ARTHI 6C Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Poetry Slam, Ableism, Apollo Belvedere
Stonewall Riot 1969
Considered the pioneering moment of the gay rights movement and
advocacy
○
Homosexual sex acts were illegal up until the 1970s
○
Stonewall Inn - bar in Greenwich Village in NYC
Place where homosexuals could be relatively safe from police
brutality
§
Noted as a private club instead of an open bar
§
People didn't sign their own name when they walked in and paid
their cover
§
Police frequently raided it
§
○
June 1969 - patrons fight back against the police raiding the bar
First time they had fought back
§
○
•
First Gay Liberation Day
earliest Gay Pride Parade
○
Third week in June 1970
○
Greenwich Village on Christopher Street
○
•
Gay people in the civil rights movement
Bayard Rustin - gay man closest to Martin Luther King Jr.
○
Pauli Murray - out lesbian civil rights lawyer
○
•
1997: Ellen DeGeneres came out on her television show.. It was cancelled the
next year
Ellen has since been brought back 2003 - present
○
It took about a decade to actually show gayness on TV and it be accepted
○
•
Heteronormative: a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or
preferred sexual orientation
•
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
American-Cuban artist
○
Untitled (Perfect Lovers) 1987
Uses wall clocks (found objects)
§
Descends from Duschamp's idea of the readymade
Reutilizing objects and appropriating them
□
§
Clocks are set to they are in sync and moving simultaneously
§
Creating a metaphor in which two (homosexual/same) lovers
§
Interested in death
Once a battery dies, the clock's lifespan is ending soon□
§
○
Had AIDS, died from AIDS-related pneumonia
○
Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA) 1991
Candy pieces/candy stacks
§
Borrowing the language of minimalism
§
Stacking materials that were found
§
Direct reference to his lover Ross who was living in Los Angeles
Relationship to his Catholicism and the idea of participation□
Viewers were invited to take a candy from the piece□
§
○
Untitled Billboard 1991
Metaphorical image about loss and people not being in the bed
§
Former body marks of two lovers in the bed
§
○
•
Robert Mapplethorpe
American photographer, usually black and white images
○
Died of AIDS
○
Classical style with sophisticated techniques
Also looks back to classical sculpture like The Apollo Belvedere
§
Showcasing the sensuality and strength of the male body
Derrick Cross 1983
Focus on musculature of the black male body
®
Nothing in the background
®
Like a sculpture
®
□
§
○
Did erotic works of interracial gay men
Showcasing the idea of homosexual love and unity
§
○
Embrace 1982
Very close and undeniable intimacy
§
○
Ken Moody and Robert Sherman 1984
Both men in profile in the same direction
§
Very close to each other
§
Intimacy of closeness
§
○
Slave 1974
Michelangelo's Slave figure repurposed and reworked
§
Classic image from the Renaissance and "queering" it
Making it into a sublime gay image□
§
Incredibly erotic
§
○
Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter 1979
Gay male couple in chains and leather
Involved in BDSM□
§
Antique-heavy living room
§
○
•
LGBTQ: Is queer a bad word?
A negative term that meant "strange" or "peculiar"
○
"queer" was reclaimed in the 1980s to create a sense of inclusion and
immediate community
○
Queer now means "not straight"
○
•
Day of Desperation - January 23, 1991
ACT UP - AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
Trying to protest the Reagan administration because he wont even
acknowledge the crisis
§
Coming together to become an underground activist network
§
Speaking out in public as a way to get visibility for AIDS
§
Originated in New York but there are branches all over the US
§
Gran Fury is a splinter group from ACT UP
§
A Collective/Collective Practice: a group of artists working together
to generate artworks, activist banners, etc… names are often not
individually credited
§
○
AIDS crisis is the largest social movement in the art world in the 80s
There is no cure but there are some drugs that can help with the
symptoms of AIDS
§
○
•
Gran Fury
Kissing Doesn't Kill 1989
Protest banner
§
"Kissing doesn’t kill: greed and indifference do"
Direct reference to drug companies charging a fortune for
experimental AIDS drugs
□
§
A way of showing that kissing is not how you transmit AIDS
§
Alleviating ignorance at this time
§
○
Chose this name because they just wanted to cerate a space for social
action
○
Trying to educate people about ideas around AIDS, clearing up
misconceptions
○
They made stickers, posters, and pins to spread the word and showcase
the rise of people affected by AIDS
○
AIDSgate 1987
Anti-Ronald Reagan
§
Reference to Watergate
§
○
Read My Lips 1988
Two WWII soldiers
§
Reference to Reagan and Bush's "Read my lips, no new taxes"
§
Appropriating political terms
§
○
The Pope and the Penis 1990
Done in Italy at an American pavilion
§
Ended up being censored and taken down
§
○
•
David Woknarowicz
Artist affected by AIDS
○
Untitled (One Day This Kid…) 1990
Circulated widely
§
○
Silence = Death 1990
Mouth sewn shut
§
Performance piece done in the form of a photograph
§
○
•
Agit-Prop
Agitation-propaganda
○
Ideas or statements that are utilized in order to help a cause
○
Creating consciousness about and bringing awareness to a particular
social issue (homelessness, AIDS, etc.)
