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Ba Hons Fine Art Dissertation Help
6 Answers
Hey,
Okay so I have my draft for my dissertation due in a few weeks and I have done a fair amount of research but I just don't know where to begin with actually writing....I don't even have a question yet so if anyone could help me out that with potential question ideas or where I should start that would be sooo great....
So I'm looking at two artists....firstly Andrea Fraser and her piece called men on the line (another piece of hers im looking is the pre run of the men on the line piece called projection) the second artist is Marina Abramovic and her piece rhythm 0.
Andre Fraser, Men on the line -
I was particularly drawn to this piece as she derived her transcript from a radio broadcast from 1972, In which four men discuss the feminist movement of the time. As she took on all four roles in her performance and although the performance and humor in this piece didn't derive so much from the gender transgression but from the cultural revolutions of the 60s and 70s to present day. The content of the discussion had much to do with the men struggling to empathize with women and women struggles but also to empathize with their own femininity and to connect with each other.
Its a fifty minute monologue in which Andrea has transcribed the audio, memorized it and then spent a lot of time with all four men to take them in. Throughout the performance she's not only trying to empathize with women but shes performing her own struggle to empathize with the men in that process. She states 'I'm always me, I'm not a man and i'm not performing them, I'm performing a relationship to them, as they're performing a relationship to women and each other'.
Her mother was involved in the womens movement of the early 1970s, which lead to the separation of her parents and her mother came out as a lesbian in 1972. Therefore she uses this transcript as a reflection of that, the men in the piece are her father, the men who were struggling with their partners becoming feminists and their struggle with how that redefined not only their relationships to women but also their relationship to themselves and to masculinity.
Im still continuing to do further research into this piece, but it's really driving me and i particularly like how she takes on the roles of these men and tries to empathize with their struggles of feminism at the time but following this her struggle and inability to empathize fully.
Marina Abramovic - Rhythm 0
As an artist and woman she has always claimed that she isn't a feminist, yet the majority if not all her work deals with feminist issues: gender inequality, womens sexuality, womens passivity vs mens aggression and the differences between male and female bodies and the differences societal attitudes towards those bodies.
In her perfomance piece Rhythm 0, Abramovic sat passively before a table laid out with 72 objects that the audience could use on her as they desired with no consequences. Throughout the performance audience members would cut off items off her clothing, paint her body and cut her skin. At the start of the performance the audience were quite reserved but they became more aggressive. They projected three images onto her body, one of Madonna, an image of a mother and finally an image of a ***. It was said that women did very little, but instead instructed the male audience members what to do. The use of the images is particularly interesting as they're strongly associated with how cultures often categorize women, the saint, the mother and as a temptress, sexually veracious and morally corrupt. The piece shows and demonstrates female passivity and male degradation and objectification to the female body.
My tutor isn't being particularly helpful and telling me to just go away and start writing...but im so stuck on where to begin...I've never had to write a dissertation before and im so clueless, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!!!! :)
Okay so I have my draft for my dissertation due in a few weeks and I have done a fair amount of research but I just don't know where to begin with actually writing....I don't even have a question yet so if anyone could help me out that with potential question ideas or where I should start that would be sooo great....
So I'm looking at two artists....firstly Andrea Fraser and her piece called men on the line (another piece of hers im looking is the pre run of the men on the line piece called projection) the second artist is Marina Abramovic and her piece rhythm 0.
Andre Fraser, Men on the line -
I was particularly drawn to this piece as she derived her transcript from a radio broadcast from 1972, In which four men discuss the feminist movement of the time. As she took on all four roles in her performance and although the performance and humor in this piece didn't derive so much from the gender transgression but from the cultural revolutions of the 60s and 70s to present day. The content of the discussion had much to do with the men struggling to empathize with women and women struggles but also to empathize with their own femininity and to connect with each other.
Its a fifty minute monologue in which Andrea has transcribed the audio, memorized it and then spent a lot of time with all four men to take them in. Throughout the performance she's not only trying to empathize with women but shes performing her own struggle to empathize with the men in that process. She states 'I'm always me, I'm not a man and i'm not performing them, I'm performing a relationship to them, as they're performing a relationship to women and each other'.
