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Mandy Morrison: What influenced your decision to create (performative) work that would interact in a public sphere? |
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Stephanie Rothenberg – Mandy Morrison
Mandy Morrison: What influenced your decision to create (performative) work that would interact in a public sphere?
Stephanie Rothenberg: As an art director for major corporations during New York’s Silicon Alley heyday of the 90s, I became obsessed with time management. In tearing myself away from the financial fruits of the CyberCorp spectacle, my art practice became a critique of how systemization affects contemporary life. I am interested in the unusual things people do to interrupt streamlining—devising their own efficiency strategies that might deviate from what they can buy at the Sharper Image. In one outdoor project, I use a dowsing rod to “divine data mine” biometric information and then convert the information into a musical note using a simple physics equation. Reading about Taylor’s theory of Scientific Management in conjunction with Walter Benjamin’s ideas about the poetry that emerges from the cultural detritus of everyday life, I use the urban landscape as my inspiration.
MM: Audiences tend to be both fascinated by as well as intimidated by confrontational work. What benefits does the viewer derive from this experience and how do you think this can affect a larger politic?
SR: As a colleague of Steve Kurtz (University at Buffalo professor and member of the art collective Critical Art Ensemble), I have been privy to the implications of what it means to create confrontational and controversial work. Initially threatened with bio-terrorism charges for his non-threatening artistic practice, Kurtz and his collaborator, scientist Robert Ferrell, now face potential charges for mail and wire fraud that could lead to up to a 20-year sentence for each man. The Orwellian case has generated much publicity in the art world, scientific community and general public. Because of this publicity, the work of Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) and the issues surrounding the FBI’s attempt to censor it are, ironically, permeating a broader audience than ever, fulfilling CAE’s mission—of exposing misleading public information through artistic means.
MM: What types of performances or experiences have been the most provocative and meaningful to you personally (or in the case of a group,
collectively)? Why?
SR: One of my favorite projects is by REPOhistory, the “Lower Manhattan Sign Project.” Over 40 artists worked together to create incredibly illuminating street signs throughout lower Manhattan that exposed the hidden histories of the area. Suzanne Lacy organized a similar “guerilla” project in the 90s called Full Circle that created much controversy in the city of Chicago. In the middle of the night, cherry pickers using flatbed trucks placed 100 half-ton rock monuments throughout the downtown loop of Chicago. The monuments acknowledged the contributions of Chicago women in a metropolitan city that had no major monuments dedicated to women. These critical projects were significant in facilitating a dialogue around the mediation of public information—an issue of utmost importance today.
MM: Do you think that American culture as a whole has become more passive regarding the political issues affecting them or merely preoccupied?
SR: If you look at the decline in Bush’s ratings, it feels as though the voting public is beginning to voice their political concerns. The situation at home and abroad has become so dire that everyone is being affected in one way or another, whether it’s the NSA wiretaps or the price of gasoline. Aside from the governing party that continues to assure us that we are on the right track, it has become difficult to live in denial of all this oppression. You have “housewives” such as Cindy Sheehan and celebrities such as George Clooney out on the streets trying to effect change and shaking up public perception.
MM: Do you think that contemporary artists (and the art community as a whole) generally veer towards certain types of practices for reasons of fashion, conviction or economics?
SR: Art comments on the current cultural zeitgeist that is an amalgam of fashion, conviction, economics and politics. It’s a complex relationship that is also responding to former artistic histories. The current availability of consumer locative media devices is creating a revival of Situationist-style psychogeography art. Some psychogeography projects are self-referential while others are more directly politically motivated. China is emerging as the next “potential” superpower, and as a result contemporary Chinese art is all the rage. At times, the art world can be a bit impenetrable if your work doesn’t directly address the latest art world discourses. I feel the challenge for all artists is to be constantly engaged in a critical dialogue that encourages us to pause and reflect on the here and now.
Brief bio:
Stephanie Rothenberg is an interdisciplinary artist merging performance and technology. Her work with the collective PAN-O-MATIC has been exhibited in media festivals and galleries in the US and abroad. She is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Projects can be viewed at www.pan-o-matic.com