○
Political propaganda proclaimed formally and chiefly in literature, drama,
music, and art
○
•
Installation
An artistic genre of 3D works that are often site-specific and designed to
transform the perception of a space
Site-specific: made specifically for a particular location
§
○
Sometimes an adjective describes medium: sculptural installation,
photographic installation, public art installation
○
•
United Colors of Benetton 1991
Racial diversity and inclusion
○
•
Martin Wong
Chinese-American artist
○
Lives in East Village, NYC - multiracial area of Greenwich Village
○
Painter who died of AIDS at age 53
○
Invested in depicting his neighborhood and its diversity
○
Starry Night 1982
Constellations
§
ASL
§
Engaged in ableism and other languages
§
○
Stanton Near Forsyth Street 1983
○
Closed 1984
Chained and closed up building
§
Metaphorical for closure of possibility
§
○
I Really Like the Way Firemen Smell 1988
Showcasing desire for same-sex people
§
○
Big Heat 1988
Two firemen kissing
§
His own sexual desires and fantasies
§
○
Portrait of Mickey Pinero
Puerto-Rican poet
§
Founded Nyorican Poets' Café in East Village
First place slam poetry ever happened□
§
○
Chinese New Years Parade 1992
○
Puerto Rican Day Parade 1998
○
•
Lecture 16: 1980s The AIDS Crisis
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
10:59 AM
Stonewall Riot 1969
Considered the pioneering moment of the gay rights movement and
advocacy
○
Homosexual sex acts were illegal up until the 1970s
○
Stonewall Inn - bar in Greenwich Village in NYC
Place where homosexuals could be relatively safe from police
brutality
§
Noted as a private club instead of an open bar
§
People didn't sign their own name when they walked in and paid
their cover
§
Police frequently raided it
§
○
June 1969 - patrons fight back against the police raiding the bar
First time they had fought back
§
○
•
First Gay Liberation Day
earliest Gay Pride Parade
○
Third week in June 1970
○
Greenwich Village on Christopher Street
○
•
Gay people in the civil rights movement
Bayard Rustin - gay man closest to Martin Luther King Jr.
○
Pauli Murray - out lesbian civil rights lawyer
○
•
1997: Ellen DeGeneres came out on her television show.. It was cancelled the
next year
Ellen has since been brought back 2003 - present
○
It took about a decade to actually show gayness on TV and it be accepted
○
•
Heteronormative: a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or
preferred sexual orientation
•
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
American-Cuban artist
○
Untitled (Perfect Lovers) 1987
Uses wall clocks (found objects)
§
Descends from Duschamp's idea of the readymade
Reutilizing objects and appropriating them
□
§
Clocks are set to they are in sync and moving simultaneously
§
Creating a metaphor in which two (homosexual/same) lovers
§
Interested in death
Once a battery dies, the clock's lifespan is ending soon
□
§
○
Had AIDS, died from AIDS-related pneumonia
○
Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA) 1991
Candy pieces/candy stacks
§
Borrowing the language of minimalism
§
Stacking materials that were found
§
Direct reference to his lover Ross who was living in Los Angeles
Relationship to his Catholicism and the idea of participation
□
Viewers were invited to take a candy from the piece
□
§
○
Untitled Billboard 1991
Metaphorical image about loss and people not being in the bed
§
Former body marks of two lovers in the bed
§
○
•
Robert Mapplethorpe
American photographer, usually black and white images
○
Died of AIDS
○
Classical style with sophisticated techniques
Also looks back to classical sculpture like The Apollo Belvedere
§
Showcasing the sensuality and strength of the male body
Derrick Cross 1983
Focus on musculature of the black male body
®
Nothing in the background
®
Like a sculpture
®
□
§
○
Did erotic works of interracial gay men
Showcasing the idea of homosexual love and unity
§
○
Embrace 1982
Very close and undeniable intimacy
§
○
Ken Moody and Robert Sherman 1984
Both men in profile in the same direction
§
Very close to each other
§
Intimacy of closeness
§
○
Slave 1974
Michelangelo's Slave figure repurposed and reworked
§
Classic image from the Renaissance and "queering" it
Making it into a sublime gay image
□
§
Incredibly erotic
§
○
Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter 1979
Gay male couple in chains and leather
Involved in BDSM□
§
Antique-heavy living room
§
○
•
LGBTQ: Is queer a bad word?
