Tag Archives: pavlov

Video Art & Culture- The Distinctive Features Of The Medium

VIDEO ART. The name is equivocal. A good name. It leaves open all the questions  and asks them anyway. Is this an art form, a new genre? An anthology of valued activity conducted in a particular arena defined by display on a cathode ray tube? The kind of video made by a special class of people—artists—whose works are exhibited primarily in what is called ‘the art world’–ARTIST’S VIDEO?

An inspection of the names in the catalogue gives the easy and not quite sufficient answer that is this last we are considering, ARTIST’S VIDEO. But is this a class apart?
Read the full original and historic essay [in appropriately PDF electronic form] by David Antin by clicking here.

Special thanks to http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/ for archiving the original essay.

Letter To The Silo- Ways To Catch Wild Pigs Is How To Create Socialism

Dear Silo,  a thought to remember-  Marx said,”Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom and no one would have noticed.” These are words to the wise, if you can understand what’s going on around you…. *

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.

He asked: “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?” The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. “You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place
in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. “When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.

“They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. “The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. “Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.”

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in Canada .

The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. Name withheld by request. Originally post Fall 2014.

Protest at Marineland, Niagara Falls Gains Momentum

On Saturday August 18th- hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the main entrance gates of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. At stake was the ethical treatment of animals used for performances and entertainment. Over the past three years there have been increased reports by the media regarding the attacking of trainers by killer whales and other performing animals.

Messages on protest signs were simple, bold and clear. photos:The Silo/Mith Media

Many researchers believe that this sort of behavior is inevitable because killer whales are adversely affected by forcible confinement and pavlovian conditioning and that in turn has many questioning whether theme parks such as Marineland and Seaworld are capitalizing on animal cruelty. It’s not a new topic- zoo’s and circuses are not strangers to demonstration and protest and the relationship between humans and animals is a theme often employed by conscientious artists.

[Warning- the following video contains disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised CP]

Segment from Umwelt (2010) exhibition catalogue- Jarrod Barker’s installation at the Norfolk Arts Centre explored the connectedness or non-connectedness (ie: the umwelt) of humans and animals. image:courtesy of the artist

Marineland denied our request (along with the Toronto Star’s request) for an interview and requested that the media respect “private [their] property”. That sort of reaction makes it difficult to investigate a story of this magnitude- and many questions remain unanswered. For example, earlier this year an infant beluga whale was attacked repeatedly by two adult belugas until it was killed. Media leaks reveal that the baby whale may have been ill and that the other animals acted out of fear since they may have detected signs of a contagious disease.

image: The Silo

Although no date has been set, The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is planning on bringing independent Sea Mammal experts and Marine Biologists into Marineland for an inspection according to an online report at www.thestar.com CP

image: The Silo