Eduardo Kac website
Eduardo Kac's GFP Bunny
Adam Zaretsky
Monday, 3 May 2010
Sandy Skoglund
Sandy Skoglund website
"Spirituality in the Flesh"
Sandy Skoglund’s Spirituality in the Flesh, created for Artforum
magazine in February 1992, shows a photograph of a mannequin as she sits on a stool. She wears a sleeveless blue dress and has a blonde wig on, the whole portrait, at first glance, looks just like a stereotypical commercial portrait photograph. However, when looked at closer we start to notice some oddities about the image, her skin isn’t smooth and shiny as it should be if it were a plastic mannequin, and it is of the same material as the stool, floor and walls. It is only with further inspection that we begin to notice that the material the mannequin and other objects are made from is of raw ground beef. We find this image repulsive and shocking, however the sight of a raw beef burger does not have an effect upon us at all. I feel that this is because we are shown for what the human really is, raw flesh and meat. Sandy Skoglund wrote a six line text to accompany the image: “The body is buried in animal flesh. A russet field of ground beef surrounds folds of blue velvet. It is the hour before decomposition begins. The glowing, moist field will turn dark and crusty, as the oxygen molecules in the room begin to invade the bits of fat and muscle. Yet the appearance of the torn tissue is far from the violence that made it. Its colour is not bloody; the stench is gone. A muted calm overwhelms the grim evidence. Although the event is over, we see it still. Death is arrested as the enemy approaches-and it is a photograph
"Spirituality in the Flesh"
Sandy Skoglund’s Spirituality in the Flesh, created for Artforum
magazine in February 1992, shows a photograph of a mannequin as she sits on a stool. She wears a sleeveless blue dress and has a blonde wig on, the whole portrait, at first glance, looks just like a stereotypical commercial portrait photograph. However, when looked at closer we start to notice some oddities about the image, her skin isn’t smooth and shiny as it should be if it were a plastic mannequin, and it is of the same material as the stool, floor and walls. It is only with further inspection that we begin to notice that the material the mannequin and other objects are made from is of raw ground beef. We find this image repulsive and shocking, however the sight of a raw beef burger does not have an effect upon us at all. I feel that this is because we are shown for what the human really is, raw flesh and meat. Sandy Skoglund wrote a six line text to accompany the image: “The body is buried in animal flesh. A russet field of ground beef surrounds folds of blue velvet. It is the hour before decomposition begins. The glowing, moist field will turn dark and crusty, as the oxygen molecules in the room begin to invade the bits of fat and muscle. Yet the appearance of the torn tissue is far from the violence that made it. Its colour is not bloody; the stench is gone. A muted calm overwhelms the grim evidence. Although the event is over, we see it still. Death is arrested as the enemy approaches-and it is a photograph
update
Haven't posted on here in far too long so this is likely to be a fairly lengthy post.
I have been looking at other ways of getting across what I want to say, as using a human with a mask didn't seem to work well, the mask was deemed too scary and evil looking so people were unable to sympathise with it. Instead I've bought some cuddly toys off ebay and plan to use them in some way. We think of children and innocence when toys are mentioned, and cuddly toys especially are made to look cute, so it would be more repulsive when we are visually attracted to the object or it evokes personal feelings within us. I have tried different uses with the toys, including creating a mock slaughter, stuffing with meat, cooking them. I'm not sure whether to use one as an sculpture or keep it to photography.
I am also creating another stop motion animation (if i don't run out of time to finish) of a red man and a pig. I wanted the man to be red as I am wanting it to represent his flesh and blood.
Last thing I'm doing is things with meat, bought a couple of packs of mince, and along with stuffing the cuddly toys I sculpted a face and cooked it in the oven, taking photos of the process. Not the prettiest thing I've ever seen!
I think my whole point I'm trying to get across in all the pieces I'm doing is that we should give the animals we eat a little more respect, and while we raise them for slaughter, treat them well and give them the life they deserve. When it comes down to it we are flesh and blood just like them, the only difference is we have superior intelliegence and I wouldn't always say that is a good thing considering the mess we as a race make of things.
I emailed another abattoir a while ago after the one in Inverurie never got back to me. This one was in Portlethen and unfortunately decided to ignore me as well, figured it was best to give up on that idea, someone really doesn't want me to see animals die.
I decided to use three folders to keep my reasearch in, one for why I should eat me, one for why I shouldn't and one for artists and miscellaneous articles. I'm hoping this will help define my research better and help me to even out each arguement.
