ARTHI 6C Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Cultural Appropriation, Adrian Piper, Barack Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theories
Late 1980s -- Early 1990s
Identity Politics
A individual's identity consists of multiple, intersecting factors, including
gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality
Any kind of classification you might use to identify yourself
§
○
A way to subvert or reject the dominant or default cultural position in the
US: whiteness
Identity politics is usually discussed with racial undertones
§
○
Desire to combat discrimination in art exhibitions, unequal access to
opportunity in the art world and beyond
○
Gender, race, sexuality, and ethnicity become politicized and speak to
larger social issues
○
The desire to express difference, to speak to a set of concerns that have
been silenced, ignored, and forgotten
○
•
Adrian Piper
Black American conceptual artist and philosopher
○
My Calling (Card #1 & #2) 1986
Like business cards to be carried around and handed out
Portable and multiple prints
□
§
Tackling racism and sexism in social settings
§
Could be viewed as some sort of performance art
Because it is a public display of an artwork (in this case, her
identity)
□
§
Pushing back against the way people see and treat her in public
spaces
§
○
Cornered 1988
Gallery video installation
§
Chairs set up like a pyramid in front of a single-channel TV
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She's on a TV set up in a corner speaking to the audience
Mediated presence
□
Distance between her and the viewer
□
§
Next to her in frames are two birth certificates
Part of identity politics very central in the news□
Birther movement □
Adrian Piper was born in the South prior to the civil rights
movement
Because she is of mixed race, she has two birth
certificates, and those are displayed in the gallery
®
□
§
Making it known that she is not fully white and stating her racial
identity
§
She argues that calling oneself black and claiming blackness is a
moral decision
Calling on viewers to claim their black ancestry□
§
Think about how the space functions to deliver the overall message
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○
Vanilla Nightmares 1989
Using identity politics to critique the news
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Charcoal drawings of angry and distressed black faces/bodies over
the text of the New York Times
§
Using black identity to critique apartheid in South Africa
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○
•
Cultural Appropriation
The adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another
culture
○
The fear is that the original meaning of these cultural elements is lost or
distorted when they are appropriated
○
Such displays are often viewed as disrespectful by members of the
originating culture, or even a form of desecration
○
•
Section 8: Identity Politics in the US
Thursday, May 31, 2018
8:58 AM
Document Summary
A individual"s identity consists of multiple, intersecting factors, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. Any kind of classification you might use to identify yourself. A way to subvert or reject the dominant or default cultural position in the. Identity politics is usually discussed with racial undertones. Desire to combat discrimination in art exhibitions, unequal access to opportunity in the art world and beyond. Gender, race, sexuality, and ethnicity become politicized and speak to larger social issues. The desire to express difference, to speak to a set of concerns that have been silenced, ignored, and forgotten. Like business cards to be carried around and handed out. Could be viewed as some sort of performance art. Because it is a public display of an artwork (in this case, her identity) Pushing back against the way people see and treat her in public spaces. Chairs set up like a pyramid in front of a single-channel tv.
