Missed Articles

Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss By ERICA GOODE; 2000

This essay reviews the research of Dr. Dunning a professor at Cornell University whose hypothesis is that people who believe they are not good at something usually tend to do better than the people who think they are at the top of their game.

Does self confidence help the less able to achieve more?

Could the lack of confidence be the eminent downfall of the "genius?"

Rumsfeld's Unkown Known, or Iraq's Initiation into Democratic Practice by Slavoj Zizek

This compares american torture to Iraqi Torture. In Zizeks opinion, American torture is far more dangerous than Iraqi torture because of its nature. He regards it as being a spectacle that defends itself; while Iraqi torture is unaimed brutality. Guilt is relieved from America by ignorance.

Is the violence of Iraqs militant groups not a spectacle?

Is America not guilty or concerned about it's militaries violence?

"Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics" by Claire Bishop

Bourriaurd, the founder of Relational Aesthetics, is criticised by Claire Bishop. Bishop claims that the works of Thomas Hirschom and Santiago Sierra are more apt to fit the criteria of relational aesthetics because of their political nature. They are less open ended than the works Bourriaurd Identifies. He picks out Liam Gillick and Rirkrit Tiravanija as artists to be the poster children for Relational Aesthetics.

Nicolas Bourriaurd is a writer and a gallery owner, how does this effect the validity of his choice?

"The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes; 1977

Roland Barthes brings up an interesting discussion that exists in Literature about the role of an authors biography in relation to the interpretation of a work. When reading a piece of literature one may consider the personal background of an Author in relation to the content of a work and thus an affecting the existence and interpretation of a work. Barthes criticises the value of this interpretation and asks us to step back and consider works first and authors second if at all.

Would Barthes consider the works of famous the famous author Yukio Mishimi to be more or less with the element of personal biography introduced? (Yukio commited seppeku in the 70s after writing and staring a role that depicted it.)

Can you ever really seperate the author from the work and receive a full understanding of an artwork?

"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin; 1936

Walter Bejamins essay is relevant til today because of his accurate description of the revolution of reproduction. He starts by addressing basic printmaking techniques all the way up to lithography, which he quickly dismisses an mentions the quick progression that photography made at the begining of the industrial revolution. Then he goes on to talk about Film and about the experience of viewing a film. He mentions that the previous "aura" that the viewing of an art object projected is lost, but replaced by films ability to transform you to another place.

Was Walter Benjamin the first to coin the saying "life feels like a movie?"

Would Walter Benjamin agree with me that Aristotle had a similar thought about the catharsis of a play as related to his idea of a "transformation of location" when watching a film.