Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Síða 24

Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Síða 24
24 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 3 — 2012 WHAT IS A WORK OF ART REALLY WORTH? Opinion | Mikael Lind Art | Interview Margo Dooney will be part of a group exhibit at the SÍM Gallery on March 29. For more details visit margodooney.com. What is the condition of being a teenage girl in Iceland today? It is a heavy question with no singular, simple answer, nor has it ever been in any given time or place. Finding some of the answers has been the lofty goal of American artist Margo Dooney, who is doing a SÍM Resi- dency in Iceland. Margo, a 24-year old New York City resident, has spent the past two months documenting ten local girls from vari- ous walks of life between the ages of 15–19. She describes this as a period when one is on the cusp of becoming a woman, rapidly developing both emo- tionally and intellectually. She has gone about this by immersing herself in their worlds, living vicariously through them in a sense. “The participants have been so warm and welcoming, sharing their lives with me,” Margo says. “The pro- cess follows more or less the same pattern; I go to their home, sometimes meet parents and siblings, get a tour of the house, photograph the girls, their rooms, and their favourite possessions, followed by a discussion where I ask what it means to be a teenage girl in Iceland. The answers are limitless.” HERSTORY 101 The idea for the project actually came from a distant spark that spread like a wildfire: an outsider’s perception of Icelandic hetero-mating dynamics, in particular the visible aggressiveness of females versus males. Wondering if there is indeed an imbalance, Margo began to do her research—speaking with female professors she knew and reading about women’s issues and his- tory. “Icelandic women have an incred- ible history,” she says, “Over the past century, they've made remarkable progress. If I had grown up in a place like Iceland, where it's possible for a woman (and a gay woman!) to hold a political office, how would I have de- veloped differently? How would those crucial developmental teen years have changed?” Using this question as a launch pad, she found a clear concept for a complex topic. Of course one may wonder: why Ice- land? “Well, I’m here,” Margo answers candidly. However, the location did play an important role in the inception of the project, Iceland not only being a hos- pitable environment for it, but a crucial element. “If I wasn't here, this project wouldn't be happening, since it’s coun- try specific, historically and culturally,” she continues. “It's all very admirable, especially to someone like myself, since my home seems so far from being this progressive. And the girls I've met with are both very aware of and proud of this progression, but it's second nature to them. It's all they know.” FEARING THE F-WORD This pride and awareness of their his- tory has also transcended their political psyche, with a strong realisation that all is not won yet. “What I found interest- ing is that when asked about teen life as a girl here, they immediately wanted to talk about the freedoms of women,” says Margo, “how fortunate they are to have this sense of 'social freedom with- out judgement' as girls in Iceland. The other issue that surprisingly comes up with the handful I've met is the idea of gender equality and inequality in both political and social realms. They're feel- ing some sort of an imbalance, and they want to level it.” She points out that there is a sense of respect for mothers and the impor- tance of women within the family struc- ture, but also their strong distaste for the wage gap, turning some of them off from the idea of work entirely. Regardless of their seemingly in- trinsic ideologies, labelling one’s desire for equality is still mighty unpopular. “Obviously this is a sensitive subject,” Margo concedes. “They're not running around calling themselves 'feminists' as they believe it would only gather nega- tive connotations, thus standing in the way of what they're striving for—gen- der equality, but they are educating themselves, encouraging conversation about their concerns with teachers and classmates, both male and female, and I think that empowers them—to have a sense of community, and an under- standing of what they are feeling.” WHAT IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO Margo says that the ultimate goal of her project is to comprehensively docu- ment them and pick up all the artefacts of who they are. The end-result will be put together in a multimedia installa- tion incorporating still and moving im- ages, sounds, text, music. Additionally, she is reconstructing an amalgamation of their bedrooms into her studio space, where one can take part in the immer- sive experience. So what does it feel like for a girl? The answer is obvious: it’s different for everyone. “I've only met a clip of them, a small handful that doesn't fully rep- resent or speak for the entire teen girl population