what is art and who decides?

The audience decides.

No matter what object is presented, it is up to the audience to define and categorize it. Art is whatever its viewer decides to call it. After this course, I have changed half of my answer to this question. At first, I had said that art was expression and that the audience determines that it is art. After everything we’ve talked about, I no longer believe that art always has to be an expression of some kind. "That s not what I meant at all" T.S. Elliot.

since the audio is such a bugger, here's the reflection in writing for now...

Very often in our early educational careers, we are made to compare and contrast various nouns. The dominant vehicle for this exercise is the Venn Diagram. So, when asked to create two textual artifacts that compare two nouns, I couldn't resist the urge to employ the aforementioned visual organizer.
Like the sphere containing their attributes, Modernism and Postmodernism can easily be deemed cyclical, without a determinable beginning or end. They exist to defy a conventional linear structure of art history. The two ideas are undoubtedly interdependent, which makes the use of overlapping circles especially appropriate.
Because the diagram Venn is instantly recognizable by anybody with an elementary American education, its contents are eaily read and understood by many. The effectiveness of this piece is due to it's simplicity and the audience's familiarity with it's structure of information distribution.

Responding to Modernism

A modernist would define art using word like: "new" "innovative" "bold" "revolutionary". The modernist artist is always reinventing itself, desperately trying to be the one to change the accepted view on what art is; constantly in search of new definitions, new directions, and new ideas. The modernist seems to be in search of greatness, to be forever remembered in art history as the one who was the first to do (blank). The goal of the modernist is to provoke an aesthetic experience from the audience, but to do so by strict originality rather than imitation or collage (a means a postmodernist most likely explore).

in response to Elliot

It seems to me that as the poem goes on, it becomes more reflective. Is Elliot looking back at his life here? Certainly he is wondering if what he's done has been worthwhile. He also spends a lot of time writing about intent and worrying that his audience will not understand as he had intended. He writes, "That is not what I meant at all. That is not it at all." This could be the author expressing that his work has been misinterpreted. More interestingly it could be the voice of God, expressing his discontent for man's reasoning as to the meaning of life.

Osymyso song

this is what i got...


Hey jude
Tainted love
Houndog
Bohemian rapsody
Oops I did it again
Tell u wat I want
Eye of the tiger
Burnin down the house
Come on Ilene
Don’t u want me
Diana ross
Pink panther song
Please please tel me now
Sweet dreams
You really got me now
sweet child o mine
Barbie girl
My name is
Team spirit stayin alive
My generation
The end

appropriate

I can speak to the issue of appropriateness specifically here at Wissahickon High School. While Alfred and I were working on our "jam mural" in the display case, we were approached by the administration. Apparently they were under the impression that we had drawn a very large part of the male anatomy. It was in fact a specific concentration of energy known as "hyperbeam". But because it was a ball of energy with a tail following it, it was taken the wrong way. We (Alfred and I) were taken completely off guard because our intent was never to draw large phallic figures. And after we were approached and told to change what we had done we started worrying about drawing things that were appropriate. This contradicted the goal of our endeavor which was to draw whatever came to mind without thinking much about it. The entire experience was very awkward because it was so ridiculous. Something we drew that was truly a depiction of an innocent remembrance of our childhood (our obsession with Pokemon) was taken completely the wrong way. Not only that, but we were forced to change it.

Above I have posted a picture of gyarados, and our jampiece. the "questionable" material can be seen on the left of the picture, covered up in red sharpie.

response to post modernism textbook

I really like the way this book is set up. Being a comic geek, I can really appreciate how much you can learn through the medium of cartoons and text. This book is very much geared to me as a visual learner. Or at least someone who benefits greatly from visual and textual information complementing each other. I opened to part two: the genealogy of postmodern theory. I was interested in the text regarding ideas and language and the study of the relationship betweenthe two. (56)