Complete 10 page APA formatted essay: Italo calvino and Artist Thomas hirschorn both indicate an interest in open systems.Compare and account of this shared interest.Download file to see previous page

Complete 10 page APA formatted essay: Italo calvino and Artist Thomas hirschorn both indicate an interest in open systems.Compare and account of this shared interest.

For example there are the so-called "time-based media" of film, performance, dance and theatre which demand a particular kind of investment from the viewer, both in concentration and in the amount of time that is needed to experience them. However, as one study showed, the average amount of time that a viewer spends in front of a painting is about four seconds. Can this brief exposure to the work of art be compared to, for example the four hours that it takes to view The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Also, different kinds of Art involve contrasting investments of time from the artist. Thus a painting is an essentially solitary creation that may take many hours, days or even months to complete - all for that four seconds viewing time. The artist in this case is distilling a particular experience of vision of the world into a picture that will only be seen for a few seconds.

Paintings outside of museums will obviously be seen by their owners more often than this four seconds, but an image on wall becomes a part of their life, floating in and out of perception as the person goes about their life from day to day. Such a painting is constant work of art within the context of the viewer as compared to the temporary work found in the museum painting or even the longest film. One major question is whether the discrepancies of our experiences of time can be put down solely to the shortcomings of perception or whether it is the common, but incorrect, assumption that time is measurable that is the source of the confusion.

Thomas Hirschhorn has been a leader in exploring the relationship between time, perception and space within the work of art. Within the group of artists called Grapus he was concerned with politics and culture, displaying what were essentially impromptu posters, paintings and collages on the streets using both the form and language of advertising. This was Art that was not tied to a particular place, and thus which did not demand to be "looked at" in the way that a traditional painting is. His early works could (and often were) seen by people who were just casually walking down the street, not expecting to indulge in the heightened expectations of Art. This was art as a commonplace part of the environment, designed to take it away from the rarefied atmosphere of the art gallery or museum.

Leaving Grapus he moved to the hyper-saturated installations that he is known for today. These use a variety of common materials such as cardboard, duct tape, foil and plastic wrap. The use of common materials within art is hardly unique to Hirschhorn of course, but he manner in which he places his works of art outside of the gallery, making them site-specific implies a kind of double removal from the normal "time" and "place" of art. These works of art are thus open systems that are limited by neither time nor space.

He has commented upon his work in the following manner:

I do not want to invite or oblige viewers to become interactive with what I do. I do not want to activate the public. I want to give of myself to such a degree that viewers confronted with the work can take part

and become involved, but not as actors.