I have been looking at other ways of getting across what I want to say, as using a human with a mask didn't seem to work well, the mask was deemed too scary and evil looking so people were unable to sympathise with it. Instead I've bought some cuddly toys off ebay and plan to use them in some way. We think of children and innocence when toys are mentioned, and cuddly toys especially are made to look cute, so it would be more repulsive when we are visually attracted to the object or it evokes personal feelings within us. I have tried different uses with the toys, including creating a mock slaughter, stuffing with meat, cooking them. I'm not sure whether to use one as an sculpture or keep it to photography.
I am also creating another stop motion animation (if i don't run out of time to finish) of a red man and a pig. I wanted the man to be red as I am wanting it to represent his flesh and blood.
Last thing I'm doing is things with meat, bought a couple of packs of mince, and along with stuffing the cuddly toys I sculpted a face and cooked it in the oven, taking photos of the process. Not the prettiest thing I've ever seen!
I think my whole point I'm trying to get across in all the pieces I'm doing is that we should give the animals we eat a little more respect, and while we raise them for slaughter, treat them well and give them the life they deserve. When it comes down to it we are flesh and blood just like them, the only difference is we have superior intelliegence and I wouldn't always say that is a good thing considering the mess we as a race make of things.
I emailed another abattoir a while ago after the one in Inverurie never got back to me. This one was in Portlethen and unfortunately decided to ignore me as well, figured it was best to give up on that idea, someone really doesn't want me to see animals die.
I decided to use three folders to keep my reasearch in, one for why I should eat me, one for why I shouldn't and one for artists and miscellaneous articles. I'm hoping this will help define my research better and help me to even out each arguement.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
the absent referent
The book The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams that I bought a while ago has just arrived today and I have been reading through bits of it. I came across this piece of text which I think explains perfectly what I'm trying to say about how we view meat.
"Through butchering, animals become absent referents. Animals in name and body are made absent as animals for meat to exist. Animals' lives precede and enable the existence of meat. If animals are alives they cannot be meat. Thus a dead body replaces the live animal. Without animals there would be no meat eating, yet they are absent from the act of eating meat because they have been transformed into food.
Animals are made absent through language that renames dead bodies before consumers participate in eating them. Our culture further mystifies the term "meat" with gastronomic language, so we do not conjure dead, butchered animals, but cuisine. Language thus contributes even further to animals' absences. While the cultural meanings of meat and meat eating shift historically, one essential part of meat's meaning is static: One does not eat meat without the death of an animals. Live animals are thus the absent referents in the concept of meat. The absent referent premits us to forget about the animal as an indepenent entity; it also enable us to resist efforts to make animals present.
There are actually three ways by which animals become absent referents. One is literally: as I have just argued, through meat eating they are literally abesnt because they are dead. Another is definitional: when we eat animals we change the way we talk about them, for instance, we no longer talk about baby animals but about veal or lamb. As we will see even more clearly in the next chapter, which examines language about eating animals, the word meat has an absent referent, the dead animals. The third way is metaphorical. Animals become metaphors for describing people's experiences. In this metaphorical sense, the meaning of the absent referent derives from its application or reference to something else."
"Through butchering, animals become absent referents. Animals in name and body are made absent as animals for meat to exist. Animals' lives precede and enable the existence of meat. If animals are alives they cannot be meat. Thus a dead body replaces the live animal. Without animals there would be no meat eating, yet they are absent from the act of eating meat because they have been transformed into food.
Animals are made absent through language that renames dead bodies before consumers participate in eating them. Our culture further mystifies the term "meat" with gastronomic language, so we do not conjure dead, butchered animals, but cuisine. Language thus contributes even further to animals' absences. While the cultural meanings of meat and meat eating shift historically, one essential part of meat's meaning is static: One does not eat meat without the death of an animals. Live animals are thus the absent referents in the concept of meat. The absent referent premits us to forget about the animal as an indepenent entity; it also enable us to resist efforts to make animals present.
There are actually three ways by which animals become absent referents. One is literally: as I have just argued, through meat eating they are literally abesnt because they are dead. Another is definitional: when we eat animals we change the way we talk about them, for instance, we no longer talk about baby animals but about veal or lamb. As we will see even more clearly in the next chapter, which examines language about eating animals, the word meat has an absent referent, the dead animals. The third way is metaphorical. Animals become metaphors for describing people's experiences. In this metaphorical sense, the meaning of the absent referent derives from its application or reference to something else."
