Art 21: Change

Information from the teacher resource guide

Today
v Today as you guys work I will be playing a

documenatry from PBS on Change and various artist.

v Before I begin please think about the following:

v Can artists, works of art, or writers, and works of

literature provoke change or transform our way of

thinking?

v Why would artists, writers, and others choose to

collaborate? What are the benefits and drawbacks of

collaboration?

v How are transformations of people, places, and things

documentd?

Change:
v http://www.pbs.org/art21/films/art-in-the-twenty-

first-century-season-6-2012

Ok so now that it is over

v Describe your thoughts, questions, and reactions to the

work of the artist in this segment.

v Why has each of these artists chosen his or her

particular subject? What do these subjects

communicate to the viewer?
v How does collaboation with others affect each artist in

this episode?
v What kinds of transformation are being depicted in

this episode?

Ai Weiwei
v Weiwei is an outspoken human rights activist. He was

arrested by Chinese authorities in April 2011 and held

incommunicado for three months.
v He infuses his sculptures, photographs, and public

artworks with political conviction, using historic

Chinese art forms in critical examinations of
contemporary Chinese political and social issues.

v What types of imagery and symbols does Ai work

with? Why do you think he chooses these images and

symbols?
v How does Ai view his role as an artist?
v How does Ai serve as a teacher and a political activist

through his artistic practice?

El Anatsui
v Lives and works in Nsukka, Nigeria and born in

Ghana.
v BA from the University of Science and Technology,

Kumasi, Ghana
v Many of his sculptues are mutable in form, conceived

to be so free and flexible that they can be shaped in

any way and altered in appearance for each
instaallation

v What kind of things did Anatsui and his assistants do

to transform the materials they worked with?

v How does Anatsui allow chance to occur?
v How does Anatsuis work convey a sense of narrative

or storytelling? What stories can you read from the

work?

Catherine Opie
v Born in Ohio and lives and works in Los Angeles,

California
v Opie investigates the ways in which photographs

document and give voice to social phenomena in

America today.

v Describe Opies style of portraiture? What is

important to her?
v What motivates Opie to make photographs about

people and the landscape?

v What are the qualities that hold your attention in

Opies photographs?