Sonya Rapoport
Encyclopedia
Visual arts of the United States
American art encompasses the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement,...
conceptual
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
/digital artist and New media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
artist who has created computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
-assisted interactive installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
and participatory web-based
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
artworks.
Early life
Sonya (née Goldberg) was born on October 6, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Brookline, MassachusettsBrookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
. There, she regularly attended Saturday classes at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts where she studied with Karl Zerbe
Karl Zerbe
Karl Zerbe was a German-born American painter.The works of Karl Zerbe are significant because they record "the response of a distinguished artist of basically European sensibility to the physical and cultural scene of the New World".-Biography :Karl Zerbe was born in Berlin, Germany.The family...
. She spent her childhood summers at the art colony
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
in Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
.
Education
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
) for two years from 1941 to 1942 and during this period she met Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport was an internationally renowned organic chemist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He is widely recognized for his work in the development of the chemical synthesis of biologically important compounds and pharmaceuticals.Henry Rapoport obtained a...
while he was a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
Candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1942 she was enrolled in a summer philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
program taught by John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. She then returned to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and studied at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
from 1943 to 1944, majoring in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
.
She married Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport was an internationally renowned organic chemist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He is widely recognized for his work in the development of the chemical synthesis of biologically important compounds and pharmaceuticals.Henry Rapoport obtained a...
in 1944 and the couple moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Sonya Rapoport enrolled at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and, in 1946, received her B.A.
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Labor Economics
Labour economics
Labor economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the market for labor. Labor markets function through the interaction of workers and employers...
. She then attended the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
where she studied with Reginald Marsh
Reginald Marsh (artist)
Reginald Marsh was an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Crowded Coney Island beach scenes, popular entertainments such as vaudeville and burlesque, women, and jobless men on the Bowery are subjects that reappear...
. In September 1946 the couple moved again, this time to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where Rapoport entered the Corcoran School of Art
Corcoran College of Art and Design
The Corcoran College of Art and Design, , founded in 1890, is the only professional college of art and design in Washington, DC, located in the Downtown area. The school is a private institution in association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art.The Corcoran Gallery of Art is Washington's first and...
to study figurative art
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
and oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
.
In late September, 1947, Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport
Henry Rapoport was an internationally renowned organic chemist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He is widely recognized for his work in the development of the chemical synthesis of biologically important compounds and pharmaceuticals.Henry Rapoport obtained a...
accepted a position as professor of organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. There Sonya Rapoport studied with Erle Loran, receiving her master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in art practice in 1949. The Berkeley art practice curriculum at that time was heavily influenced by the aesthetic philosophy
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
of Hans Hofmann
Hans Hofmann
Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.-Biography:Hofmann was born in Weißenburg, Bavaria on March 21, 1880, the son of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann. When he was six he moved with his family to Munich...
, although the school produced artists as divergent in their practices as, Rapoport, Jay DeFeo
Jay DeFeo
Jay DeFeo was a visual artist associated with the Beat generation who worked c.1950-1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area....
and Sam Francis
Sam Francis
Samuel Lewis Francis was an American painter and printmaker.-Early life:...
.
Artistic evolution
Rapoport's work in the late 1940s explored the human figure in abstracted form. In the 1950s her painting practice shifted, displaying Abstract expressionistAbstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
influences while abandoning figuration
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
. While developing her ABEX style, she experimented in watercolors. These joint practices culminated in two solo exhibitions; one at the East West Gallery in San Francisco in 1958, and the other at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a fine art museum in San Francisco, California...
in 1963. In the mid-1960s, inspired by reading her husband's scientific journals, she began to assemble different canvases into unified works. In these artworks, she incorporated scientific illustrations, graphic forms, and three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
abstract expressionist constructions. These canvases were juxtaposed according to Rapoport's personal aesthetic. About these works, Dean Wallace wrote, "Sonya Rapoport [is] now tacking together canvases of different expressionist tendencies into a single unit; a work like "Psyche Trio" gives a strange almost schizophrenic feeling. Odd that no one has thought of using this device before.