Monday, 15 March 2010
they're made out of meat
A video that Yates told me about, I found it odd, funny and a little disturbing. For some reason it made me feel a bit sick at the end!
pigs head
Meant to mention in my last blog that I've also bought a pigs head mask for my photos. Was wanting to use a cows head then draw the cuts of meat on the body but I couldn't find a mask that was good enough so I opted for a pig instead. I might actually prefer this as a pigs skin is very close in comparison to ours, tattoo artists often practice on a piece of pig meat before humans as our skin is so similar. This might help to get what I want to say across better than if I was to use a cow. I wanted to see how the mask would look in a photo on a person, so I took a couple of photos and played around with them a bit.
Oh and ignore the Cliff Richard calender.
Oh and ignore the Cliff Richard calender.
walk no.2
Whenever I need inspiration or need to think I go for a walk along with River Dee, it's so quiet and peaceful there it allows me to clear my head and think properly. When I went for my walk I was also once again hoping to find some cows though again had no luck. Where does Aberdeen hide it's cows!? Anyway I walked further than I have before and came across some interesting things. Ended up walking into a wooded patch then came across a cluster of houses, where a group of people were doing some sort of gardening in the middle of them, I ran away up a hill where I found the fluffiest sheep, but no cows!
I have also bought two books, the first, In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave by Peter Singer has arrived and is very interesting, I'll be using it for CCS as well. The second book, The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams hasn't arrived yet, I think it's being shipped from America but it's taking forever! Somebody may be getting an angry email soon.
I have also bought two books, the first, In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave by Peter Singer has arrived and is very interesting, I'll be using it for CCS as well. The second book, The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams hasn't arrived yet, I think it's being shipped from America but it's taking forever! Somebody may be getting an angry email soon.
Monday, 1 March 2010
progress
I meant to put this up a while ago. The photographers name is Nicolai Howalt, I was made aware of him from one of our tutors Judy, he has a piece of work called How to Hunt with some very powerful images in it. They show the fragility of life and the power and control we have over it.
Nicolai Howalt - How to Hunt
He also did a piece called Dying Birds, which are close up shots of the birds being shot out of the sky. I found these images very interesting as a few almost don't look like the birds as they twist and distort after being shot.
Nicolai Howalt - Dying Birds
So I emailed the abattoir that I was wanting to visit and unfortunately they have just never replied! I sent them another email but they have yet to reply to that too. This is fairly annoying for me as I was really wanting to be able to see the whole process to help me in my decision making. There is another abattoir in Portlethen that I could contact however I am struggling to find an email address for them. I would phone but I tend to panic when I'm on the phone and I would rather that they took me seriously! I'll have to keep looking into that. Also considering about enquiring to spend some time on a farm one day, would be good to see how the whole farming business works so I can get some insight into these peoples lives.
Went for a walk last week I think it was to find some cows, walked for around 3 hours didn't find a single cow! Did find a load of sheep though so I took photos of them, one seemed to have a real problem with us, kept giving us the evil eye.
Anyway because I would like people to become less ignorant of where their food comes from and make them aware that the bit of food on their plate was still once an animal, I want to try using people to depict the animals, so they would be swapping positions. I think it would be interesting to take a cuts of beef diagram and impose it onto a person. We don't see people as food and so even when they were turned into food we would still see them as a person, much like how I still see the animal even when it is mince. I realise it is different as it is our own species, however at the same time we are still flesh and muscle, living and breathing just as any other creature that we kill is, but we are conditioned to find cannibalism grotesque as it endangers the survival of our species so are disgusted at the thought of eating another human. For this reason I want to use people to depict the animals, we don't see animals as animals when they are on our plate, we are ignorant of the process of lifeand death for these animals and so I think that by showing it through a human, it may make people more aware. However I don't want to come across as a meat bashing vegetarian activist so I may have to change my ideas slightly if it looks like I'm just preaching to people.
Nicolai Howalt - How to Hunt
He also did a piece called Dying Birds, which are close up shots of the birds being shot out of the sky. I found these images very interesting as a few almost don't look like the birds as they twist and distort after being shot.
Nicolai Howalt - Dying Birds
So I emailed the abattoir that I was wanting to visit and unfortunately they have just never replied! I sent them another email but they have yet to reply to that too. This is fairly annoying for me as I was really wanting to be able to see the whole process to help me in my decision making. There is another abattoir in Portlethen that I could contact however I am struggling to find an email address for them. I would phone but I tend to panic when I'm on the phone and I would rather that they took me seriously! I'll have to keep looking into that. Also considering about enquiring to spend some time on a farm one day, would be good to see how the whole farming business works so I can get some insight into these peoples lives.
