Art Appreciation: MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art)

Close up

"The Character and Shape of Illuminated Things"
by Amanda Ross-Ho
behind me (Bishal)

MCA

Very first encountered with the public art piece is in front of MCA, which is a big head and a hues in its base, which invite viewers to interact with the piece and take a picture as much as you want and share under ILLUMINATED THINGS in any social medias. Artist Amanda Ross-Ho believes that social media keep art alive.

Staircase view from top

Staircase view form bottom

MCA building was designed by German architect Josef Paul Kleihues, who spent his one year in E'cole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts - The National School of Fine Art, Paris, France. MCA is the largest institution for contemporary art in the world.

It’s hard to understand contemporary art unless one goes little deep inside the subject matter or meanings of doing what contemporary artist does or did. It’s hard to get a reason of doing this kind of art, but once one get the idea that makes million times better than other visual art works. These arts makes one to feel the situation that artist is feeling or telling about something. Contemporary artists want viewers to think beyond the surface of thinking and invite them to make connection with different ideas and experience they have about things or life.

Miller & Shellabarger during performance
at
Gallery (MCA)

Second thing I noticed was the 10^th anniversary of public performance by Miller and Shellabarger’s ongoing project Pink Tube (2003 – present) is about knitting. Even though this is a crafty project, they want to bring into contemporary art scenes. Specially, for this piece they always perform together and they are together for ten years in their married life. My individual response about this art is how they look at the life through this performance art piece. In time, it grew longer and longer each day with the effort of these two artist, and that indicate their life. It also shows very strongly that there is a undoubted connection. They are together for ten years and it’s still in progress to make some kind of physical form out of this art work and still going on and will keep going on until their life moves ahead together. Therefore I think it’s representation on their togetherness in life.

Missing artist, 2013.

Derek Brunen, Plot, 2007 is a video installation of digging his own space in cemetery plot, which is most memorable and disturbing artwork I noticed in our student group visit at MCA. I talked with some of my friends about this artwork and try to find out the reason behind this act. What he want us to think of? Why he is digging his own grave? We found his thought about this work on the level of his work where it says,"Brunen engages with big Philosophical questions about life, death, fate, and infinity."

Derek Brunen, Plot 2007. (Video Installation)