Extra Credit Event 2: Jeanine Oleson

For my second extra credit blog I visited Jeanine Oleson’s exhibit at the Hammer Museum. Her art exhibit is open from May 6^th to August 6^th 2017. Oleson as an artist is interested in the problem of labor. The language and gender of artists from her generation is unstable. Oleson is infatuated with certain materials like copper, clay, transmission, and conduction and their transformation through process.

            The name of her exhibition is Conduct Matters. Oleson is interested in copper itself as an elemental material of great mystery and also a product of late capitalism’s enterprise. The video displayed in the exhibit hints on how late capitalism has isolated workers and disconnected them from nature and the land.

            I am going to give the description of both my interpretations from the exhibit and then the explanation of what it is really about. My interpretation of the exhibit is completely different from the real meaning behind the exhibit. I understood what all of the art pieces were within the exhibit, but had no idea how they related to each other and what they were trying to convey. When I entered the room is was completely dark except for a spotlight over the textile carpet on the center of the room. Because the carpet was under a spotlight I knew that it had to be of major importance. There was also one other spotlight in the room that was focused on a clay speaker. The carpet and clay speaker were the main pieces lit, making them noticeable focal points. Another primary aspect of the exhibit was a video that was played across one of the walls. I knew that the video was important too because it was one of the main displays in the room. I figured the video would allude to what the exhibit was all about, which I know it in fact, does. However, I was not able to distinguish exactly what the video was trying to portray to the viewers.

The carpet as the center piece and the video playing in the background 

In the beginning of the video what I am assuming to be Jeanine herself and three other women are all sitting in a cave talking. They were all wearing white robes and some sort of headpiece that wrapped around their ears maybe to help amplify the sound within the cave? The sounds they were making while in the cave were bizarre. It was as if they couldn’t talk or produce normal sentences or even real words. They then moseyed their way out of the cave and the next scene of the video. Next the women were in a different outfit, but all matching again standing on a sand dune. They were all holding what looked to be a black carpet or blanket over their head allowing it to blow in the gusty wind. In a later scene of the video the carpet and copper that was displayed on the exhibit was seen in the video. In this scene three of the women were on top of a building with the copper wire placed under the carpet. On top of another building near by was the other woman. She stood on the other building watching the three ladies through binoculars. These are the main scenes that I remember from video from my perspective. I was not able to comprehend the true significance of the video.

After reading excerpts from a pamphlet on Jeanine Oleson’s exhibit I was able to better understand the significance behind her exhibit. The installation of the exhibit incorporates the video, a textile on the floor, a television screen, and a clay speaker, all connected through copper wires. The clay speaker is a material representation of conduction and the abstraction of sound from the body through material. What the video really depicted was four characters exploring caves, refineries, the power grid of a city, and an open-pit mine that was a site of workers’ protest. My evaluation of the video was somewhat similar because I mentioned they explored caves and maybe the buildings they were on were in the city with the power grid? The main centerpiece of the gallery, like I predicted was the carpet in the middle of the room. It is considered to be an abstract textile, which was a digitally designed and handmade rug. All of these objects are used to characterize reinvent labor and make it concrete and visible: reification/thingification. The ladies in the video used their bodies and hands to interact with copper in various forms, drawing a direct relationship between human labor and production.

Textile Carpet/Rug

The Clay Speaker

Copper wire was embedded into the TV screen's class

Copper wire running from the wall to the Clay Speaker

This exhibition was something I would most not attend on my free time, so therefore I would not personally recommend it to my classmates. However people have different taste so some might enjoy it. I enjoyed the Hammer museum altogether but was not able to connect with this particular exhibit. Even though I do not prefer this exhibition, I still have respect the artist and her work. My dislike does not discredit her work in any way and I just might not have the artistic intellectual ability to grasp such a thing.

• (All of the photos are mine)
• Attended the event on Tuesday, May 23rd 2017