Went for a walk last week I think it was to find some cows, walked for around 3 hours didn't find a single cow! Did find a load of sheep though so I took photos of them, one seemed to have a real problem with us, kept giving us the evil eye.
Anyway because I would like people to become less ignorant of where their food comes from and make them aware that the bit of food on their plate was still once an animal, I want to try using people to depict the animals, so they would be swapping positions. I think it would be interesting to take a cuts of beef diagram and impose it onto a person. We don't see people as food and so even when they were turned into food we would still see them as a person, much like how I still see the animal even when it is mince. I realise it is different as it is our own species, however at the same time we are still flesh and muscle, living and breathing just as any other creature that we kill is, but we are conditioned to find cannibalism grotesque as it endangers the survival of our species so are disgusted at the thought of eating another human. For this reason I want to use people to depict the animals, we don't see animals as animals when they are on our plate, we are ignorant of the process of lifeand death for these animals and so I think that by showing it through a human, it may make people more aware. However I don't want to come across as a meat bashing vegetarian activist so I may have to change my ideas slightly if it looks like I'm just preaching to people.
Monday, 22 February 2010
chinese fur trade
I read about the Chinese fur trade a long time ago and I've just come across it again. It made me sick then and it still does, what these people think they have the right to do to animals is horrendous. There's a video on it below but I warn you only to watch it if you have a very strong stomach, it is horribly graphic.
This is from PETA:
When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut.
Before they are skinned alive, animals are pulled from their cages and thrown to the ground; workers bludgeon them with metal rods or slam them on hard surfaces, causing broken bones and convulsions but not always immediate death. Animals watch helplessly as workers make their way down the row.
Undercover investigators from Swiss Animal Protection/EAST International toured fur farms in China's Hebei Province, and it quickly became clear why outsiders are banned from visiting. There are no regulations governing fur farms in China—farmers can house and slaughter animals however they see fit. The investigators found horrors beyond their worst imaginings and concluded, "Conditions on Chinese fur farms make a mockery of the most elementary animal welfare standards. In their lives and their unspeakable deaths, these animals have been denied even the simplest acts of kindness."
On these farms, foxes, minks, rabbits, and other animals pace and shiver in outdoor wire cages, exposed to driving rain, freezing nights, and, at other times, scorching sun. Mother animals, who are driven crazy from rough handling and intense confinement and have nowhere to hide while giving birth, often kill their babies after delivering litters.
The globalization of the fur trade has made it impossible to know where fur products come from. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States. Even if a fur garment's label says it was made in a European country, the animals were likely raised and slaughtered elsewhere—possibly on an unregulated Chinese fur farm.
Pledge to go fur-free at PETA.org.
This is from PETA:
When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut.
When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals' hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.
Before they are skinned alive, animals are pulled from their cages and thrown to the ground; workers bludgeon them with metal rods or slam them on hard surfaces, causing broken bones and convulsions but not always immediate death. Animals watch helplessly as workers make their way down the row.
Undercover investigators from Swiss Animal Protection/EAST International toured fur farms in China's Hebei Province, and it quickly became clear why outsiders are banned from visiting. There are no regulations governing fur farms in China—farmers can house and slaughter animals however they see fit. The investigators found horrors beyond their worst imaginings and concluded, "Conditions on Chinese fur farms make a mockery of the most elementary animal welfare standards. In their lives and their unspeakable deaths, these animals have been denied even the simplest acts of kindness."
On these farms, foxes, minks, rabbits, and other animals pace and shiver in outdoor wire cages, exposed to driving rain, freezing nights, and, at other times, scorching sun. Mother animals, who are driven crazy from rough handling and intense confinement and have nowhere to hide while giving birth, often kill their babies after delivering litters.
The globalization of the fur trade has made it impossible to know where fur products come from. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States. Even if a fur garment's label says it was made in a European country, the animals were likely raised and slaughtered elsewhere—possibly on an unregulated Chinese fur farm.
Pledge to go fur-free at PETA.org.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
art?
I thought I'd lost this. Simon Birch, a vegetarian artist, made a video for his multimedia visual arts show in which he dresses up as a samurai and kills a pig with a sword. He claimed that killing the pig was "conceptually necessary". I don't find this art at all, it is just cruelty though I'm interested to know what everyone else thinks.
