FRO Fall 2017 Section DTJ

Hey everyone! These last couple of weeks have been super hectic for me. But fortunately this Sunday I had some time to myself and got to visit the Whitney Museum. I’ll admit it, I am a sucker for art. I haven’t been to the Whitney for some time, so I was excited to see the new installations and exhibits. Since I had no idea what was on display, I was in for a big surprise. I’m sure that many of you know about this iconic museum, however for a brief overview, The Whitney Museum was founded in 1931 by art patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (hence, the name).  It sits at the very end Manhattan’s High Line, making it a huge tourist attraction for anyone that visits. But aside from its’ great balcony views, the Whitney is filled with gems of history from artists around the world and their deep and enriching works. Even if modern art isn’t your taste, a place like the Whitney is a must-see for anyone stopping in the Meatpacking District.

So let’s start my journey! To be honest, I had absolutely no idea with floor to start on. So I’d thought I’d just work my way from the bottom to the top. Thankfully when I arrived to the Whitney, it was barely even crowded. The perfect opportunity to analyze art without masses of people.

I’ve always been a bit judgemental modern art and its’ scheme of making viewers over analyze it. Sometimes you find the most absolutely craziest things on display in museums. A blank canvas could be displayed in the MoMa but it would apparently have some deep background. I arrived to the 5th floor, entirely devoted to the work of a Brazilian artist named Helio Oiticica. Oiticica is one of the most notable artists of the 20th century for his style of which forces the viewer to engage with some of his works. I was absolutely mind boggled of the installations done by the Whitney for these pieces. I walked bare-feet in sand in order to examine his large-scale work called Eden. Eden takes you into a world where one can engage with your own senses. For example, small tents for relaxation, bins filled with books, palm trees everywhere, even a tent to bathe in. It  felt like I was in Lord of the Flies. I was trapped on island as I walked through the pieces, with no touch of reality. It gave me these euphoria of inner peace which truly achieved the main premise of this work.It makes you almost want to sit down and stay there forever.

Then I ventured off the other parts of the floor where I discovered even more simulations by Oiticica. I was lured into a room with a rhythmical drums that could be heard in the distance and a screening of traditional Samba dancers of Brazil. For those of you who might not know what Samba is, it’s a popular genre of Brazilian music with heavy African origin, most notable for its’ fast rhythmical beats. However in this installation, the viewer was encouraged to wear parangolés, or the traditional Samba fabrics worn by dancers. The word is slang in Brazilian for a confusing or aggravating situation. But Oiticica again encouraged the viewer to participate in wearing the garments. So of course, I took the opportunity.

 

In this case, these fabrics are meant to be a bit confusing for the viewer at first, hence the origin of the name. I noticed the variations of the fabrics, some had abstract words or symbols. After doing some research, I came to learn later on that these layers of the clothing could be only visible if the Samba dancer was dancing. Hence, it became an outlet for those to give subliminal political messages to audiences. Nice work, Brazil.

After that, I somehow ended up laying on a hammock in a pitch black room as Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” played in the background. I found that later on that Oiticica was a huge fan of Hendrix and much of the rock music from the 60s and 70s. It most notable had a big impact on his work in which he integrated the music into these large scale pieces. For what reason? I don’t even know. I highly doubt it was for any artistic reason, but for the fact that it’s really good music. However, I assumed that this type of music was used not just because of the time being, but since it was the pinnacle of avant-garde music, or in simpler terms, psychedelic. Musicians began to give a new sound to rock n’ roll by experimentation with instruments and a bunch other things that I don’t need to explain. That being said, perhaps the breakthrough of this new type of music seemed to resonate with Oiticica’s unusual artwork, therefore being the perfect thing to play in the background. Ultimately, It gave me nostalgia to an era I was never a part of.

Finally, I’m so excited to tell you about my favorite part of the exhibition, the Incomplete History of Protest. From 1940 to the present, the exhibition displays powerful work influenced by from various times of turmoil and political change. It makes you realize how powerful art is. People may not realize this but art is a universal thing that we can all interpret. Way back when it was common for people to be illiterate, art was the universal language so that anyone could understand it.  Who said you can’t make a political statement without words or actions?  So if you guys want to know a little more about me, I am very passionate about being politically active. I marched this past week in order to raise awareness for the DACA ban. In case you don’t know, Trump has pushed to revoke DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program created during the Obama era to allow Dreamers who had entered this country illegally at a young age not threatened for deportation. As a Latina and daughter of immigrants, I’m very passionate about this issue, along with many others that affect my community. However, I like to consider myself an activist not for just my community, but as an inter sectional activist, for any person I believe deserves justice at large. That’s pretty much my whole liberal spiel.  As for the art I saw, I was able to embark on a journey of different civil rights movements. From feminism to the AIDS epidemic, I was able to see authentic work of artists bringing light to these issues through their pieces.