In the late 1960s, Rapoport helped to found the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
"Pattern painting
Pattern and Decoration
Pattern and Decoration was an art movement situated in the United States from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. The movement has sometimes been referred to as "P&D" or as The New Decorativeness.The movement was championed by the gallery owner Holly Solomon....
" movement which she defined as, "buying kinky fabrics and painting out shapes."
1970s
The 1970s saw a sea change in Rapoport's artistic vision. In 1971 she purchased an antique architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
's desk, inside of which she discovered a series of geological survey
Geological survey
The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information....
charts on linen paper from 1905. She used these charts as a background for her "pictorial language of shapes". This language consisted of shapes that represented gender symbols, for instance the uterus
Uterus
The uterus or womb is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of most mammals including humans. One end, the cervix, opens into the vagina, while the other is connected to one or both fallopian tubes, depending on the species...
, a mandarin orange
Mandarin orange
The orange, also known as the ' or mandarine , is a small citrus tree with fruit resembling other oranges. Mandarin oranges are usually eaten plain or in fruit salads...
(fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
), cue
Cue stick
A cue stick , is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the...
holder (udders), fleur-de-lis
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
(fetus), the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, etc. and which she collected in a "Pandora's Box
Pandora's box
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation around line 60 of Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora , which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item...
". These symbols were used again and again in Rapoport's work during this period.
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
. Computer printouts took the place of the "Survey Charts". In 1977 she exhibited mixed-media works on computer printouts at the Union Gallery at San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
. In these years Rapoport's artworks focused on the representation of overlap between language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, symbols, stories from the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, and cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
. She worked with C. Michael Lederer at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, on a project entitled "The Table of Isotopes" in 1977 which dealt with the transformation of Cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
and Mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
into Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. Working with the anthropologist Dorothy Washburn in 1978 Rapoport completed "A Shoe-In" held at Berkeley Computer Systems; "Shoe-Field" at Media Gallery in San Francisco, "Interaction: Art and Science" at the Truman Gallery in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and "Aesthetic Response" at the Peabody Museum
Peabody Museum
The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is among the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh, the early paleontologist...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
1980s
From 1979 to 1984 Rapoport worked on her largest project to date, entitled Objects On My Dresser. This project unfolded in eleven successive phases. Rapoport began by making personal, visually based, free-associative connections in which images of the twenty-nine objects on her dresser were correlated with twenty-nine other random images. Her associations varied from formal to cultural to psychological. Later, she developed interactive installations and magazine polls which required that each of the fifty-eight objects be grouped into one of six themes: (HandHand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...
, Chest
Chest
The chest is a part of the anatomy of humans and various other animals. It is sometimes referred to as the thorax or the bosom.-Chest anatomy - Humans and other hominids:...
, Eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
, Mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
ing, Thread
Thread
Thread may refer to:*Thread , a kind of thin yarn used for sewing*Thread , a sequence of instructions that may execute in parallel with each other*Thread , a spore in the science fiction novels Dragonriders of Pern...
ing, and Moving
Locomotor system
Locomotor system may mean:* Animal locomotion system* Human musculoskeletal system, also known simply as "the locomotor system"...
) by people working in three respective fields: artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s, and attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s. Rapoport plotted the subsequent data to find that the three separate groups made significantly different choices when they categorized the visual objects into the six themes. Lawyers tended to classify the objects similarly to their peers, choosing the same categories for similar objects, while the artists and scientists both displayed broader associative connections when placing the objects into categories.
In 1983 she created a large-scale interactive installation entitled "Biorhythm
Biorhythm
Biorhythm is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. Most scientists believe that the idea has no more predictive power than raw chance, and consider the concept an example of pseudoscience.-Beliefs:...
: How Do You Feel?" at WORKS gallery in San Jose. In this work, Rapoport connected participants to bio-feedback equipment, and asked them to relate their feelings on that particular day. Participants described their emotions both in words and by creating hand gestures that expressed those feelings. Participants then compared their self-assessments with the biofeedback readings.
