Module 13/14 video review

Questions and Topics for Your Blog Posting:

 

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Lowdown on Lowbrow:

Lowbrow art is art that no one knows how to categorize.  The term lowbrow is defined as a person regarded as uncultured or tasteless.  I found this movement as well as its art very fascinating.  Lowbrow art is always a narrative.  This movement was more open to women than any other.  Many artist did the work for album covers or comics.  It is sometimes called Pop Surrealism. 

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach

This museum is free and has drawn in much more of a crowd than they even imagined.  They used to arrange the art chronologically.  But now it has been split into categories: landscape, still life, history, and the nudes.  Each category is then split into several different rooms, and the pieces that they put together in these rooms do not always work and can actually take away from each piece.  Chronologically would make more sense but they felt that many people would be fatigued and never get to experience the newest art.   

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology

These bones were collected for scientific reasons to study people, culture, and medical insights.  The Native Americans want the bones returned.  When building a highway they found a cemetery and state archeologists came to collect the bones and took them to a local cemetery for burial except those of a Native American girl and a baby which they took for examination.  They only buried the white people.  Archeologists collect bones of all different races to learn about them especially the skulls.  4,000 skulls were obtained due to the request.  The bones of Native Americans were collected in an attempt to save the culture.  The Smithsonian held the remains of over 18,000 Native Americans.  The Native American grave protection and reparation Act stated that the bones had to be returned to the tribes.  The problem with reparation is where should the remains be returned to?  They need to be studied to find those answers.  The archeologists believe they help to understand the history and migration routes of the people.  They see the bones as markers and without them they lose the history.  The Native Americans say that their oral traditions tell them all that they need to know.  But the archeologists can help them to determine health hazards.  Rheumatoid arthritis was discovered on Native American bones.  This could help to better the understanding of this condition and possibly a vaccine.  Paleontologist are also able to examine DNA from some of these bones, they can look at bacteria and how its changed since that time.  The Native Americans however do not want this.  Many States have passed strict laws that all burial sites and Native American remains must be left untouched.  However, the University of Nebraska has reached an agreement with the Omaha tribe that they could do research for cultural and medical reasons.  They believe the remains can tell their story through science.  This particular tribe has had a big problem with diabetes.  They would also like to use the scientists work to restore some of their knowledge of their tribe.

   

2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.

I think the videos that will be of most help for my Art Exhibition project are the Lowdown on Lowbrow and Displaying Modern Art:  The Tate Approach.  The reason I believe these two will be of most help is that I learned quite a bit about Lowbrow art and what it is all about, and from The Tate approach I learned quite a bit about the arrangement of art museums and exhibits.  The film Bones of Contention: Native American Archeology gave me an appreciation of both the Native American tribes and the work of Archeologists, but I am not sure it will help with my project as I am not dealing with either subject. 

3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?

I think all of the films were excellent.  I found the film Bones of Contention:  Native American Archeology to be of the most interested personally.  I do believe they all add a greater understanding of art and the curation of a museum.  I also am glad I got to see the film the lowdown on lowbrow because it was fascinating and it was a form of art not normally studied.