Teaching @Large: an exploration of ‘freedom’ - part 3, Contemporary Art Practice

On the second day of the lesson, I once again warned students that I’d be talking at them for the first half of class, then we’d get into more art-making. And now, I actually started discussing Ai Weiwei and his process as a contemporary artist.

I gave them a little slide presentation (adapted from a slide presentation I gave with Susan Wolf, who has quite a bit to say about her own experience with Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz):

I talked about the definition of Contemporary Art (with the help of a photo I took of a slide from Julia Marshall used in a presentation to educators at the Contemporary Jewish Museum) - about how artists like Ai Weiwei use don’t limit themselves to one medium, but use whatever tools they feel will best help them investigate a subject. That the art is a process of inquiry. It’s playful. It’s critical.

When China had a devastating earthquake Ai Weiwei first used documentary film-making to figure out why so many children died. He has since used backpacks on the side of a building and continues to use Twitter and Instagram to explore that topic.

We looked at pictures from the @ Large exhibit and talked about the importance of context for the meaning of the art. The led into the final part of the assignment: finishing and installing the art.