Rapoport then evaluated this information and created an installation as part of the 1984 show "SF/SF San Francisco/ Science Fiction" at the Clocktower
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, also known as the Metropolitan Life Tower or Met Life Tower, is a landmark skyscraper located on East 23rd Street between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue South, off of Madison Square Park. in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Four years later, in a 1987 interactive installation at the Kala Institute entitled "Digital Mudrā" Rapoport returned to the data acquired from "Biorhythm
Biorhythm
Biorhythm is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. Most scientists believe that the idea has no more predictive power than raw chance, and consider the concept an example of pseudoscience.-Beliefs:...
: How Do You Feel?". She associated each participant's gesture with one of 52 hand gestures known as Mudrās
Mudra
A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers...
. In doing so, Rapoport suggested the cross-cultural correlations of hand gestures and their trans-cultural meanings. Mudrās and their word meanings were juxtaposed within a western context and transcribed onto a computer printout and also, into a Kathakali
Kathakali
Kathakali is a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion...
dance. Rapoport discovered that the words people chose to describe their gestures in western culture, and the words given to the gestures in the Mudrā vocabulary were surprisingly similar. Finally, Rapoport created a slide presentation showing current political leaders making similar gestures having similar verbal contexts.
In 1988 she received a grant from the California Arts Council
California Arts Council
The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento. Its eleven council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature...
for the production of "Digital Mudrā" online via Carl Loeffler and Fred Truck's Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN). In 1989, a simplified version of "Digital Mudrā" was uploaded to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as a web-based interactive artwork.
1990s
The Animated Soul: Gateway to Your Ka was a site-specificSite-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
interactive installation exhibited at the Ghia Gallery, a casket
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
showroom
Showroom
The word showroom has two distinct meanings including:-Marketing location:A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, carpet or apparel. The World's most famous locations for a showroom are the Champs Elysees in Paris or the 5th Avenue...
in South San Francisco
South San Francisco, California
South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area...
in 1991, the Takada Gallery in San Francisco, and the Kuopio Museum in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, in 1992. The Animated Soul, in book format, traveled from 1992-1993 throughout the United States under an NEA
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
grant. In this show, set in a tomb environment, viewer-participants interacted with a HyperCard
HyperCard
HyperCard is an application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer, Inc. that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard also features HyperTalk, written...
computer program which prompted them to make a series of choices represented by icons. By going through this process, users reenacted the ritual sequence laid out in the Egyptian Book of the Dead in order to discover their double
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
, who in turn would lead them to everlasting life
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
. A full explanation of this work with image can be found here.
In 1993 Sonya Rapoport produced Sexual Jealousy: The Shadow of Love as an interactive installation at the Fourth International Symposium on Electronic Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. In this participatory artwork she combined a Gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
-inspired algorithmic
Algorhythm
- Additional musicians :* David Allen — congas * Amanda Brown — vocals * Nigel Jones — guitar * Lisa Maxwell — vocals- Credits :* Adrian Bolland — mixing* Boxcar — mixing, producer* Kathy Naunton — editing & mastering...
multi-channel musical composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
by Michael McNabb, with images from Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A....
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n shadow puppets
Shadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...
, and Jungian mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
symbols in a computer assisted interactive installation wherein participants explored their feelings of sexual jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
and methods of coming to terms with these feelings. Rapoport designed a "Self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
" HyperCard
HyperCard
HyperCard is an application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer, Inc. that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard also features HyperTalk, written...
software package in which the user became a protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
in a shadow play. The user's choices generated lessons in coping, using clips from the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
. The personal emotional subjective states of individual users were linked to symbolic psychological
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
representations. These in turn became the components of a narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
of self-discovery and revelation which subsequently controlled the generation of music.