A negative term that meant "strange" or "peculiar"
○
"queer" was reclaimed in the 1980s to create a sense of inclusion and
immediate community
○
Queer now means "not straight"
○
•
Day of Desperation - January 23, 1991
ACT UP - AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
Trying to protest the Reagan administration because he wont even
acknowledge the crisis
§
Coming together to become an underground activist network
§
Speaking out in public as a way to get visibility for AIDS
§
Originated in New York but there are branches all over the US
§
Gran Fury is a splinter group from ACT UP
§
A Collective/Collective Practice: a group of artists working together
to generate artworks, activist banners, etc… names are often not
individually credited
§
○
AIDS crisis is the largest social movement in the art world in the 80s
There is no cure but there are some drugs that can help with the
symptoms of AIDS
§
○
•
Gran Fury
Kissing Doesn't Kill 1989
Protest banner
§
"Kissing doesn’t kill: greed and indifference do"
Direct reference to drug companies charging a fortune for
experimental AIDS drugs
□
§
A way of showing that kissing is not how you transmit AIDS
§
Alleviating ignorance at this time
§
○
Chose this name because they just wanted to cerate a space for social
action
○
Trying to educate people about ideas around AIDS, clearing up
misconceptions
○
They made stickers, posters, and pins to spread the word and showcase
the rise of people affected by AIDS
○
AIDSgate 1987
Anti-Ronald Reagan
§
Reference to Watergate
§
○
Read My Lips 1988
Two WWII soldiers
§
Reference to Reagan and Bush's "Read my lips, no new taxes"
§
Appropriating political terms
§
○
The Pope and the Penis 1990
Done in Italy at an American pavilion
§
Ended up being censored and taken down
§
○
•
David Woknarowicz
Artist affected by AIDS
○
Untitled (One Day This Kid…) 1990
Circulated widely
§
○
Silence = Death 1990
Mouth sewn shut
§
Performance piece done in the form of a photograph
§
○
•
Agit-Prop
Agitation-propaganda
○
Ideas or statements that are utilized in order to help a cause
○
Creating consciousness about and bringing awareness to a particular
social issue (homelessness, AIDS, etc.)
○
Political propaganda proclaimed formally and chiefly in literature, drama,
music, and art
○
•
Installation
An artistic genre of 3D works that are often site-specific and designed to
transform the perception of a space
Site-specific: made specifically for a particular location
§
○
Sometimes an adjective describes medium: sculptural installation,
photographic installation, public art installation
○
•
United Colors of Benetton 1991
Racial diversity and inclusion
○
•
Martin Wong
Chinese-American artist
○
Lives in East Village, NYC - multiracial area of Greenwich Village
○
Painter who died of AIDS at age 53
○
Invested in depicting his neighborhood and its diversity
○
Starry Night 1982
Constellations
§
ASL
§
Engaged in ableism and other languages
§
○
Stanton Near Forsyth Street 1983
○
Closed 1984
Chained and closed up building
§
Metaphorical for closure of possibility
§
○
I Really Like the Way Firemen Smell 1988
Showcasing desire for same-sex people
§
○
Big Heat 1988
Two firemen kissing
§
His own sexual desires and fantasies
§
○
Portrait of Mickey Pinero
Puerto-Rican poet
§
Founded Nyorican Poets' Café in East Village
First place slam poetry ever happened□
§
○
Chinese New Years Parade 1992
○
Puerto Rican Day Parade 1998
○
•
Lecture 16: 1980s The AIDS Crisis
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 10:59 AM
Document Summary
Considered the pioneering moment of the gay rights movement and advocacy. Homosexual sex acts were illegal up until the 1970s. Stonewall inn - bar in greenwich village in nyc. Place where homosexuals could be relatively safe from police brutality. Noted as a private club instead of an open bar. People didn"t sign their own name when they walked in and paid their cover. June 1969 - patrons fight back against the police raiding the bar. Bayard rustin - gay man closest to martin luther king jr. Pauli murray - out lesbian civil rights lawyer. 1997: ellen degeneres came out on her television show Ellen has since been brought back 2003 - present. It took about a decade to actually show gayness on tv and it be accepted. Heteronormative: a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation. Clocks are set to they are in sync and moving simultaneously. Creating a metaphor in which two (homosexual/same) lovers.