Another "art" installation which most of you will probably know about was by Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas in which he had children go out and capture a stray dog which he tied up in his exhibition gallery so people could see it starve to death, they were told not to feed the dog. It was supposedly to highlight the hypocrisy of people by the way they reacted when such a thing was put infront of them in a gallery, even though they ignore it everyday on the streets. Unfortunately it happened in Nicaragua where there are no laws against animal cruelty and so he was not doing anything illegal, however he was then chosen to represent his country in the "Bienal Centroamerica Honduras 2008", I can't seem to find anything telling me if he did or not but here's hoping not.
Another "art" installation which most of you will probably know about was by Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas in which he had children go out and capture a stray dog which he tied up in his exhibition gallery so people could see it starve to death, they were told not to feed the dog. It was supposedly to highlight the hypocrisy of people by the way they reacted when such a thing was put infront of them in a gallery, even though they ignore it everyday on the streets. Unfortunately it happened in Nicaragua where there are no laws against animal cruelty and so he was not doing anything illegal, however he was then chosen to represent his country in the "Bienal Centroamerica Honduras 2008", I can't seem to find anything telling me if he did or not but here's hoping not.
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
a million ideas
'Hear! Hear!' Interjected George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), 'Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends.'
I have been looking into vegetarianism and whether or not it is a good idea for me to be one anymore, as my health seems to just keep deteriorating because of it and that's never a good thing. I figure though that I would need to be fully comfortable with the fact that the animal I would be eating sacrificed it's life for me, and so I want to make sure that it was given the best life possible and was killed in a way that caused it no distress or suffering. Therefore I want to see it for myself and what it is like for these animals, I feel like I need to, we are so ignorant of the killing itself and completely detatch ourselves from the whole process. After the animal has been killed, cut up and given a new shape and name we no longer see it as an animal. For me, when I see meat, I see the flesh of a dead animal and I find it hard, with raw meat especially, to see it as food. However I feel that if I was able to witness the whole process, from life to death to food, that would be able to make an informed decision for myself and not rely on what others tell me so much. I am about to contact an abattoir after this post and I'm hoping they will let me come and do some photograhpy there.
As well as researching why I should and shouldn't eat meat, I have also been looking into almost everything to do with animals and the abuse and welfare of them. This has led me onto animal ethics and all the ethical dilemmas surrounding animals (including vegetarianism) such as the fur trade, hunting, animal testing, dog and cock fighting, nurse mare foals, industrialised farming etc.
I've been looking at two authors who specialise in animal ethics - Peter Singer, who dramatically increased public concern over the ethical treatment of animals after his book Animal Liberation (1975), and Carol J. Adams, a lesser known feminist-vegetarian ethic who links species oppression and gender oppression.
Did you know Hitler was apparantly a vegetarian? Read it in a book the other day, insane.
I have been looking into vegetarianism and whether or not it is a good idea for me to be one anymore, as my health seems to just keep deteriorating because of it and that's never a good thing. I figure though that I would need to be fully comfortable with the fact that the animal I would be eating sacrificed it's life for me, and so I want to make sure that it was given the best life possible and was killed in a way that caused it no distress or suffering. Therefore I want to see it for myself and what it is like for these animals, I feel like I need to, we are so ignorant of the killing itself and completely detatch ourselves from the whole process. After the animal has been killed, cut up and given a new shape and name we no longer see it as an animal. For me, when I see meat, I see the flesh of a dead animal and I find it hard, with raw meat especially, to see it as food. However I feel that if I was able to witness the whole process, from life to death to food, that would be able to make an informed decision for myself and not rely on what others tell me so much. I am about to contact an abattoir after this post and I'm hoping they will let me come and do some photograhpy there.
As well as researching why I should and shouldn't eat meat, I have also been looking into almost everything to do with animals and the abuse and welfare of them. This has led me onto animal ethics and all the ethical dilemmas surrounding animals (including vegetarianism) such as the fur trade, hunting, animal testing, dog and cock fighting, nurse mare foals, industrialised farming etc.
I've been looking at two authors who specialise in animal ethics - Peter Singer, who dramatically increased public concern over the ethical treatment of animals after his book Animal Liberation (1975), and Carol J. Adams, a lesser known feminist-vegetarian ethic who links species oppression and gender oppression.
Did you know Hitler was apparantly a vegetarian? Read it in a book the other day, insane.
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