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
". Traits were extracted from mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s residing in Noah's "Virtual Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
". The "winning" trait gene was processed and injected into a section of a bagel
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
(bagel fragment DNA). Participants could accept the gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
by eating the recombinant transgenic bagel, or they could trade the trait.
1995 saw the production of "Smell Your Destiny", another parodic interactive web art project much in the same vein as "The Transgenic Bagel". In this artwork, Rapoport posited that traits historically considered undesirable are now considered more desirable. For example, aggressiveness
Aggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
and competitiveness
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
were once considered negative traits when displayed by women, but now such traits are seen as a key to success in the corporate environment. Rapoport proposed that these new values and traits might be administered to a population by means of aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health....
. She introduced the idea that pharmaceutical
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
pills that carried specific favorable traits could be fed to fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
living near or within a given society. After consuming the pills, the fish would give off a "stink
Odor
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...
" that would permeate the air and be inhaled by the inhabitants of the surrounding community, thus transmitting the desired traits / societal values to its citizens. This process was historically specific, in that pills fed to fish in the Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
region in 150 BCE would have been different than those fed to fish today. This piece displayed Rapoport's characteristic love of word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
...for instance, the names of the pills given to the fish were all puns of common over-the-counter
Over-the-counter drug
Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription...
products, e.g. "Anvil" (for Advil
Advil
Advil is a brand of ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug . Advil is manufactured by Pfizer and has been on the market since 1984.-History:...
), All-to-rest (for Allerest), Chums (for Tums), My-Thrill (for NyQuil
NyQuil
NyQuil is a brand of over the counter medication which is intended to relieve various symptoms of the common cold. Because all of the medications within the NyQuil imprint contain sedating antihistamines, hypnotics, and/or alcohol, they are intended to be taken before sleep...
), Contract (for Contac), No-mor-fussin (for Robitussin
Robitussin
Robitussin is a line of cold and cough medicines currently produced by Pfizer. Robitussin is available in various formulations. Robitussin contains an expectorant ; Robitussin DM adds a cough suppressant to the expectorant ; Robitussin CF is a cold formula that adds an expectorant and a nasal...
), and Re-lax (for Ex-Lax), etc.
From 1996 onward, Rapoport created artworks specifically as websites in which she exhibited an interest in liberal feminist
Liberal feminism
Liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. It is an individualistic form of feminism and theory, which focuses on women’s ability to show and maintain their equality through their own actions and choices...
issues. In 1996 she created "Brutal Myths" with collaborator Marie-Jose Sat. "Brutal Myths" was inspired by the sadistic male fantasies about women as found in the Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...
(The Hammer of Witches), a manual for witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
ing written by Heinrich Kramer
Heinrich Kramer
Heinrich Kramer also known under the Latinized name Henricus Institoris, was a German churchman and inquisitor....
and Jacob Sprenger in the 15th century. Because women were traditionally the lay healers of their societies and used ancient herbs in their medicinal practices, Rapoport used representations of herbs as the metaphoric interface of the web artwork. The first section of "Brutal Myths" describes the "evil" herbs that contaminated the minds of men and made them believe in the dictums laid forth in the Malleus Malificarum. In the second section, the participant "plants" a "blissful" herbal garden of “blessed” herbs. By participating in interactive rituals with the herbs the viewer destroys the prejudicial myths about women and assuages the fears of the men.
"Make Me A Man" (1997) marked a change in Rapoport's voice as an artist wherein she adopted the theoretical standpoint of a man, a voice which she carried through works of the next few years. The artwork reflected on what Rapoport saw as "the stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
of modern manhood" and reflected on the way that stereotype has been sustained by cultures as diverse as those of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and the New Guinea Highlands
New Guinea Highlands
The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, are a chain of mountain ranges and intermountain river valleys, many of which support thriving agricultural communities, on the large island of New Guinea, which lies to the north of Australia...
