Instruction Based Art
At Do It, the aim of the event is to make visitors obey instructions left by artists. The artists hope that the viewers experience something different whilst also having fun. Instruction based art is the idea of performing or completing an artists work and this is an ongoing exhibition which took place in Manchester. It originally started in 1993 in a Paris cafe during a conversation. The whole aim of instruction based art is to have fun. I think the concept is fascinating because of how its limitless and can be anything. For example, it can be as random as "invite a stranger into your house for breakfast" or "use a bicycle to squeeze lemons". This emphasises its randomness which I believe is what makes it interesting as you will never understand what it will ask from you. I am curious about how the artist records this form of art as it is a form of live art. Does the artist record it through a video or are the props left behind considered the art? I think the most appealing part of this sort of art is how interactive it is for the viewers.
Can an idea be a work of art?
Yes because art isn't limited to physical pieces of work and can be expressed through multiple different forms. The whole point of art is the idea and most people like to express this idea through physical or digital pieces, however, this doesn't mean that art is only limited to these forms of expression.
Is good art always skillful?
No because art is more about the idea then how skillful it is. For example, a piece of art that required a lot of skill but doesn't have any meaning isn't a good piece of art in my eyes. However, a piece of art that has been thought out well and executed easily doesn't make it bad since the most important aspect of art is the idea and how its represented. If the easy method does a good job of reflecting the artists idea then its more likely to turn out to be a good piece of art in the end.
If you don't make works of art can you be an artist?
Yes because any unique idea that you have come up with can be considered art, even something as simple as making a meal can be considered art since its your meal that you have thought about and created yourself which is what being an artist is truly about.
Why might artists ask other people to make work for them?
This could be because some artists aim to showcase how humans think and react to certain situations. This could be why artists would ask other people to make the art for them since that would get the authentic results of how people react to instructions.
What makes an instruction interesting?
Instructions are interesting because when you are following an instruction you can follow it by however you vision it. This makes instructions interesting as everyone will see the instruction differently and in the end you would get slightly different outcomes for the same instruction.
Does the photographer always have to be the one who presses the shutter?
Not at all. The photographer is the person who visions how the photo will be taken and is the one who sets up the photo but doesn't necessarily have to be the one taking the actual photo.
Yes because art isn't limited to physical pieces of work and can be expressed through multiple different forms. The whole point of art is the idea and most people like to express this idea through physical or digital pieces, however, this doesn't mean that art is only limited to these forms of expression.
Is good art always skillful?
No because art is more about the idea then how skillful it is. For example, a piece of art that required a lot of skill but doesn't have any meaning isn't a good piece of art in my eyes. However, a piece of art that has been thought out well and executed easily doesn't make it bad since the most important aspect of art is the idea and how its represented. If the easy method does a good job of reflecting the artists idea then its more likely to turn out to be a good piece of art in the end.
If you don't make works of art can you be an artist?
Yes because any unique idea that you have come up with can be considered art, even something as simple as making a meal can be considered art since its your meal that you have thought about and created yourself which is what being an artist is truly about.
Why might artists ask other people to make work for them?
This could be because some artists aim to showcase how humans think and react to certain situations. This could be why artists would ask other people to make the art for them since that would get the authentic results of how people react to instructions.
What makes an instruction interesting?
Instructions are interesting because when you are following an instruction you can follow it by however you vision it. This makes instructions interesting as everyone will see the instruction differently and in the end you would get slightly different outcomes for the same instruction.
Does the photographer always have to be the one who presses the shutter?
Not at all. The photographer is the person who visions how the photo will be taken and is the one who sets up the photo but doesn't necessarily have to be the one taking the actual photo.
