Museum Critique

Humanities
1. I attended the Utah museum of contemporary art (umoca)
2.
The main gallery exhibit was IDEOLOGUE, which examined works
from 9 different artists. Kathryn Andrews works were ink on
Plexiglas and depicted different faces of clich hobos embellished
with mixed media objects including pills, candy wrappers, lotto
tickets, dried beans and cigarette butts. This project depicted the
absurdity of political behavior and its toll on a society left in unrest
stuck in between irrational consumerism and extreme poverty.
Another piece included was a film by Larissa Sansour called A
space exodus, 2009 showing a Palestinian space mission and its
successful landing on the moon, mocking the lance Armstrong
landing while demonstrating the overcompensating nationalism and
intrinsic pretention. Faycal Baghriche has a truly fascinating display
of 27 flags from different nationalities that when rolled up display a
single band of red. All the flags appear to be the same, providing a
different approach to understanding nationality and patriotism. A
beautiful concept eloquently executed. Dan Mills is another artist
featured in the exhibit that consists of topographic alterations and
future adjustments to maps based on social, political and economic
change through war or occupation. His pieces show new states
drawn on to current maps with fictional descriptions of the terms,
and details of how that state was formed.
3.
One of the temporary exhibits was one by Yoshua Okaon, whose
multiple video instillation gives direct insight into the issues
involved with immigration with Mexico. The films recreate a protest
that happened in 2014 where citizens of Oracle, AZ participated in
the largest protest against unaccompanied minors migrating to
America. The film shows aggressive protesters including one whose
driving around in circles near the border with flags mounted on his
truck and shooting an automatic machine gun from the window as
he drives. This shows the passion behind the protesters opinion to
stop invasion.
4.
I think that the curators would want to me to understand the
importance of cultural diversity and its impact on how we perceive
community. I believe the exhibit of the Palestinian moon landing and
the 9/11 tribute song with Arabic subtitles shows the importance of
appreciating society and civilization in a broader spectrum without
placing titles or creating opportunities for discrimination based on

ethnicity. The exhibit from Kathryn Andrews is intended to being

attention to the political unrest our society is in and the
obsessiveness in media. This exhibit also shows the failing side of
the economy while showing the disgusting natures of consumerism
and its presence in American culture. A great idea to take away
from these exhibits is that I am an individual, not an American, and
that we are working towards a greater environment to prosper in for
our community rather then a better opportunity for myself. It is so
important to recognize the value in diversity and even more
consequentially the role of intentions and philosophy in our lives.
5.
What kind of media they are made with, obviously the name of
the artist and the year it was created, but also each piece has a
description of the artists intention in displaying the piece and what
concepts are important to recognize when experiencing the work. More
information on political, environmental, and social injustices can be
found on the department of government and justice studies website, as
well as Cambridge and duke university. If you wanted to lean about
diversity in the Middle East, worldview.unc.edu, ihc.ucsb.edu and
eu.journal.net contains interesting insight into the diversity in
Kazakhstan and in other areas of the Middle East as well.
6.
One of the pieces that I was most partial to was an exhibit by
Paul Crow. His exhibit was entitled here(2014) focuses on the ideas
of being present and in touch with the environment and the available
experiences around you. His work is displayed as a collection of
photographs, where 30 photos project an overgrown forest and hike,
25 show the traverse foot hills of a snowy mountain side, while the
third set about approximately 20 show a road in a dessert. Details in
both the experience and the photos are revealed to be remarkably
engaging as the sense of meditated presence is associates with the
works direction.
I believe the artist wanted to portray the importance of being in the
moment and experiencing the natural complexity and significance
around you. I think the artists selection of photos also contributed to
the idea of being alone and finding solace in exploring or traveling
without a pack. There is a significant feeling of peace and isolation
when I view his photos. There is a sense of freedom that is invigorating
and brings forth the desire to explore.
The artist most definitely
wanted the viewer to be conscious of the environment around him/her.
He wanted to bring attention to the beauty and wonder around us and
that not everything revolves around the gratification we seek out, but
rather exploring gratification as a surrounding element. Experiencing
every moment with the fullest acknowledgement of its force and