. Both of these cultures acknowledge the superiority of the physiological woman, said to be born with all the vital organs and fluids necessary for giving birth and nurturing an infant. This is contrasted to men who must be molded by the society to conform to an "Ideal" masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
. Both cultures have a similar gender dogma. Comparative examples of how tribal or technological societies achieve their objective of "growing a man" provide the structure of the work.
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
who declared "God created plants as a provision for the health of human beings, and left a sign on them – some feature of their shape, color, habitat or behavior–for human beings to decipher." For example, Galen pointed to a plant shaped like an ear that was used as a cure for ear-aches. The artwork fancifully interweaves a news story about "James" (a transsexual
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
person who underwent surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
to change from female to male) with representations of the New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
initiation rite of "tree bonding". In the artwork, as James grows from his female body into that of a male, he re-enacts certain New Guinean tribal ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s that purported to purge the female pollutants acquired from the mother from the body of the initiated man.
In 1998-99, strongly influenced by the book "Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man" by Daniel Boyarin
Daniel Boyarin
Daniel Boyarin is an historian of religion. Born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, he holds dual United States and Israeli citizenship. Trained as a Talmudic scholar, in 1990 he was appointed Professor of Talmudic Culture, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric, University of California,...
, Rapoport created "Make Me A Jewish Man: An Alternative Masculinity", which she described as exploring the paradox
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
of rabbinic
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud...
masculinity. In this, the rabbinic male seeks to usurp for himself the female's characteristics, while at the same time, coupling these acquired feminine aspects with his dominant role as a male. This practice is what leads to the marginalization and exclusion of women. Although appropriations of "femaleness" are necessary in the production of the Jewish male "Ideal", strong gender biases are associated with both the blood of circumcision (which is associated with power) and the blood of childbirth (associated with impurity). Rapoport's project addressed the question of a reversal of female penis envy, that is, how do men cope with the envy of birthing and nurturing? Her main goal was to provide an explanation for male "coping mechanisms" as related to male appropriations of "femaleness," under Talmudic Law
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
in the year 400 CE. A secondary theme was the developing metaphor of the morphology of the Olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
Tree for which the Lord
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
named Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. During interactive interruptions in the narrative, Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...
, wife of macho Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
, provided the feminist voice which objected to the gender imbalance of the material. For her research on the cultivation of olives, Rapoport used material from her daughter Hava Rapoport's chapter in the book "El Cultivo del Olivo".
2000s
This work was followed by "Redeeming the Gene, Molding the Golem, Folding the Protein" in 2002. Returning to the feminist voice Rapoport created a mythic parody designed to be viewed on the Internet. In it, she wanted to challenge the current genetic engineering technology by creating an artificial anthropoidAnthropoid
Anthropoid may refer to:*Simian, monkeys and apes *Anthropoides, a genus of cranes*Operation Anthropoid, the codename for the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer and Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich...
, the Golem
Golem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....
, according to the ancient Hebraic
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
directions given in the Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
. In the story, Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
and Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
, maligned sources of female evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
for many years reinvented themselves by creating an ethical gene that they used to mold the Golem. The "Kabbalah gene", displaced the "artist's gene" that Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac is an American contemporary artist internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio-art. Kac was born in 1962, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He lives and works in Chicago....
invented in his artwork, "Genesis."
In 2004, Rapoport produced "Kabbalah/Kabul: Sending Emanations to the Aliens". This work, another interactive web artwork concerned with the transmission of traits, opened with an image of a US helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
carrying the Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
’s major icon, the Tree of Life
Tree of life (Kabbalah)
The Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to God and the manner in which he created the world ex nihilo...
, whose branches are marked with altruistic
Altruism
Altruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
"emanations". This time, Rapoport proposed that encoded altruistic traits could be transmitted across interstellar space
Interstellar medium
In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space...
by radio or laser signals
Interstellar communication
Interstellar communication is the transmission of signals between planetary systems. Sending Interstellar messages is potentially much easier than interstellar travel, being possible with technologies and equipment which are currently available...