My attempt at Instruction Based Art
These are my attempts at Instruction Based Art that me and my partner created. We both gave each other a phrase that we had to capture through our photos. After capturing the photos we printed them off and mounted them on the floor to contrast our desaturated photos with the bright orange floor. My phrase was "Learning Wall" and I attempted to capture this by making someone lean against a wall whilst writing to reflect my phrase. On the other hand, my partners phrase was "Man-Made" and he decided to capture that by photographing computers as they are one of humans greatest creations. We then formatted our work in different ways to create some interesting sequences. Overall, I was satisfied with the outcome of our photos and I believe the strongest part of our sequence was how we used the orange floor to contrast with our colourless photos. In the future, I believe that we could improve on making more appealing titles.
John Baldessari
John is an American conceptual artist known for his photography and bizarre imagery. He is highly ambiguous but also very bored as he creates his work through his boredom. He started off as a painter but then took an interest in photography. He tries to make the image as crazy as possible whilst also keeping it somewhat realistic and believable.
He does this to make the viewer question how did these end up in the same place. For example, John says that if you put a chair and a table together that people will see it and think its no big deal and go to the next image whilst if you put a table and a shark together then the viewer will try to find a reason for that shark being with the table. This is what makes his work effective as he aims to make all his photos a topic for discussion and to keep the viewer thinking. He aims to make all of his work perfect in his eyes. |
John Baldessari's Assignment #10 Task
I think I have created interesting photos because a lot of my photos were taken from a low angle making it an extreme foreshortened photo. I did enjoy the project because I was taking photos that were out of my comfort zone. I did find the project difficult because I haven't experimented with taking extreme foreshortened photos before so this task was something new to me. You are able to follow instructions and still make interesting photos since instructions don't fully limit you since everyone is just going to follow it by how they think its meant to be followed so everyone will get slightly different results in the end.
John Baldessari's Assignment #10 Task - Attempt 2
This is my second attempt at this assignment where we had to "photograph the back of things, underneath of things, extreme foreshortenings, uncharacteristic views. or trace them" which I feel like I have successfully followed. I feel like I have created interesting photos because I have captured the back of certain objects in order to show an uncharacteristic view of it. I did enjoy this project because I was able to reattempt this assignment which enabled me to improve my initial photos. I didn't find the project difficult on my second attempt because I had already analysed my previous attempt so that I would have an idea of how to tackle this assignment this time around. This led to my photos being more effective since I already knew what I needed to focus on to capture more successful photos.
My Most Successful Photos
This was my most successful photograph because I was able to capture reflections of the person in my photo and it also followed the instruction of capturing the back of something, in this case that would be the back of a person. I also like how the person is being framed by the edges of the window and how their back is nearly blacked out and all that is left is a silhouette of a man. |
I also believe that this was one of my successful photos because of how the man is reflected onto the shattered mirror. This is uncharacteristic because you wouldn't expect someone to capture a man through a mirror that is shattered because they would look distorted. I liked this photo because of how you are barely able to tell who is in the mirror. I found the mirror broken and thought how this was out of the ordinary which is how I came up with this photo. |
This photo was successful because I was able to capture the hallway from an uncharacteristic view which was the aim of the task. This photo shows an uncharacteristic view of a hallway because half of the image is the hallway whilst the other half is the staircase. I also like how you are unable to see the end of the hallway because of the bright light. |
I thought this photo was successful because it was the back of a thorn branch. I captured this branch as a macro photo because I wanted to capture all the individual thorns. This photo is taken from such a close perspective which is unusual for me because I rarely take macro shots. I really like this photo because of how the colour of the branch stands out from the background. |
I felt like this was one of my most successful photos because it captured the back of the cone which was one of the task requirements. The cone was also captured from an uncharacteristic view since at first hand it is difficult to tell what was captured in the photo. This photo is different from my usual photos because it is taken from such a strange angle however, it works for this task as it captures the cone from an uncharacteristic view. |
Paul strand photo shoot:
Photography Card Game
This is a set of cards that I made for photography using my own photos and Adobe Photoshop. The game you are meant to play with these cards is 21 and the loser has to take a photo based off an instruction. I decided to make a card game because I knew how to make the cards and box. I am satisfied with the outcome of my game since I feel like it is easy to play and is presented well.