All posts by KPence

Quote 14

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“One equals one is an abstraction, but nobody is led to think that one fly equals one elephant.”

Many people have viewed art as something we may see as expensive and luxerious, such as paintings and sculptures. Growing up, we also believed that art was what we saw in museums and in public as statues and memorials. But, Gramsci had demonstrated that that was not the case. He believed that art should not just be for the wealthy but as well for the middle and lower class. He brought art to the Bronx, which is infamously known for their poor neighborhoods and crimes. He did what no other artists did and showed that art was a way to bring a community together and a way for artists to work together. He brought hope to artists in the Bronx that art was not just for the wealthy but that everybody had an opportunity to express themselves through paintings and drawings. The well known belief that art was just percieved as paintings and sculptures, thus that “one equals one is an abstraction”, was changed by Gramsci. He created art in a whole different way, such as painting on wood and having couches wrapped in duck tape. His creation led to a whole new idea of what art actually is. Now that we are in such a modern time, our perception of what the meaning of art is actually changes. Why can’t we believe that, “one fly equals one elephant?” Gramsci’s idea of art has helped brought the community together and led to special way for the community and artists to bond in the Bronx.

Emily Chiu

Quote #36

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alex photo II
“The content of art is art itself?” (Notebook 8)
 This quote relates to the picture in that to many, the two hoops would not appear to be art. Yet to some like myself, this may seem like art. Similar to what Thomas Hirschhorn said, he merely used that for the play and it had a meaning in the play itself. He wouldn’t expect everyone to see it as a life changing pice of art, simply as what it is. Being as how the monument was made of plywood, tape, and screws and nails, many art critics would proclaim it as not art, due to lacking in a grandiose aura. It is not a typical monument, as you can walk on it, and it doesn’t use the more well known materials to make it last for decades, merely for months.
 These two hoops are a common, everyday staple for many children and adults who play sports or go to playgrounds. They could be considered art pieces when talking of their shape, features, as they haven’t changed for decades. They are reproduced and are the norm for basketball players. However, even someone who has never played a sport in their life, would immediately recognize them as basketball hoops. Is that not what an artist strives for? To express his idea so most people would understand it?
 The two hoops each have one of the words, love or politics on them, as a symbol that you can’t have both. In a game, you are attacking on one hoop, and defending the other. I think the message here would be that in a profession, you would have to make sacrifices from one or the other, to advance in the other one.
Athanasios Alexiou

Quote 17

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“It is necessary to establish what is meant by “interesting” when talking about art.” This quote means that there is no set definition of the concept of the word interesting when it comes to art. Different people find different pieces of art to be interesting to them and they each have different definitions of the word interesting. The Gramsci Monument embodies this quotation as many would find the monument itself to be weird and obscure. Some might find it to be interestingly fascinating while others might find it to be an interesting attempt at art. The monument itself is interesting as it uses raw materials such as wood and duct tape to produce art as opposed to museum exhibits which have pretentious sculptures and paintings. Interesting can have both a positive and a negative connotation and it is important to establish what is meant by the word interesting when discussing art. The Gramsci Monument tries to break all limits and preconception that only specific people can create art and that only specific pieces can be considered as art. Overall I think that the the Gramsci Monument is interestingly fascinating as it attempts to create art with wood and duct tape and it tries to show that there are no boundaries in art.
Daniel Ahn

Quote #6

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If I had to insert a picture, I would put a picture of the Gramsci monument and people working inside.
The whole monument relates to the quote by Gramsci ” The dry twigs are indispensibile for making the log burn, but not in and of themselves. Only the log, by burning, changes the surrounding from cold to warm” in the sense that without action nothing changes. The quote relates to the start of a movement and the people who help, as the most important factors. Those people are the ones who can change things. The Gramsci monument, a collaboration of plywood, duct tape and other things, show how the artist, Thomas Hirschhorn, starts something and the residents nearby help finish or collaborate with him on the monument; either by helping out (volunteering/working) or by adding their own artwork. I would relate Thomas Hirschhorn as “dry twigs”, the residents as “the log”, and the whole monument as “burning”.
Kelly Ip

Art itself

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“Art itself is interesting: it is interesting in itself, in that it satisfies on of the necessities of life” (Notebook 5)

I found the Gramsci monument quite interesting, in the sense that it challenged the conventional idea of what a monument or what art is. It’s not everyday that you would witness a living monument. The Gramsci monument provided the people of Forest housing a place to interact and enjoy themselves. Some programs include art classes, poetry sessions, and Gramsci seminars. This monument satisfies the necessities of life for residents, both aesthetically and literally. The beautiful mural of Gramsci and graffiti fulfill the aesthetic part, and services like internet access and music playing cover the literal part.