. When the participant selects an emanation by clicking on its icon
Icon (computing)
A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
, an associated image of a stem cell
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
within a cell cluster
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
differentiates (lights up and changes into) a body part. The selected cell is eventually enhanced with a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
altruistic trait in preparation for delivery to the extraterrestrials
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
. Participants absorb the altruism(s) into their psyches
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
as the messages are catapulted from earth into outer space. "Kabbalah/Kabul" endeavors to integrate the infinite outer universe with the altruistic universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
that resides within each person on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
"(in)AUTHENTIC: Woman, War, Jew" (2007) was created as a "Memory Theatre" in collaboration with Robert Edgar. The work exists as an interactive website that builds itself while the viewer watches. Memory Theatres were first formulated in the sixteenth century by Giulio Camillo
Giulio Camillo
Giulio "Delminio" Camillo was an Italian philosopher. He is best known for his theatre, described in his posthumously published work L’Idea del Theatro.-Biography:...
as a way to sense the structure of the cosmos through painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, text
Written language
A written language is the representation of a language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will instinctively learn or create spoken or gestural languages....
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. in the artwork, Rapoport reflects upon her own cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
of gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, race, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, and mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
in the artwork. Images used include those of various military tanks, African
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
hairstyle
Hairstyle
A hairstyle, hairdo, or haircut refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles.-History of...
s mitochondria and Jungian
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
mythological images. These were accompanied by audio recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
consisting of an imaginary contentious dialogue between Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray is a Belgian feminist, philosopher, linguist, psychoanalyst, sociologist and cultural theorist. She is best known for her works Speculum of the Other Woman and This Sex Which Is Not One .-Biography:...
, Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
. In the "play" these voices trigger an invasion of robotic tank warfare into the cosmology of Rapoport’s persona. The concept of theatre in this work takes on two meanings: in once sense it refers to a theatre of memory; in another sense it refers to a theatre of war. Within these co-extensive theatres, an army tank, a phallic
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
, moves between what Rapoport considers authentic
Authenticity (philosophy)
Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very...
and what is inauthentic as found in the aggressive environments of gender, war and religion.
A retrospective exhibition of Rapoport's work, "Sonya Rapoport: Pairings and Polarities" was held at the Kala Institute from 4 March to 9 April 2011. Another retrospective of her work is planned for the Mills College Art Museum in January of 2012.
Exhibition history
- Sonya Rapoport. Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California. 2012 (Future).
- Sonya Rapoport: A Retrospective. Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California, 2012 (Future).
- Sonya Rapoport: Pairings of Polarities. Kala Gallery, Berkeley, California, 4 March—9 April 2011.
- Vuorovaekutus (Interaction). Kuopio Art Museum, Kuopio, Finlande, 1992. The Animated Soul.
- Exhibition at Takada Fine Art. San Francisco, California, 1992. The Animated Soul—Gateway to Your Ka (1992).
- “The Animated Soul” Exhibition at the Ghia Gallery. San Francisco, California, 22 March—30 April 1991. The Animated Soul—Gateway to Your Ka (Computer: Kathryn Woods; Sound: Andrew Smolle).
- Interactive Shoe-Field. Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, California, April 1990.
- Exhibition at Hearst Art Gallery. Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California, 8 January—21 February 1988. Digital Mudra.
- Exhibition at MEDIA Gallery. San Francisco, California, 7 October—4 November 1986. Kiva-Studio, A Shoe-In Shoe-Field I, Shoe-Field II.
- Shared Dynamics. Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, 1984.
- “Coping with Sexual Jealousy” with the Heller Gallery in the Pauley Ballroom. Berkeley, California, 30 October 1984. Performance of Coping with Sexual Jealousy.
- Back to Nature/ Recycling the Objects: A Retrospective. Humboldt State University, Arcadia, California, 1983.
- Biorhythm: How Do You Feel? WORKS, San Jose, California, 1983.
- Biorhythm. Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University, New York City, New York. 1982.
