Rachel Hrovat--Class discussion of Art as Communion

Van Der Leeuw presents the idea of art as communion and the participation of individuals with the art. In class we discussed how art is not a imitation of an object but rather it has its own movement. If the object is to be reproduced, then it will be the object no longer. Here we said how the artist does not play the role of a man but rather a role of a role. It was in this class period that we watched the video of the three Japanese women who were doing a ritual dance reenacting Hiroshima and the bombing that occurred in Japan during WWII. In the middle of this video, for a split second the women dancing looked almost like baby fetuses. To watch the dance a couple times, then to be told what it was actually representing and watch it again was neat. The women were the artists in the dance and they were not playing their own role but rather playing the role of another role. The role of a Japanese citizen who was affected by the bombings, and that individual was playing the role of a citizen and victim.