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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

 

Mind Over Matter

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Chun Li photo II

“Quality should be attributed to men, not to things.”

 As I walked along the monument, I could see that the creation was not created with perfection (but then again, what defines perfection?) in mind. The usage of weak wood and tape to create a structure was quite interesting however it looked rather unstable and far from physical perfection. From my eyes, the creation seemed more like a blank canvas that accentuates the qualities of men and allows people to express themselves. This is shown by the “graffiti” and other things being hanged up among the structure. It is a part of the community and seems to represent the mindset of the community rather than just being a structure that insists upon itself. It is adapting yet primal and makes me stray from the common materialistic thoughts that modern society has implanted among me. Even the writings among the structure urges the importance of human quality. Within the picture, it says to live life and read a book. These words stresses the idea of quality of the person and not quality of things. The pictures of the Resident of the Day also gives the impression that the monument is more of a physical manifestation of the idea that the quality of a person is worth more than the quality or material goods.
 When thinking further into it, the fact that the structure will be broken apart further relates to the quote. In the end, the quality of the “thing”(the structure) doesn’t matter, however the ideals that the structures represented are sowed into the people who have been enlightened by this monument.
 Chun Li

 

Art, morality, and philosophy

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Max Cohen picture“Art, morality, and philosophy “serve” politics,; that is, they are “implicated” in politics, they may be reduced to a moment of it but not vice versa: politics destroys art, philosophy, morality.” (Notebook 4)
 I thought this wall was interesting because it highlighted the parts of life that Gramsci either was interested in or believed was important. The most interesting thing though is that there is no panel for politics. This directly relates to the quote, in which Gramsci believes that politics destroys art, philosophy, and morality. When the creator of the Gramsci Monument, Thomas Hirschhorn, spoke of Occupy Wallstreet protesters feeling some sort  of partnership between themselves and him, he said it with a humorously amused tone. The idea that their political movement was somehow related to his art piece was silly to him, because as Gramsci believed, politics has no place in art, and even destroys it.
Maximilian Cohen

Graffitti=Art

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Kyle gramsci monument

I felt that the artist’s choice to include graffiti from local artists was significant because it helped to showcase the culture whose home is the Bronx: Hip-Hop and graffiti. A Gramsci quote comes to mind,”Art itself is interesting; it is interesting in itself, in that it satisfies one of the necessities of life”. The people of the South Bronx, living in an economically disparaged and socially marginalized area, used art (more specifically graffiti) as an expression of this necessity that Gramsci speaks of. There seems to exist some inherent drive in humans to create and/or mold objects and colors and materials in our environment. Living within an “under-privileged” social class didn’t stop the Bronxites from creating their own culture from the dust and ashes of a forgotten urban landscape, a culture which is now one of the most influential in terms of contemporary art and music.-Kyle Henson

 

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