- A Shoe-In / Objects On My Dresser. Installation at Berkeley Computer Systems. Berkeley, California, 31 March—7 April 1982. Objects On My Dresser and A Shoe-In.
- Shared Dynamics. Artist Space, New School for Social Research, New York, 1981.
- Psycho-Aesthetic Dynamics. 80 Langton Street, San Francisco, California, 3-14 June 1980. Objects on My Dresser—Psycho-Aesthetic Dynamics, Phase 2.
- Bonito-Rapoport Shoes. Donnell Library Center: New York Public Library. New York, New York, 10 October 1979. Bonito-Rapoport Shoes.
- Pictorial Linguistics. Franklin Furnace, New York City, New York, 9—27 October 1979.
- Interaction: Art and Science: Jack Bergamini / Sonya Rapoport at Truman Gallery. New York, New York, 12 January—3 February 1979. Kiva-Studio.
- Sonya Rapoport: An Overview (An Exhibition of Drawings). Union Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, 9 October—3 November 1978. Drawings. Hovenweep (1977), color pencil on computer print-out; Anasazi (1977) color pencil on computer print-out; Kiva-Studio Series (1978) color pencil on computer print-out; Upper Gila (1977) color pencil on computer print-out.
- An Aesthetic Response. Tozzer Library of the Peabody Museum. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1-31 May 1978. Works in collaboration with Dorothy Washburn.
- Exhibition at E.B. Crocker Gallery in Sacramento. Sacramento, California, 19 November—15 December 1974. Sylvan, Basta, Budding, Untitled, all acrylic on canvas.
- Exhibition at San Jose Museum of Art. San Jose, California, 3—15 November, 1974. Sylvan, Basta, Budding, Untitled, all acrylic on canvas.
- Sonya Rapoport. Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California, 1973.
- Sonya Rapoport at John Bolles Gallery. San Francisco, __—20 May 1972. Survey Charts, Medley, No. 15, acrylic and pencil on old geological survey sheet.
- Sonya Rapoport at John Bolles Gallery. San Francisco, January—February 1970. Dusk, Blue Jay Wing, paintings.
- Drawings and Paintings by Sonya Rapoport. Valley Art Gallery, Walnut Creek, California, 6—31 October 1969.
- Sonya Rapoport: A Selection of Paintings and Drawings. Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California, 13 April—5 May 1968. Rapoport’s seventh one-man show. Reflections, commercial flower-printed linen.
- Sonya Rapoport at John Bolles Gallery. San Francisco, California, 1-30 August 1967. Winged Double Image, acrylic on commercial flower-printed linen, Enlightenment, acrylic on fabric, and other “pattern paintings” with floral / genital themes.
- Exhibition at the College of the Holy Names’ James D. Kennedy Memorial Art Center. Oakland, California, April 1965. Paincil Series (“contrast painting”).
- Sonya Rapoport at John Bolles Gallery. San Francisco, California, 3 November—4 December 1964. Rf, Circle 2, Auror, I Love You (all “contrast paintings”); Plazmazoid, Spallation, Sonata in Orange, Auro, Psyche Trio (all “conglomerate canvases”); Red Graze, Flora Bat, Enlightenment (all fabric / pattern paintings).
- Sonya Rapoport: Paintings and Drawings at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. San Francisco, California, 23 March—21 April 1963.
- Exhibition at East West Gallery. San Francisco, California, January 1958. Watercolors and oil paintings. [Rapoport’s first solo show. Abstract expressionist watercolors].
