Integrative Seminar + Studio: Initial Project Proposals

For our final project in Integrative seminar and studio this semester, we were asked to create artwork of any kind that would somehow fit into the MoMA or MoMA PS1. After my visit to both MoMA and MoMA PS1, I began to brainstorm my ideas by listing out concepts or art styles I’m interested in and started to branch out from there. Within the brainstorm, I picked out the ideas I liked the most and turned them into two separate project proposals.

Below is the brainstorm map I made:

 

Proposal #1

Written Description:

“F is for Fruits” is an art exhibition dedicated to fruits and millennials. Prompted by trending videos on social media where people implicitly (though they aren’t being very subtle) refer to sex and intimacy through fingering fruits. This topic, otherwise referred to as fruit porn, drew me to focus on fruit as a subject for my work. Often depicted in ads targeted at a millennial audience, fruits have been used to replace “sexual” images such as those of the female reproductive organ in order to combat censorship. The topic of censorship (specifically of the female body and reproductive organs) and sensitivities our society seems to have towards sex became something I was interested in exploring through my art.

Fruits have been subjects of still life paintings for many centuries and each fruit symbolizes different meanings based on historical context and how it is being presented. In my collection of artwork, different fruits are used to represent each of the seven deadly sins in a way which mimics modern-day ads. Through depicting a modern day issue, the topic of whether censorship should be used, in a religious way forces us to draw parallels between the two and begin to make us question why things are censored, to begin with.

Employing mediums ranging from video, installation to drawings, my art exhibition explores different attitudes towards our generations’ policy on censorship of sexual or explicit imagery. It is an exhibition that poses several questions to the audience: Do censorship of explicit imagery on mass media work? Does using a euphemism to hint at these taboo subjects attract more or less attention to it? Why is there a need for it?

Bibliography:

Fruitpunchmag. “Sex, Sensuality and Sin: Fruit Symbolism in Art.” Fruitpunch. October 18, 2016. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://fruitpunchmag.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/sex-sensuality-and-sin-fruit-symbolism-in-art/.

Kosloski, Philip. “5 Fruits in Art and Their Spiritual Symbolism.” Aleteia. July 20, 2017. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://aleteia.org/2017/07/20/5-fruits-in-art-and-their-spiritual-symbolism/.

Mazor, Esther L., “Symbolism as the Language of Millennials” (2018). Linguistics Senior Research Projects. 19.http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/linguistics_senior_projects/19

“Symbolism of 5 Fruits & Vegetables in Design.” Chez Pluie. February 1, 2017. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://www.chezpluie.com/blogs/news/symbolism-of-5-fruits-in-design.

 

Proposal #2

Written Description:

The exhibits at MoMA and MoMA PS1 change monthly every year and all of the exhibits that have been displayed are documented on the website. Although the collection of photos on the MoMA are really detailed and properly credits each artists’ work, I think that each year’s exhibit should be condensed into highlights and brief biographies of the artists who have exhibited work in that year on a zine. It would be a simple zine that people could buy at the bookstore at MoMA PS1 (right by the entrance) and MoMA (by the cafe on the second floor).

To gain inspiration, I looked at zines designed by Scandinavian furniture companies like HAY and photography based zines that also work as magazines. The simple contemporary designs of these zines fit well with the MoMA designs. I also looked at floor guides that already exist at MoMA and how they are designed to get a sense of the already established style that MoMA has in all their marketing products. I felt like these zines would be a good addition to the MoMA bookstore as it would act as a timestamp/snapshot of what that year at the MoMA was like.

Inside the zine, there would be photographs of the work and gallery with the viewers in it, short biographies of the artists and audience interaction in the last pages (photos of works taken by viewers found from various social media). These zines would contain photographs of a cumulative collection of artworks that viewers can take away and keep for their own collection.

Bibliography:

“Eleni Kalorkoti.” Mini Collage Zine – Eleni Kalorkoti. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://www.elenikalorkoti.com/Mini-Collage-Zine.

“Exhibition History | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/history?locale=en.

“HAY – Danish Inspired Furniture and Accessories for Modern Living.” Herman Miller. Accessed March 14, 2019. https://us.hay.com/homepage?lang=en_US&mrkgcl=1231&mrkgadid=3317372655&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg-qgtueB4QIVC47ICh1wvAm5EAAYASAAEgJrwPD_BwE.

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