Her mother was involved in the womens movement of the early 1970s, which lead to the separation of her parents and her mother came out as a lesbian in 1972. Therefore she uses this transcript as a reflection of that, the men in the piece are her father, the men who were struggling with their partners becoming feminists and their struggle with how that redefined not only their relationships to women but also their relationship to themselves and to masculinity.
Im still continuing to do further research into this piece, but it's really driving me and i particularly like how she takes on the roles of these men and tries to empathize with their struggles of feminism at the time but following this her struggle and inability to empathize fully.
Marina Abramovic - Rhythm 0
As an artist and woman she has always claimed that she isn't a feminist, yet the majority if not all her work deals with feminist issues: gender inequality, womens sexuality, womens passivity vs mens aggression and the differences between male and female bodies and the differences societal attitudes towards those bodies.
In her perfomance piece Rhythm 0, Abramovic sat passively before a table laid out with 72 objects that the audience could use on her as they desired with no consequences. Throughout the performance audience members would cut off items off her clothing, paint her body and cut her skin. At the start of the performance the audience were quite reserved but they became more aggressive. They projected three images onto her body, one of Madonna, an image of a mother and finally an image of a ***. It was said that women did very little, but instead instructed the male audience members what to do. The use of the images is particularly interesting as they're strongly associated with how cultures often categorize women, the saint, the mother and as a temptress, sexually veracious and morally corrupt. The piece shows and demonstrates female passivity and male degradation and objectification to the female body.
My tutor isn't being particularly helpful and telling me to just go away and start writing...but im so stuck on where to begin...I've never had to write a dissertation before and im so clueless, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!!!! :)
Answers
1 to 6 of 6
Izzie; To get the ball rolling, why not try to forget that you are writing a dissertation
16:10 Mon 02nd Nov 2015
they read okay to me, but I'm no authority on what dissertations should look like - can you read others at your library to see how others have tackled the introductions?
Once you've found how to star it, the rest will become much easier! But you may need to find some way to end them too. Worry about that later.
NB
which lead to the separation of her parents
- that should be "led". Don't just rely on spellchecks, which can't tell the difference between words like that.
Once you've found how to star it, the rest will become much easier! But you may need to find some way to end them too. Worry about that later.
NB
which lead to the separation of her parents
- that should be "led". Don't just rely on spellchecks, which can't tell the difference between words like that.
Fine art was never my subject for the several dissertations I have written but generally I would approach this as you would an essay. Firstly your title...seems obvious but once that is decided then the rest may follow a tad more easily. Then the intro should lay down the intention of the rest of your work (which should end in a conclusion for the last chapter)So why have you chosen these 2 artists to study and why the specific pieces of work that they have done. Write about each separately and then you will see haw you can bring them together...eg similarities, differences..... whatever you are attempting to prove and how you intend to prove/ discuss the theories/you have formulated and where you will go for source material..books you may read, people you may ask.... any questionnaires??? This should cover most of wht is required in the introduction. I am not sure how long this piece of work has to be. ....my last was 25,000 words and I found it hard to keep it to that. good luck with it. Don't panic it will fall into place once you stop panicking .. honest!
There does seem to be an awful lot of advice available on the net...
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Izzie; To get the ball rolling, why not try to forget that you are writing a dissertation, and instead begin as if you were writing to a friend you hadn't seen for a while and they wanted to know what you were involved with at the moment.
You begin with telling her who they are and what first attracted you to these artists, explain to her some of their works and why you think this is important. You might have some reservations about certain aspects of what they have said or done, you might say what you find challenging about this, and so on and so on. Before you know it you'll be writing your dissertation, which can be edited over later. The important thing is to get writing, as your tutor has said. Good luck!
P.S. I taught Fine Art, B.A. Hons. and post-grad for 30+ years.
You begin with telling her who they are and what first attracted you to these artists, explain to her some of their works and why you think this is important. You might have some reservations about certain aspects of what they have said or done, you might say what you find challenging about this, and so on and so on. Before you know it you'll be writing your dissertation, which can be edited over later. The important thing is to get writing, as your tutor has said. Good luck!
P.S. I taught Fine Art, B.A. Hons. and post-grad for 30+ years.
1 to 6 of 6
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