the
If the only model for ‘newness’ in art is based on
idea that one can ‘own’ an idea and have the
either the commodity or intellectual property,
acknowledgement as being the sole creator of
something has been missed. It devalues and
the idea. In an academic context, we have an
prematurely dismisses notions of repetition and
ethical duty to create something new rather
reinvestigation. It also ignores the time, place,
Given that other performative works use nudity than repeat what has already been done. If one copies another individual closely without as a means to express an alternative agenda, Barwick’s work can seem to easily fall into this tradition. This raises the question: Is Barwick doing anything new and is this important to consider when judging the work? To evaluate this, it is necessary to consider what the
context in which art will be presented, old ideas
and the work is passed off as original, it is
can be brought to life in new ways—a situation
plagiarized. The newness in question here is
that honors the knowledge that everything has
the newness of an idea, which must be different been done without giving up hope on making from all other ideas, in order to properly be called a product of its creator.
At the center of the criticism that artwork
Barwick’s work is not ‘new’ in either of
paradox. Art is considered a quintessentially creative discipline and as a result many feel
Depending on the anticipated viewer and the
a substantial conceptual or visual difference
concept of ‘newness’ entails in the arts.
contributes nothing new is something of a
and audience for which an artwork will exist.
these ways: the “nude performance as social critique” genre already exists in art and the idea that art funding often comes from
something new.
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