Martha Rosler
Beginning with her first works in the late sixties, Martha Rosler’s art has been distinguished for its political and ideological commitment. For more than twenty-five years the artist refused to enter the commercial gallery system-in which her debut dates to 1993-preferring instead alternative spaces and entrusting the diffusion of her ideas to the numerous writings she has published.
After an initial production of large paintings influenced by Abstract Expressionism, she worked on assemblages of found objects, constructing small environments with everyday items. Her rejection of a traditional medium like painting coincided with her moving from New York to San Diego in 1968. Here in the university community she found the conditions that helped to develop her artistic interests as well as her political and social commitment. In particular, the rise of the Feminist movement during those years constituted an ideal context for the formation and development of the issues and themes found in Rosler’s artistic research.
In contrasting the canons of Modernism in the course of her career, the artist discarded the myth of stylistic unity, practicing instead the most varied artistic expressions, including performance, video, and photography. Her writings are also of particular importance, manifesting a strong critical approach with regards to traditional artistic expressions.
Rosler belongs to the first generation of video artists. The novelty of the technology allowed her to freely experiment with a medium that was still immune to the pressure of the commercial galleries or museums. At the same time, the immediacy of video is an effective response to the pervasive power of media images, and television in particular.
Coherent with feminist ideology, Rosler often places herself and her body in front of the camera, impersonating different types of women. Rather than being autobiographical, her investigation uses details of daily life in order to analyze more demanding social problems.
By shunning metaphors, Rosler in fact maintains a close contact with what is real, with an approach that is at times ironic or intentionally didactic. A constant element of her video production has been her voice with its unmistakable Brooklyn accent, purposely included to declare her identity, race, sex, and social class as a retort to the dangers of the cultural leveling her work has often investigated.
An analogous intention can be found in her photographic works that together with her writings have contributed to the revision of the concept of documentary photography, questioning ways of production, presentation, and reception. [M.B.]
List of Works
A Budding Gourmet, 1974
video, black and white, sound, 17 min. 45 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The artist impersonates a middle-class American woman who wants to learn how to cook in a refined way for her husband and children. Shots of the woman are alternated with images of succulent food and people dying of hunger while the artist’s voice flatly continues to praise the positive aspects of culinary ability.
Super-8 Shorts, 1974
transferred from Super 8 film, color, silent, 14 min. 50 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Backyard Economy I, 1974
transferred from Super 8 film, color, silent, 3 min. 26 sec.
Backyard Economy II (Diane Germain Mowing), 1974
transferred from Super 8 film, color, silent, 6 min. 32 sec.
Flower Fields, 1974
transferred from Super 8 film, color, silent, 3 min. 40 sec.
In the form of short amateur films set in home gardens, the images document the domestic activities of a young mother filmed in a typically suburban context.
Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975
video, black and white, sound, 6 min. 09 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Framed by a fixed camera, the artist recites the alphabet that she illustrates by holding ordinary kitchen utensils. The objects chosen soon prove dangerous and are wielded in such a way as to accentuate their potential as weapons.
Losing: A Conversation With The Parents, 1977
video, color, sound, 18 min. 39 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Produced in the form of a television interview with two young parents who lost their daughter to anorexia, the video faces the theme of illness brought on by social and cultural pressures.
The East Is Red, the West Is Bending, 1977
video, color, sound, 19 min. 57 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
In her kitchen, the artist reads the presentation booklet of an electric wok-the typical Chinese frying pan-thus transforming herself into an improbable television demonstrator and expounding the incongruities of the text she is reciting.
Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained, 1977
video, color, sound, 39 min. 20 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The video presents the artist undergoing a pseudo-medical exam, which consists in measuring various parts of her body. The exam involves the gradual undressing of the woman’s body, subjected to a humiliating situation of control. The video continues with a sequence of images and a text illustrating a long series of crimes against women.
Domination and the Everyday, 1978
video, color, sound, 32 min. 07 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The video’s soundtrack is dominated by the voices of a mother, her small son, and a radio interview. The mother and son are busy with their daily routine, whereas the person interviewed talks about the contemporary art system. Images from the artist’s family album are juxtaposed with fragments of reality as given by the press. By avoiding a narrative structure this work is a sort of self-portrait of Rosler, woman, artist, and mother.
Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure, 1980
video, color, sound, 12 min. 20 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The video is the artist’s contribution to a group exhibition of the same title. In presenting images of the San Francisco Mission District, Rosler reflects on the encounter of different cultures and social classes inside an urban area.
Martha Rosler Reads “Vogue”, 1982
video, color, sound, 25 min. 45 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
As stated in the title, the artist presents herself while flipping through the well-known monthly fashion magazine, deconstructing its significance and objectives. The video is the recording of the live event broadcast by the New York-based cable channel Paper Tiger Television.
A Simple Case for Torture, or How to Sleep at Night, 1983
video, color, sound, 61 min. 46 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
This video faces the horror of torture, implicating the press as an agent of disinformation. The work also alludes to the close political dealings between the United States and those countries that carry out torture.
If It’s Too Bad To Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION, 1985
video, color, sound, 16 min. 26 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
In the form of a reportage, the artist shows the contradictions contained in the information broadcast by television. Conflicting news, the impossibility of piecing together a coherent story, and the progressive separation and consequent estrangement from reality are all made more evident by sound and visual disturbances intentionally included on the tape.