I felt like a little kid in a candy store except I was wandering and looking at all these political statements that were so important for their time. It’s quite empowering, to think that there was someone years ago trying to enforce change like what you’re doing now In this day and age with our ever-so polarizing country, I’m glad that exhibits like this one are shedding light to underlying issues in our country. Also, that we as a society can look back on our problematic history to make ourselves aware of our mistakes. And to hopefully not to make them again.

In short, I had a great time at the Whitney. It’s refreshing to do things on your own once in a while and to be able to admire the things that the human mind has given birth to. This was definitely the most fun I had visiting the Whitney, it makes me want to create a museum solely to interactive art because it’s truly so exciting. With that, I’m excited to read your posts and experiences! Thanks for reading, I’ll see you all soon!

-Tiana Ruiz

On Thursday September 7th I attended a UNICEF@Baruch club meeting. At first I was skeptical about joining a club that I knew little to nothing about, but as soon as I walked into the room, I was greeted by the club president Emre. He explained to me how he too was skeptical when joining UNICEF@Baruch. After introducing himself to everyone Emre explained to us what UNICEF@Baruch is really all about. He told us that we as college students can play an extremely important role in protecting the rights of children around the globe. Just a few of the amazing things UNICEF does to aid children around the globe; they provide for children who normally can’t provide for themselves by giving them everyday  household essentials that we take for granted, they provide them with education, and they treat children to the equality they deserve. At Baruch we can assist by raising awareness, advocating, and fundraising for UNICEF. This club is assisting me in my first semester at Baruch by broadening my horizons and teaching me that not every person I run into in the world will be as privileged as I am, and have been brought up the same way I was. For me, a typical hardship of life is my phone dying, but for some children in the world it can be as extreme as walking 10 kilometers to the nearest clean body of water. I am glad I attended the UNICEF@Baruch club meeting.

On thursday, I mustered up enough courage to join a club, which is something that’s typically out of my comfort zone. I was nervous because I figured most of these people were already familiar with each other and had a set foundation for how everything was run, but I knew that if i wanted to get to know people in a new school I’d have to reach out. I chose G.L.A.S.S, the gender love and sexuality spectrum club, because I knew going into it that it meant a lot to me and would give me a safe space to not feel out of place and to feel comfortable and embraced. This would be  a club that would allow me to represent myself and certain people in my life, and not only would I be educated on the struggles of the LGBTQ community, but I could share all of that knowledge with others, and help them to understand what our community stands for. When I was heading over, I was so anxious that I contemplated not going at all, but I knew that if I avoided that opportunity then and there, that I’d probably just avoid it completely. I missed my train so I was 25 minutes late to the first meeting, but even though i walked in late and was super clumsy and awkward – later becoming the center of attention, I was greeted with smiles, and I knew that this was an understanding group of people. The people who helped run the club all introduced themselves and we played a series of icebreakers to get to know each other, and my nerves had gone down because I was genuinely enjoying myself. Within that hour and a half, I knew I had made a choice that was going to going to make my time in college more exciting and comfortable than I had expected. 

 

Isaac Sued                                                                             My Experience at the MoMAOn Friday September 8, I went to the Museum of Modern art. It was a little crowded but I dealt with it, I enjoyed how clean and modern everything was even the coat check looked nice. I saw art pieces from a variety of different artist like Van Gogh, Dali, and Andy Warhol, those were basically the only artist I knew. I’m not such an art guy. As I was walking through the museum I realized that anything really; can be art and if some random guy can make a couple of floating chairs connected to metal beam be art that is worth tens of thousands of dollars why can’t I. Then I said to myself that this art piece wasn’t this guy’s first piece of art he must’ve worked himself up in the art community or worked really hard to get himself where he is now, so that really made me think that if you want to be successful it’s on you working hard and its on you getting your stuff done no one else is going to do it for you. There was something else that also got my attention, there was this area which I thought was for kids, but wasn’t it was an area for people to be their own little artist. There was Legos, blocks, clay, putty, everything you can think of, I think the museum wanted people to get influenced and inspired from all the art pieces you’ve seen throughout the museum and then come to these little stations to build whatever you please. The picture above is me with a helicopter that was floating in the middle of the museum witch I thought was very cool. As I walked out I saw I line and at the end of the line there was a lady that worked at the museum handing out tickets for free, I came in from the other entrance not knowing tickets were free, I had to buy my ticket.