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- Maid in Cyberspace-le festival XX d'Art WWW, Montreal, Canada, 1997]]
- ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art) 1993, 95, 96, 99, Copenhagen Film Festival, DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, 1996 - Siggraph95, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1995 - The World's Women On-Line, BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, 1995 - Artists Shedding Light on Science, San Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1994 - CADRE (Computers, Art, Design, Research, Education) San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, 1989-1984 - Digital Concepts and Expressions, Tish Art Gallery, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, 1988 - Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1984 - Baxter Gallery, California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, Pasadena, CaliforniaPasadena, CaliforniaPasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, 1976 - Ars Electronica, LinzLinzLinz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, 1989–1992 - DocumentaDocumentadocumenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
8, KasselKasselKassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, West GermanyWest GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, 1987
Selected Lectures
- The Art, Technology and Culture Colloquium, University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, 2004 - San Francisco Art InstituteSan Francisco Art InstituteSan Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, Digital Studies Program, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 2004 - The Oakland Museum of Art, KALA Institute: High Touch, High Tech, California 2000
Interactive Installations
- Generations: Lineage of Influence-Bay Area Art, Richmond Art Center, California, 1996
- Capp Street Project, 1996
- Artist Resident Arts Wire, 1995
- Vuorovaekutus, Kuopio Museum, KuopioKuopioKuopio is a city and a municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia, Finland. A population of makes it the ninth biggest city in the country. The city has a total area of , of which is water and half forest...
, FinlandFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, 1992 - The Animated Soul, Takada Arts 1992; Ghia Gallery 1991, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
- Digital Mudra, KALA Institute, Berkeley, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1987 - Shoe-Field, MEDIA, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1986 - Coping with Sexual Jealousy, Pauley Ballroom Univ. of Calif. Berkeley, 1984
- Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, 1984
- Biorhythm: How do you feel? WORKS/San Jose, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1983 - Back to Nature (Retrospective) Humboldt State Univ. Arcada, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1983 - Shared Dynamics, Artists Space, New York, New York, 1981
- Shared Dynamics, New School for Social Research, New York, New York, 1981
Selected Solo Installations / Exhibitions
- Psycho-Aesthetic Dynamics, 80 Langton Street, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1980 - Pictorial Linguistics, Franklin Furnace, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 1979 - Bonito-Rapoport Shoes, Donnell Center, New York Public Library, 1979
- Interaction Art and Science, Truman Gallery, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 1979 - Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, 1978 - California (Crocker) Art Museum, Sacramento, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1974 - San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1974 - John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1972 - California Palace of the Legion of HonorCalifornia Palace of the Legion of HonorThe California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a fine art museum in San Francisco, California...
, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1963
Selected Book-Arts Exhibitions
- Center for Book Arts, 30 Years of Innovation, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
2005 - Northern Calif. Book Artists, Ctr For Book Arts, New York City, 1998-99 (cat)
- BOUNDLESS: Liberating the Book Form, San Francisco Ctr for the Book, CA, 1998
- 1st Columbia Biennal Exhibition of the Book, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
- WOMEN OF THE BOOK: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes (traveling), 1997–2000
- Photographic Book Art in the U. S.(traveling USA), 1992–95
- Off the Shelf/On Line, Minn.Ctr (traveling NEA) (cat. pub.), 1992–1993
- Book Arts, USA; U.S. Information Agency (traveling) (cat. pub.), 1992-90
- Anchorage Museum of Art, Anchorage, Alaska (cat. pub.), 1991-1990
- National Museum of Women, Washington DC, 1990
- National Library, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(cat. pub.), 1982
Painting and Drawing Exhibitions
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Northern Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, 2005 - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Artist's Gallerry, 2005
- Women Artists of the USA, São Paulo, Brasil (cat. pub.), 1980
- Painting & Sculpture Now, Indianapolis Museum of ArtIndianapolis Museum of ArtThe Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
, IndianaIndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, 1980 - Art Scene, San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtSan Francisco Museum of Modern ArtThe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1973 - 100 American Drawings, University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(cat.pub.) Ann Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
1965 - Annual Exhibitions, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
1964-1950, 2005
External links
- Artist's Website
- Artist's Blog
- (in)Authentic Review
- Video: Bancroft Library Oral History Project: UC Berkeley Art Department Alumni: Sonya Rapoport and Fred Martin
- Sonya Rapoport in dialogue with "Pairings of Polarities" curators Terri Cohn and Anuradha Vikram, 26 March 2011. (Best with headphones).