Event 1: Making Strange: Gagawaka + Postmortem by Vivan Sundaram

Making Strange was a great exhibition in the Fowler Museum that pertains to one of the main themes of the course, expanding the mediums of art. Vivan Sundaram uses various materials to produce dress wear, but the materials that are being used are not the same material that one would typically think of. She does not use expensive threads and fabrics to produce these articles of clothing, but she uses materials such as foam, balls and sponges to create these interesting articles of clothing. Items that are used for different tasks and functions are redefined within her work to be looked under one perspective, fashion. Therefore what we see is no longer how much fun a bouncy ball can be or how sponges are meant to absorb and clean things. Rather we see these objects and their functions as mediums used for fashion to recreate loud and interesting pieces.

One of my favorite pieces was what seems to be a head piece made out of bright pink and yellow bouncy balls. I thought it was interesting how the regular spherical shape of the balls were also recreated to form a spherical head piece which was also aesthetically pleasing.

Throughout the course we have learned how certain scientific functions and products have been recreated to become art pieces.  For example, the albino bunny was created through the injection of acqura victoria, a protein found in fluorescent jellyfish, to make the bunny glow in the dark. Eduardo Kac’s then argued that this bunny had become an art piece. Here we see how even living creates are being redefined.