Ultrabaroque

The Ultrabaroque show seems to illuminate a cross-cultural interest in hybridization (or mestizaje) in contemporary culture. These hybrids are obvious in content (i.e. local and global issues, transculturation, various histories), the use of mixed media, and the mix of styles from different eras. Zamudio-Taylor talks about the ultrabaroque emphasis on the affirmation of an object, versus the dematerialization prevalent in modernist arm. While the aesthetic emphasis is on minimalist aesthetic, the conceptual element relies on cultural, societal and political meanings of objects.

This is evident in the work of Cildo Meireles. His Circuit series investigates popular media objects and the relation they have to societal hierarchies of power.



However, the artists in the Ultrabaroque show also investigate the heterogeneity of Latin culture. The culture of Latin countries can no longer be culturally defined on a national level, but instead the artistic investigation is post-national and looks at the heterogeneous nature of regional culture. The transcultural status of these countries largely results from the effects of colonialism. The post-colonial state also contributes to the contemporary issues of hierarchy and unequal distribution of power.

Jose Antonio Hernandez-Diaz's work incorporates religious connotations with popular cultural objects and imagery combined to describe the contemporary condition of Latin America that is largely influenced by its colonial history. In the work below, Hernandez-Diaz uses the washboard as a signifier for the cleansing of the skin, or ethnic cleansing.



The term baroque has conflicted meanings. Some scholars believe it to be the decline of a civilization while others see it as a complex investigation or advance of a civilization and questioning the power structures that operate within a society. If we take it to mean the latter, I believe Hans Haacke would fall into the category of the baroque. I recently went to hear him talk, and political upheaval is evident in almost all of his works. As a German-born artist, he is bringing a different perspective to politics in America that allow for a comparison between German and American histories, resulting in transculturalism. It may be a stretch to include him in this discussion, but much of the hybridization and transcultural perspective mentioned in the Ultrabaroque readings made me think of his talk. For example, regarding the picture below he had mentioned that he was thinking of the American flag over the face acting as a blinder to the implied American that is under the "bag."

However, because of the pervasiveness of the Abu Ghraib photographs, the viewer now sees the image as the American flag being put over the head of the "other" as a torture device. A reading of a work that was first national has become transnational due to contemporary events. Much of Haacke's work questions the systems and hierarchies of power and decision-making in our country, which was of much importance to the Ultrabaroque artists. Below is a public art piece in a political plaza. The sign on the from of the building contained the words Dem Deutschen Volke, which translated to "the German people," but culturally meant the people of Arian blood. The word Haacke used, DER BEVÖLKERUNG was used to describe people equally. This caused a politically controversy that had to go to parliament to see if the work could be installed. This questioned, not only the use of language, but a history of violence and suffering toward a group of people.

Although baroque is a term that has become the Euro-American cliche description of Latin American art, baroque, as used in show, signifies the complexities involved in visually describing a turbulent and complicated culture. This "impure beauty," as describe by Elizabeth Armstrong is not only evident in the technical aspect of the works, but also in the conceptual framework. Adrianna Varejao's work investigates the histories of colonial expansion and the effect it has on traditional Latin American cultures.
Meyer Vaisman looks at the affect of the transcontinental economy. This type of touristic economy relies largely on the commodification and marketability of culture. These works make us question the histories that have been taught to us and how we think about the commodified culture of the "other," which is the way in which we generally experience other cultures. He blends high and low culture by working with everyday materials and imagery, yet questions the way in which our experiences our mediated by our outsider attitude.

I found the idea of allegory in relation to the baroque to be very interesting in terms of postmodern artistic practice. While we generally associate allegory with Renaissance art, the postmodern desire to link our contemporary conditions to the affects of the past is evident in the work in the Ultrabaroque show. I was thinking about the combination of contemporary media and religious imagery in terms of my own project for this class, which deals with the pervasiveness of the Madonna ideal in contemporary representations of motherhood, and what that means for contemporary notions of identity.

The idea of colonial displacement was also a large topic in the Ultrabaroque show. Arturo Duclos's work brings together multiple references to different cultures, and the different images seem somewhat out of place, which can be related to colonialism's influence on the displacement of native people. This made me think of Itagaki Yoshio's work, which I don't find particularly interesting, because they are wrought with digital manipulation and seemingly lacking in conceptual investigation, but deals with the same idea of displacement of marginalized or minority cultures. His two projects, "Native American Reservation on the Moon" and "Cyber Amish County," point out the ridiculous nature of pushing people into locations that don't suit their lifestyles and need.

White...not Transparent

In looking at the changing perspective of whiteness through the readings for this week there were a few repeated themes I noticed. These include:
Whiteness as a racial category that is no longer transparent. A need to be self-critical and self aware regarding whiteness.
Whiteness as it is related to economics and class.
Whiteness and privilege.

I have expanded on some of these themes below.

There were also some discrepancies I noticed between analyzing whiteness compared to a post-ethnic ideology.
The theorists and critics seem to be talking about whiteness in the same broad terms as other minorities (i.e. blackness).
It seems that in order to really analyze whiteness the playing field between white and other "ethnicities" needs to be leveled. The historical analysis of whiteness is no where near as in depth as other cultures.
And Roediger brings up an excellent point in the difference between theoretical whiteness and how whiteness functions in lived experience.