here,” she says, “but from who I've spoken with, these are a very hopeful group of young women. Not just for Iceland, but for everywhere.” What It Feels Like Margo Dooney delves into the life of the modern Icelandic girl REBECCA LOUDER MARGO DOONEY According to Greek mythology, King Midas of Phrygia was given the power to transform everything he touched to gold. As the Austrian writer Ernst Fischer points out, capital- ism on the other hand turned everything into commodities. This mode of thinking has been openly ventilated in the recent discussions about the so called “artist salary” (“listamannalaun”) in Iceland. Every year, a certain number of artists (this year 217 out of 639 applicants) re- ceive a government-funded stipend on the condition that they meet certain re- quirements, such as giving a good pre- sentation of their work and conducting future projects. Those who receive the support are given the opportunity to fur- ther develop their craft, and thus enrich the culture in different ways. This artist salary is an object of harsh criticism every year, and since pub- lic debates have more and more been taking place on the internet, it is easy to follow people’s reactions. One com- mon expression of disapproval is based on the claim that those artists who have to receive support from the government to practice their art are pitiful creatures who lack a serious relationship to the “real” world (i.e. the world of the market economy). If they were talented enough to create something that people wanted to consume, they would not need any support from the government. In the eyes of these critics, the market place is the rightful judge—the consumers pay for the art that they like and those art- ists who are not popular enough should stick to writing books, painting or mak- ing music as a hobby, and preferably find another job, or try to work harder at selling their products. People who defend the artist salary, on the other hand, point out that the creative sectors involved are a big part of the economy, creating many jobs and in the long run result in financial gain. The discussions on forums and blogs are often about financial matters and more rarely about the value of art itself; whether a good piece of art can be valu- able even if it doesn’t sell. The value of, say, a football player is more obvious. People’s opinions may differ slightly in those matters, but there’s not much hid- den there that may be discovered later. In the arts, however, things are differ- ent. Van Gogh starved and committed suicide at the age of 37, selling only two works during his lifetime during which he made more than 2.000 works. Kafka enjoyed almost no success during his lifetime. Bach was in his days not pri- marily admired for his compositions but for his skills as an organist. Cultural critic Walter Benjamin argued that art creates demand, which has yet to be ful- filled; appreciation for the work does not necessarily have to manifest itself at the time of its creation. So, what is the purpose of trying to keep the art world independent from the most brutal form of market philosophy? I asked visual artist and art critic Jón B. K. Ransu—who recently released a book about modern Icelandic art from a theo- retical perspective—what he thought. “When the art market begins to oper- ate as conglomerates producing works themselves after a certain formula for the consumption of art,” Jón says, “we are certainly losing something pre- cious from the art. And art is certainly destined for decay if intended solely as a commercial product.” We can find a parallel in journalism. Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman showed in their book ‘Manufacturing Consent’ how the media in the U.S. often fails to be a criti- cal voice if their coverage threatens the economic, social, and political agendas of their owners. If we want our literature, visual art, design, music and theatre works to be more than simply manifestations of the current trends in society, and if we want a creative scene that not only gives peo- ple what they want, but also challenges current modes of thought and common opinions, then it is important to realize that the value of artistic creations is a much more complex phenomenon than can ever be measured solely in eco- nomic profitability calculations. As Jón B.K. Ransu says, art satisfies a certain spiritual thirst in mankind to relate itself in different ways to the environment, the society, our bodies, etc. “Through art we look with a critical eye upon our own culture and at the same time enjoy its fruits.” If art is reduced to only be- ing something safe, brief and instantly entertaining, it loses much of its cre- ative and experimental powers. There are thus many factors in the world of art and its relation to society as a whole that can’t be estimated in money. When reading many of the comments circulat- ing on the internet, one can’t but find it regrettable that so much energy is used discussing only the brute economic per- spective of art and culture.

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