I chose Nam June Paik's Anten-nalope as the piece I would like to use for the Tiger Artist lesson. The Big Idea behind this piece is people's relationship with nature vs. their relationship with technology. It caught my eye because, well because it's bizarre.. When I first looked at it I was busy trying to figure out what was on the screens until I looked at the title of the piece. Then I was confused. But then I stepped back and duh.. It's an antelope made out of TVs. I thought this was funny and clever and I immediately thought of this music video:
(mostly because of the TVs....)
And then I started thinking, what kind of sounds would this piece make? Would it sound like an antelope or a robot? or both? or something else? I thought it could sound something like the noise based music of John Cage:
To my surprise when I went home and looked up Nam June Paik, John Cage was listed as one of his influences for his other work! And now I'm really starting think about putting all this together as a lesson that could be connected to Nick Cave and his sound suits.
I would use Paik's Anten-nalope in conjunction with Nick Cave's work in an art lesson by introducing the piece to students and asking them how they would compare their own relationship with nature to their relationship with technology. When they looked at the piece did they see the antelope first or did they look at the screens? Using Nick Cave's sound suits as inspiration, students could create wearable art that investigates their connections with the natural world and today's technology. They could make animal costumes (consisting of a head piece/mask, gloves, shoes, and/or a body cover) from ready-made and altered found objects
In the Walker text it says that the essential questions for a lesson should come from the Big Idea, not a specific artist or piece of artwork. This way students can connect to the idea beyond just making art about it.
Essential Questions:
How do nature and technology interact with each other?
How does technology influence your perception of nature?
How does nature influence your perception of technology?
In this lesson students would learn how to use objects in unconventional ways through experimenting with materials that aren't necessarily 'art' materials. They would be learning how to use materials to express an idea. By using found objects to make an animal what are they saying about the animal? About the objects? These are questions the students can think about while they make their costume.
Absolutely wonderful blog entry, exemplary! I appreciate that you not only included images but video as well. I am also impressed by the way you metacognitively diagramed your thinking, your pinging of one idea to the next. Your essential questions are focused on the ideas within Paik's work and if you investigate him further you will find that this is precisely what he was after. He wants the viewer to question what is a REAL experience from those that are mediated by technology and media. Both you and he are dealing with Memes. "Memes are tunes, ideas, catch phrases, ways of making. Just as genes propagate themselves in a gene pool...memes propagate themselves in a meme pool leaping from brain to brain."
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I’m wondering if I missed something and we aren’t supposed to do responses this week since I’m a little late and I don’t see anyone else posting them, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I chose the same piece and have similar opinions about the main theme of the work -- our relationship between nature and technology. Since I also interpreted it this way, I really liked your lesson idea to create a costume with found objects to explore this relationship. Not only will it help your students to understand the Paik piece, but it also gives them a chance to explore their own feelings on the topic by creating something with a similar theme.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The John Cage video really is a nice touch.
I really like the set up of your entry. You posed pictures and videos with short blurbs about your thought process and why the art work inspired your thoughts. It keeps me interested and enthused to read what you have to say. Great job relating it all back to nick cave and coming up with an inventive theme.
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