magnitude is crucial in prosperity, for every moment is our own

moment and has an impactful and consequential nature. Filling each
experience and opportunity for greatness and organic pleasure;
weather that be from a critical analytical interpretation process, or an
objects arithmetic or chemical qualities, being pleased by the intricate
universe were immersed is in symbiotic nature with meditation or the
awareness of bliss.
Dan Mills was a features artist in the main Gallery with the Ideologue
exhibit with his piece: U.S. future states (atlas 2008-ongoing), he
displayed a vast variety of maps and cartography with clearly mad
additions or alterations with markers and keynotes and bullet points on
the side and around the focus of these maps. These 20 or so
fabrications of what we currently associate as our world, chopped up
and deformed to create something entirely new and obscure. These
newly designed and oriented countries show the illusion of borders and
the destitute properties and concepts that define nationalism,
patriotism, and anything else of the likes.
This expose of the future gives insight into both how we should
interpret national border adjustment and the exaggerated boldness of
these lines that we use as a tool to present biased information and
limit graciousness, fair opportunity and equal rights to a greater if not
an entire population. Dan Mills was trying to portray that borders and
atlases are not what define us as individuals, but rather the nature in
which we treat each other and the resulting consequences for our
actions that will be what defines our philosophy.
Faycal Baghriche is another artist that was featured in the main
gallery exhibit, Ideologue, showing the bounds we take in showing
nationality or pride in our country and the real outcome of this
rambunctious patriotism. The title of the piece is envelopments and it
is comprised of 27 flags that all coincidentally have one this in
common. They all end in a red plane, so when rolled up they all
embody the same color and are remarkable identical. This 2015 piece
is very interesting to me because it showed that despite extensive use
in flags for the last few thousand years to show nationality or pride or
courage, when they are rolled up and set aside, they have little to no
impact. They merely exist, unassociated with any country, creed or
nationality.
Baghriche was trying to display an overwhelming force of moral
and ethical demographics that has gained support from a blinded
nations searching for something to represent. Ideas, principles, laws,
and ethics should be organically created based on critical thought and
experience. With a sense of over patriotism or superiority, its easy to

get lost standing behind the values your country has demonstrated
supporting.
One last aspect of this piece that I thought personally gratifying
was that it didnt matter if the flags were staged or not. Meaning It
truly didnt effect the piece of art or the element of interpretation.
Gaining this insight allows for a final interpretation of the flags for their
moral, political, and cultural presence. Consider that all the flags were
all red, all the way through. Not only would their be no difference no
point in running a flag, but the politics and ethics associated with that
country now seem less impactful. The excessive nationalism that takes
place blinds all populations, it creates borders and rules and
stereotypes and biases. Focusing on under associating a persons unimpactful qualities should be the driving force in affairs or foreign
interpretation.
7.
The works from Faycal Baghriche (Envelopments, 2015) and Dan
Mills ( U.S. Future states atlas, 2008) show a prominent concept of
identification and nationalism while providing a realm where the
interpreter can re-associate the importance of patriotism. These artists
show that borders, flags and even the governments or dictators that
control us, that we are our own entities ad that anything besides color
association or bland nationalism is truly up to us. These pieces show
that we should identify with a philosophy that we appreciate and
associate with and that it is logically derived from our own ethical
endeavors, not just accepted and maintained because you fancy the
colors on a countrys flag.
Identifying work ethic was something we addressed in the beginning
of the semester. Understanding the elements of the culture in
evaluation and some of the details surrounding the philosophy is
crucial when determining the characteristics of a society and the sociopolitical degree of its consumerism. Kathryn Andrews display
(included in the Ideologue exhibit) was composed of four separate
installments of portraits morphed and mutilated by screen printing and
the use of multi media to add depth to the conceptual impact of her
message. The screen prints on aluminum and Plexiglas depict elderly
men dressed up as clowns. Containers filled with a various assortment
of items including cigarette butts, pills, dried beans, and lotto
scratchers, amongst other trash, Kathryn demonstrates the core
elements of consumerism in America and some of the absurdities
instilled into our culture.
Our class discussions on consumerism, product obsession and
waste, consist of similar ideas and prompt the same re-occurring
theme of gross and environmentally detrimental impacts on society
due to this idea of productionism. The pieces by Kathryn Andrews adds

an element to these ideas and pushes them a bit further, letting us

visualize the irony and allowing us to perceive one of the outcomes of
consumerism in America.
All these pieces support an idea of critical thought and analysis.
These ideas ajnd concepts are supposed to be thought provoking and
allow s to see more clearly. Twisting and morphing what we consider
truth, in order to interpret
raw information and make un biased and unprecedented opinions.
Moving away from the implications involved in teaching, these
philosophies should be discovered and interpreted.
8.
I personally really enjoyed attending the exhibits at the museum
of contemporary art. I found the experience very relaxing and
engaging, and since going to the museum isnt something I have done
in the last 5 or so years, the critical analysis aspect of the assignment
helped bring my attention to really breaking down every aspect of the
pieces. I would definitely enjoy attending the museum again and more
frequently. This experience has brought the idea to the forefront of my
mind and gave me a perfect excuse to spend an afternoon at umoca. It
was a valuable and enjoyable experience that I look forward to making
a more common one.