Reflection
Research means ” a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reacha (new) understanding” in Cambridge Dictionary, and I personally think it is a process of learning and gaining new knowledge and understanding. This process is particularly important because only through research can we achieve some reasonable and correct results. Before we invent and create something new, we must do thorough research to master something before we can create something new.
Since research is so important, how do we do it? In daily life, we often carry out some simple research. For example, if we want to know something, we’ll just Google it and read Wikipedia, and that’s a simple research. What about more thorough research? When I did my research, the first thing was to ask the question, and then to find all kinds of materials to solve the problem. The process of solving the problem is research. There’s nothing wrong with googling a topic online, but I went to various resource sites to find relevant articles, rather than simply reading Wikipedia. In addition to searching various websites and articles on the Internet, I also researched offline. I went to the library to browse the books, went to the museum to view the cultural relics, and went to the art museum to see the works. If I could have a conversation with the people involved, which is to get information directly from others, this is also research.
After getting a variety of information, the information will be unified collation and digestion, and then choose more useful information. I hope I can pay more attention to this aspect in my future research. In this process, new problems will arise, so we should conduct the next round of research on new problems and new information. This process of generating problems over and over again until we stop producing problems and the research is complete.
MoMA Archive Reflection
Birgit Jürgenssen, Woman, 1972
Search Terms
Birgit Jürgenssen
Birgit Jürgenssen, Woman
DIE DAMEN
Structuralism
Viennese Actionism
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any resources in MAID. Through searching these words, I learned that this art work Women was created by her in 1972 to respond the people’s stereotypes about women at that time. She took picture of her own body in four poses spelling out the word “FRAU”, which means “women”. In a signature self-portrait from 1976, she wrote that Ich möchte hier raus! (I want out of here!). I also got some additional information of the biography of Jürgenssen. Birgit Jürgenssen was born and educated in Vienna. Growing up in the era of über-expressionist Viennese Actionism (refers to a violent, radical, and explicit form of performance art that developed in the Austrian capital during the 1960s), which is more male-dominated, Jürgenssen actively advocated the status of female artists. She loved Da Vinci and was influenced by philosophy of Structuralism, the ethnology of Claude Lèvi-Strauss and the socio-critical discourse of her generation. In 1988, she found a female art group called DIE DAMEN with Ona B., Evelyne Egerer, and Ingeborg Strob.
Through my research, I have a better understanding of this artist and her work. As a leading advocate of feminism, Jürgenssen has created many works that refute female stereotypes. Women are one of them. Jürgenssen even founded a group of female artists to express her views, which I admire very much. Before the investigation, I thought she just created this work on a whim. Many of the works created by DIE DAMEN are also composed of four people doing actions in a scene, which coincides with the construction of Women, and makes me think that maybe Jürgenssen likes such scenes very much.
Toolkit
MoMa (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/158540?classifications=any&date_begin=Pre-1850&date_end=2019&locale=zh&page=1&q=Gender&with_images=1)
Estate Birgit Jürgenssen (https://birgitjuergenssen.com/en/works/photos/ph1037)
AWARE (https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/birgit-jurgenssen/)
Fergus McCafferey (http://fergusmccaffrey.com/artist/birgit-jurgenssen/)
CR (https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a24991996/cr-muse-birgit-jurgenssen-photographer/)