Bell Chen

Quality

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Kyusub Kim

“Quality should be attributed to men, not to things.”
I don’t know what Gramsci thought about when writing this quote down in the Notebook. However, I strongly agree with this quote. Many people give qualities to an object, such as art work, sculptures, buildings, and more. I learned so many views to see this differently. People consider artists, sculptor, and architectures as people who creates high quality works. But, if people think opposite way, works with good quality is produced because it is made by people with good quality. So we could say objects are not the ones that have quality, it is the producer of that object who has the quality.
From the Gramsci Monument, I expected some kind of sculptures or statues, however, I saw wooden house-like structure. Also, it had graffiti all around the structure that holds some kind of quality. I could ask to myself, ‘why do you think these drawings have qualities?’. It is because artists who drew these drawings would have some kind of quality. So these drawings must have similar quality as the artists. Let’s think about the quote. “Quality should be attributed to men, not to things.” Well, I guess quality could be attributed to things because quality is in artists who created the “things”.
Kyusub Kim

 

Gramsci’s Politics

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Ramanpreet photo

Surprisingly, the Gramsci monument was made almost entirely of 2x4s and plywood – of some sort of thickness that I don’t quite remember – that seemed to hold far more than I thought. Of my own experience with carpentry, I would never in my aesthetic mind use plywood as the exterior especially because it is engineered wood designed to be a support cheap enough for one to use often. But because the artist did so, instead of following conventional ideals about art, Gramsci’s monument appealed more in that stripping the piece from visual pleasure highlighted the inner workings that fall behind what is supposed to be shown. Much like how a government represents its people, the monument stripped indirect representation and instead revealed the people.

“Gramsci discussed politics, but was not a politician.”

Ramanpreet Chand

 

Gramsci Monument

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wilsa photo

The fact that in essence this monument was created solely to be taken apart is an astounding thing in and of itself. As a marxist philosopher Gramsci was very interested in the lower societal classes and the benefits they may lack because of their position in society. Gramsci said in his fifth notebook that “ It is necessay to establish clearly what is meant by ‘interesting’ when talking about art.” This in a way extends not only to what in itself makes art interesting but also the idea of who gets to see it. Is art a luxury only suitable for the upper class? That question then leads to another question: Who is art made for? As forementioned in this paragraph this piece was created to be dismantled. From the day it was brought into being it was crafted with an expiration date. That thought leads me to another one of Gramsci’s quotes which says: “ Destruction is difficult; indeed, it is as difficult as creation.” (Notebook 6). The fact that this entire monument is made out of ply-wood (which in itself is not the most sturdy material to begin with) putting it together, architecturally speaking, must have been difficult enough. However, to dismantle this monument without breaking the pieces and ruining it, one must be extremely careful maybe even moreso than when it was being erected in the first place. That is why I chose the picture of the banister. Because it shows how even just this one part contains so many seperate pieces that all have to be dismantled very carefully so they are not broken.

Wilsa Albert

 

Quality should be attributed to men, not things

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jaimie photo

The entire monument was made out of plywood and ducktape, which are not exactly conventional materials to use for art. The monument wasn’t fancy or grand but the hard work that the artist put into the installment was obvious. Although the materials weren’t high quality, the piece itself was meaningful and effectively made a statement on the standards people in power place, such as what defines art as art, that some groups of people cannot meet. This was the standard most obviously criticized by the Gramsci monument because the monument wouldn’t normally fit under the higher qualifications placed on art, but it is still considered art. The location, in a poorer area of the south Bronx, strengthen’s the artists argument that poorer people deserve art in their lives even though they cannot afford more traditional pieces. The low quality of the monument’s materials put more focus on the artist’s, as well as Gramsci’s, personal qualities and beliefs instead of on the less important physical qualities of the piece.
Jaimie Gallagher

 

Quote 18

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Albert image

 “Art itself is interesting; it is interesting in itself, in that it satisfies one of the necessities of life”
I think most people see art as a luxury although it is actually much more. Art should be able to be enjoyed by everybody but in today’s society the less fortunate are unable to experience art. That is why the placement of this monument was so important. The monument is trying to show that everyone has the same right to experience art and this is a great opportunity for poorer people see things that normally only the rich would see. The actual parts of the monument such as the plywood and duct tape also prove this point. I think the usage of plywood and and duct tape inspire poorer people to create their own art by showing them how art can be created from anything and does not need to contain expensive materials. The monument gives people who may be jobless something to do in their free time and a chance to express themselves through art. I believe that this monument was a success by enlightening, encouraging, and inspiring the people who live in that area.
Albert Zalta