Cut-Up Method

Group 8: Cut-Up Method

a. Describe the elements of the new art form: the material, the actions, the way it is made and the way it is received (i.e., audience)

The technique of the Cut-up is a very interesting form of artwork. Words or groups of words are removed from their original linear format and positioned into a new one. The artwork is a method of improvisation and creativity that is not always entirely unique to the artist. Phrases of common knowledge and popularity are sometimes spliced into new and expressive sentences. This innovative art is unique as many artworks lack such significant use of writing and words. This also emphasizes the placement and usage of words and phrases. Some artworks may be abstract as the sentences tend to stray in all sorts of grammatical and literary disorganization. The Cut-up method is also a unique form of art because it can be incorporated into literature, music, and poetry, so it has more access to the world of pop-culture than most forms of art.

Literature is a key participant in cut-up art because it also ties the method into films and popular viewings like the movie Watchmen. The random application of certain subjects (not always words and phrases) leads to a questioning and potentially the conflict of a story as many cut-up works also promote investigation and intense analyzation. In some cases, the improvisation itself helps inspire the author of a book. The cut-up method is crucial to the novelty of improv and freestyle and also popularizes itself through more modern culture.

Music also makes cut-up art a popular and interesting form of expression. The methods of remix are relevant to the cut-up style when music is involved. Audio can be cut-up and spliced into new and different material. We experience this all the time when we here the remix of a song on the radio. Old and popular phrases are also incorporated into music as a critical part of the cut-up and its growth into modern media. The words involvement of cut-up is also used in music when artists like David Bowie write abstract lyrics in an expressive work of art. Dub music, remixes and odd lyrics are all examples of how music is an endorser of cut-up art.

The cut-up method of art is extremely prevalent in the less popular area of poetry. Poetry is where most cut-ups are taken from previous works of literature and is mostly concerned with words and phrases. Many “poets” of the cut-up method are also categorized as music artists because their words are spoken or sang to the rhythm of a beat or music. These artists are typically associated with freestyle poets which is often confused with rap music. Spam poetry is also a defining achievement that has spawned from cut-up and has brought birth to the popular and new art of flarf poetry. Both are prime examples of the cut-up method and how entire poems are composed from the works of others. The splice method allows such lack of originality to become creative and inventive works of art.

Art has brought about a new form. The aesthetics of art are less relevant as paintings and sculptures are no longer dominant. Contemporary art includes ideals that are expressed through words, motions, performances, and emotions. Participation has also paved a new path for modern art. Not only has poetry and word organization grew into popular art, but we now enjoy a new method; words, phrases, and all sorts of subjects are collaborated into an expressive and unique work that has presented itself to popular media unlike the unfashionable artwork of the past.

B). How does the technology of the time produce, or make possible this new form of art?

While the cut-up technique is most associated with the 1950s and 60s, it has roots tracing back to surrealists from the 20s. The cut-up technique is essentially a product of it's own era. The artists, such as Burroughs and Gysion, were able to take advantage of the abundance of written press at the time. By collecting newspapers, magazines, and various pamphlets and brochures they would cut them up into mostly single words and then randomly rearrange them to form a new written work. It was a very simple and primitive way to get people to think about the remixability of published works. The advancement of technology has lead to an evolution of the cut-up technique. Now through using programs like PhotoShop everybody has the means to take already existing art and reinterpret it and create something completely different.

C)

The Cut-Up Method is very simple to understand. It is an art form in which people can actually take their own ideas and make it work. There is no specific explanation on how to do it, but simplest way to explain it is originally Brion Gysin a painter and writer, cut newspaper articles into sections and re-arranged those sections. This in the past had created mass riots, such as the one at the surrealist rally in 1920. But as it had become more excepted by the people it grew fast. Songwriters such as David Bowie and Kurt Cobain used this sort of technique to create their songs, which are known by most. It then grew out too behavioral cut ups. These are where one takes two socially excepted behaviors and putting them together creating one, interesting activity. This allows for people to see you in a new way and make them think differently about whom you are. Even further on it expanded to e-mails. Here people were using this to trick spam detectors and allowing their spam e-mails to pass through into everyone’s inbox’s. With this new way of cut up’s you are forced to receive and sometimes read these e-mails. This allows the spammer to once again make contact with you. All of these different forms that branched from the original idea have touched on new ways for it to create a social interaction among people.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1673/The-CutUp-Method-of-Brion-Gysin

http://www.legendsmagazine.net/104/william.htm

d. How does the new art form reflect on the art forms that preceded it?

The Cut-Up Method heavily relies on all other art forms that have preceded it. Any type of Cut-up art must have some kinda of past art in it cause, well that what it is. As stated earlier, the cut-up method is pretty much a combination of different snip-its of sentences or phrases, whether they be written or spoken. Without the bits of already created art, there could be no new work of art. Some people turn their head at the idea and think it's just a random reproduction that has no talent involved, but when you think about it, it's just like a poet's collage. All the bits have a meaning and can brought together can create an even stronger meaning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM0ntnxg9BY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_vv12NSSZ4