Opaque vs. Transparent
It becomes evident from the readings that we can no longer approach whiteness as meaningless, historically void and transparent. The very color white itself is loaded with social and historical symbolism; pureness, blankness, absence, etc. Roediger talks about the historical value of whiteness in terms of whites views of nonwhites. "When residents of the US talk about race, they too often talk only about African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. If whites come into the discussion, it is only because they have 'attitudes' toward nonwhites. Whites are assumed not to 'have race,' though they might be racists," Roediger writes. White, as Roediger also writes, is an extremely imprecise term.

Whiteness, Economics and Class
It is undeniable that whiteness is often associated with class, especially the middle or upper class. Even the term white collar suggest a certain difference between whites' economic situation and the "others." We tend, as a society, to forget about the white poor, and associated the lower income population with minorites, often blacks. The fact that class is often closely associated with race was evident after the destruction of hurricane katrina. Poor and black became almost synonyms in the media representation of the victims of Katrina. Often poor economic situations are blamed on nonwhites. For example, Mexican immigration might be the most popular contemporary example. The US tends to blame the loss of jobs on illegal immigration and the influx of the nonwhite working class. However, there is nothing mentioned about the racial impllications of outsourcing US jobs. Maurice Berger uses the interesting phrase that it seems to be in people's best interest to "capitalize on their whiteness." Whiteness often implies economic power, even if that is mostly a false assumption. Even the poor have the ability to capitalize on their whiteness by having the benefit of assumed education and skill.

Broadness of Whiteness
In my own identity chart shown in a previous, I found it interesting that I didn't think to include "white" as a defining identity, but instead included norwegian, finnish, native american and german (with norwegian and finnish taking up the most "ethnic space.") This made me realize that in a way, my whiteness is still somewhat transparent to me. The first time I became self-aware of my whiteness was in preschool (around the age of 4), which I attend on a Northern Minnesota Native American reservation, where I was the minority. It was only at first that I was aware, and soon my whiteness was forgotten. Until I moved to Chicago, my areas of residency have had largely white demographic. However, I have always felt that my whiteness was more nuanced that just purely (for lack of a less ironic term) white. Stahlings talks about abolishing the normativity of whiteness in "Whiteness: A Wayward Construction," yet the very broad term WHITE is normatized not to include the different variations of whiteness. Although one could argue that the very appearance of whiteness bestows one with priveleges that others of different ethnicities are denied, it was not historically that way. Historically degrees of whiteness were much more divided, which is extremely evident in the neighborhood break-up in Chicago (although gentrification has erased much of that segregation, but not entirely). At one point Polish-Americans, Italian Americans, etc were not considered "white." However, these divisions have been erased, but what also seems to be diminishing is the ethnic diversity of whiteness. This is possibly why I chose to include my Norwegian and Finnish heritage as a large part of my identity, because the traditions associated with those nationalities are still very much embedded into my family life and tradition. It seems contradictory to try and integrate whiteness into the post-ethnic discussion when scholars seems to be using the broad discourse to talk about whiteness that they are trying to diseminate regarding other ethnicities.


Theory and Academics vs. Lived Experience
Although significant progress has been made in the intellectual and scholarly perception of whiteness, the fact that whiteness still holds severe economic, social, cultural and political priveleges in real live is pervasive. Although language has been invented in order to "politically correct" the way we refer to the social construction of race, it does not erase the social oppression, racism, prejudice and a certain degree of white supremacy that still exists. However, Wendy Ewald's "White Girl Alphabet" shows that language has symbolic racial connotations and there exists a certain lingual hierarchy that effect how we discuss and interpret race. Although post-structuralism has made vast improvements on the way we approach and talk about race, the existence of post-structuralism as it relates to race is not as evident in our general perceptions of society. All the "radical scholarship" does not equal radicial activism in society. Roediger explains that the intellectual demystification of race can cause disappointment when theory meets practice. I began making connections between the post-ethnic movement and the third wave feminist movement. It seems the 60s and 70s were a time of radical activism, for both feminism and civil rights, and now the "movement" is more intellectually based and there is much less "action" on the part of the general public. Maybe its a generational thing where the young, educated individuals feel a certain sense of apathy about how much good activism really does.

How does this all relate to art?
Art seems to function as a hyprid of intellectual study and lived experience. If we turn to Manet's Olympia, there is a reversal of the sexual, black female stereotyping and instead the white woman is the promiscuous sexual being, while the black servant (dressed in white) is the reserved, innocent, more asexual figures. During the multicultural period, it was common for nonwhite artists to make art about their ethnic identity, yet it was taboo to make art about whiteness (and to much extent...still is). However, one could argue that artists have been making art that is unintentionally about whiteness since the inception of art practice. William Kentridge's work has a lot to do with whiteness and apartheid in South Africa. Cindy Sherman made photographs about the B-Movie white female actress archetype. Still, the intentional depiction of whiteness seemed taboo. Maybe when this subject matter is no longer taboo will we be closer to a true post-ethnic ideology that includes the analysis of whiteness.