A couple of weeks ago, my family had the opportunity to make a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately I was busy, so I didn’t get the chance to go with them. However, when I found out I could attend an exhibition offered at a New York City museum for my first-year seminar blog post, I realized that gave me the perfect chance to go the Museum of Modern Art and see what I missed. On Wednesday, September 6, after finishing my two morning classes of the day at school, I took the 6 train to the 51 Street subway station, and walked a couple of blocks to the Museum of Modern Art.

When I got to the Museum of Modern Art, I first had to wait like fifteen minutes on a really long line just to check in my bag. That was definitely not the highlight of my day. Anyways, after I was finished checking in my bag, I got to go upstairs and explore the museum. Naturally, because the museum was very big with a lot of floors, there was a lot of art I was able to see. My favorite piece of art would have to have been the sculpture “Canyon,” which was located in the Robert Rauschenberg exhibit. Rauschenberg’s “Canyon” was a sculpture of a stuffed eagle sticking out of a canvas. I thought it looked cool and Rauschenberg did a good job with it. Another piece I liked, which I can’t quite remember the name of, was one where two artists made their own separate pieces of art, and just combined them together to form one thing. I think that shows unity among people which I think is a great thing. My visit to the Museum of Modern Art was very nice, and I definitely won’t pass up the chance to go the next time I’m asked.

On September 11, 2017, i attended the national museum of Mathematics. After arriving, i began to examine many of the exhibits. The museum itself has two floors, filled with roughly 25 exhibits. The exhibits were cool, attractive, and meaningful,  they are also very interactive for both kids and adults. At first i went to where it shows number lines. In this exhibit it explains in simplicity why number lines are important and how they are used in mathematics. There was also an interactive game that allowed you to run onto a pad with a number line on it, in this game you can run across the number line as numbers appear on a screen, you are given points for how many you can run to in the given time. Another exhibit featured at this museum was the history of Pythagorean theorem. In this exhibit it explained the importance of Pythagorean theorem and how its used in mathematics. The interactive part of the exhibit was that there were three triangles, two of the smaller ones can be filled up with the same blocks as it takes to fill the one larger one. i found this one really interesting because it shows how triangles relate to one another and how important that really is. In all, this museum experience was interesting and meaningful. i learned several things about math while also using my student card to get a discount. (although in the book on page 14 it says i could have gotten in for free, it was 11$ with the discount)

 

 

I think I’ve always been someone that recognizes the value of life and the promise of future. I have always felt that having the chance to live your own life and be happy is a basic human right and that it’s something everyone should be able to enjoy. This is a large contributing factor to why today I signed up to join the “To Write Love On Her Arms” club. The club spreads suicide awareness and promotes prevention and it seems like it’s going to be a good group for me because I will hopefully be able to make a difference in the world regarding this major problem. When I signed up it was a fun atmosphere with people smiling and handing out food and info. It definitely got me excited to be a part of the club!

Me and math don’t really get along all that well. I think this started in middle school when my teacher began using a website called DeltaMath. On DeltaMath it didn’t matter how close you were to the answer, if you weren’t right on the money you didn’t get credit. In retrospect I understand why it worked that way, but at the time it was the bane of my existence. So with all that in mind, the Idea of going to the National Museum Of Math didn’t really peak my interest, but after finding out how close it was to Baruch my love of convenience outweighed my hatred of math, and I was on my way. When I walked in I was pleasantly surprised to find that this museum wasn’t glorifying the kind of math that I had come to despise, instead it was highlighting all the cool things that can be accomplished with math. There were puzzles, mazes, and a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t initially expect to find in a museum of math. Something that stood out to me was this activity where you had to use a program to design a shape, and the shapes that people liked would be 3D printed and put on display. Sadly, my skill didn’t really match my enthusiasm when it came to that activity and while I planned on making an intricate and cool shape I ended up making a virtual snowball. Another cool thing they had was a programmable cannon, pointed at a basketball hoop. It was the job of the visitor to set the velocity and angle of the cannon, then load up a basketball and hope for the best. While this was one of the more complicated attractions of the museum it became clear after a few successes in a row that it was pretty difficult to miss the hoop when using the cannon. Overall the Museum of Math was a pretty good time, and as sappy as this sounds I think that it showed me the cool side of math when up until that point I only chose to see the boring side.
– Michael Jones