1. What was Dada and what were the reasons behind its creation? What were the perceptions and opinions of the artists who participated in this movement? Did these artists perceive and critique traditional art?
I believe that this question is important because Dada was the first movement and concept we learned about in this class. With this, I believe that it is important to ask a question about it as learning about the ideas and concepts of this movement as well as the artists that participated in it ultimately allowed me to begin to see art in a new way. I began to see art in a new way while discussing this cultural movement due to the fact that the artists within it used unconventional ideas in order to bring about new forms and styles of art. With seeing that this particular movement incorporated these unique and often strange forms of art, I was then able to understand more of what this cultural movement was about as well as what this class would be about. Through all of this, I believe that Dada is an important concept and movement to understand as it essentially helped introduce the rest of the cultural movements we talked about over the course of the semester. More importantly though, it seems to have laid the underlying theme that exists between all of these movements in that they each critique traditional art for which the participating artists then try to create new and unconventional art forms in response.
Middle Part of Class:
2. Can any parallels be drawn between the Oulipo movement and Surrealism or are the two movements substantially different from one another? Use the concepts and intentions of each movement as well as the perceptions and opinions of the artists involved as a guide for exploring this question.
3. How does the Oulipo movement differ from the other cultural movements we have learned about? Does its intentional focus and use of constraints act as a limitation for an artist? Or, do these constraints rather act as creativity stimulators? Why or Why not?
I think that both of these two questions are important because they both draw on the main concepts and ideas of the Oulipo movement which was a significant part of this semester’s discussion. I think that the first question is important because I find it interesting to explore and consider how the Oulipo movement and Surrealism are similar to one another as they both focus on the importance of an artist being able to draw into and use their imagination as a creativity stimulator to make new art. On the other hand though, what is even more important is to explore how these two cultural movements are substantially different from one another as the Oulipo movement uses constraints as a means to produce new creativity whereas Surrealism uses the subconscious mind and the human psyche in order to create new and unique forms of art. Therefore, since the Oulipo movement specifically places constraints on an artist, the second question is also important as I believe it is interesting to explore what the intent and reasoning is of purposely placing constraints on an artist and if this would be beneficial or detrimental to an artist.
Recent Part of Class:
4. What was the reasoning behind why artists within the Fluxus movement worked together collaboratively rather than individually? What are some Fluxus projects or works of art that portray this idea of collaboration?
I think that this question is important because I find it interesting that this specific movement focused on and used collaboration as the cultural movements we have learned about thus far have not really focused on or discussed this idea. Also, since I was very interested in reading about all of the different collaborative projects made during this movement, I think it is important to explore the reasoning as to why collaboration was so important for these artists and thus what it meant to them and the art they were creating.
