FORM:
Considering there are no quotation marks or commas or periods, how does Antin make it so clear when he speaking to the audience, when he’s speaking to a person in one of his anecdotes, and when that person is speaking back to him? In other words, how does he alert the audience to shifts in voice?
Similarly, how does he manage shifts in context, focus, and framing point of view? For example, how do we know when he’s explaining concepts and when he’s describing an anecdote? Or when he’s speaking “now” and when he’s “remembering”?
CONTENT:
What does Antin mean by framing?
What do pop art, traffic issues, sound/silence, and mathematically obsessed guys have to do with framing? (feel free to tackle this question one at a time)
FORM AND CONTENT:
Is there a relationship between Antin’s mode of delivery and the question of framing? If so, what is the nature of this relationship?
Framing- what I understand this to be is context. Context is important in any situation. It means you have an understanding of past and present factors that influence actions or behaviors. There usually is a reason for behavior, even if we do not understand it at the time. We may never understand it.
For example, when the woman was driving like a maniac, she could have been late for work or driving to the hospital. Maybe she was upset over something- her husband and her got into an argument. Or maybe she’s just a terrible driver. I’m assuming she must not be that horrible if she had her driver’s license. So she was distracted by something, and we can continue guessing what that distraction was but there’s no way to know unless we were able to ask her.
What is and is not considered art in a museum is another situation where framing is important. Perhaps whoever is in charge of the museum wants to focus the exhibits on one medium over another because of how they were educated. Or perhaps they feel that there have been enough exhibits focusing on photography and they want their museum to focus just on paintings to give those artists a chance to shine. Maybe the person funding the museum does not like photography for whatever reason. We really do not know the details, but we should have an understanding that the decision of whatever art is and is not allowed in the museum was not a random decision. It was discussed and the decision was formed on some type of context we may or may not be aware of.
Thank you for these discussion questions, Will. I think it is interesting to discuss the “context, focus, and framing pov” as well. After spending time reviewing the close of Antin’s performance in class, I see how both his focus and framing create a very successful argument. For example, the electron hole is the lack of an electron where scientists expected one to be. Instead of equating absence with failure, it is viewed as a discovery of something else. Perhaps the absence of form, or punctuation, is as important as the presence of it. The discovery of a form by attempting to not define one. The flexibility of his conclusion allows for such speculation! -Amanda