Writing 3

Writing 3: Witnessing Each Other 

In his article Affective Composition and Aesthetics: On Dissolving the Audience and Facilitating the Mob, Stevphen Shukaitis presents the concept of affective composition. Shukaitis believes that in order for political speech to cause affective resonance, conditions must exist for the audience to be able to identify with the speaker as well as possess a capacity to affect and be affected (p.2). Through affective composition a connection is made between the art and the audience  by displaying the feelings and experiences of the audience that are related to political and social issues. This connection creates a space of commonality and makes the emergence of new relations and interactions possible. Shukaitis discusses that affective composition in relation to aesthetic politics has become an issue over the years because the availability of public and common space has decreased due to the increase in commercialized advertisements that are being displayed in these public and common spaces. He states that the increasingly drastic commercialization of public space, corporate domination of media outlets, and tendency towards fear-mongering in all areas of life have created a culture in which immense flows of information and data are available, but there are precious few public spheres in which this data can resonate (p.2). After reading the article and understanding the concept of affective composition, I reflected on different art pieces reflecting political and social issues. Many of the ones I’ve seen were during my art classes at U of A. I can recall discussing the image and the impact it had on the issue it was representing at that time. I can recall seeing murals in my city that represented the Black Lives Matter movement. In my opinion, the aesthetics of political art can be very powerful and can have an emotional effect on the audience whether they agree with it or not. I agree with Shukaitis that we are seeing less of this type of art because the displays are now more advertising products and because I feel that artist may be afraid to display political art. It may be controversial, and some may not want the backlash of those that may not agree with the message.

The video Projections featured art by Krzysztof Wodiczko. Wodiczko is an artist that would project his art on large buildings all over the world. His work was representative of a political or social issue. His aesthetic politics was a direct connection to Shukaitis concept of affective composition. Wodiczko used his projected art to send a political message in a public and common space while allowing the audience to connect with the message through a feeling and/or personal experience. In the article, Shukaitis states that the creation of affective spaces and possibilities, the common spaces and moments that underlie and make possible intensive forms of politics, is not ( and never can be) something that happens once and is finished, but is an ongoing task of the self-institution of the radical imagination (p.6). This describes what Wodiczko accomplished through his projected art. One of  his most famous projected artworks was in September 1990 when he projected Exodus 1990 on a nameless hotel in Jerusalem. It represented the controversial immigration of the Soviet Jewish to Israel. The Israelis called it Exodus 90 recalling the biblical Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The building was very tall with two blank spaces on each side. On one side he projected a hand holding a suitcase and a passport. On the other side, It was a hand holding a staph like a shepherd. Wodiczko’s Exodus 90 and other projected artwork are an example of Shukaitis concept of affective composition and how it can be used to bring attention to political and social issues and connect the audience to the message through political art.