![](\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/55a66b3de4b011465a6ca2dd\/t\/56a3ab27fb36b138610aa26f\/1453566760455\/The+original+catalog+cover+designed+by+Sheila+DeBretville+for+%27Womanhouse%27+%281972%29\")
<\/p>\nIn my last wiki entry, I stressed the importance of involving one’s audience and other factors like location and geopolitics in art installations.\u00a0 These lectures took that idea a step further, adding another function of art \u2013 to spread a social message, both to one’s audience and to the world at large.<\/p>\n
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Womanhouse was a project located inside a dilapidated mansion that\u00a0was only open to women on the first day of its exhibition.\u00a0 It contained feminist art and also featured performance pieces within some of the rooms.\u00a0 This brings audience involvement to a new level \u2013 instead of the piece\u00a0simply drawing a reaction from its viewers, it invites them to actually learn something about a social movement.\u00a0 Art is at its finest when it conveys some message because it truly has a\u00a0purpose<\/em>.\u00a0 It is one of the most effective mediums at creating social change because unlike a Powerpoint presentation or some display of facts, it creates genuine\u00a0emotions in the viewer.\u00a0\u00a0One “performance piece” that the lecture reminded me of is the self-immolation of Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ee9c.\u00a0 He set himself on fire in the middle of a street to protest the South Vietnamese government’s persecution of Buddhists.\u00a0 It seems strange to call this art, but it is\u00a0serving the same purpose as all of the other pieces in this lecture \u2013 it invokes the emotions of the public to bring about social change.\u00a0 It was actually incredibly effective at this, since a public suicide is about as extreme an act as one can perform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my last wiki entry, I stressed the importance of involving one’s audience and other factors like location and geopolitics in art installations.\u00a0 These lectures took that idea a step further, adding another function of art \u2013 to spread a social message, both to one’s audience and to the world at large. Womanhouse was … <\/p>\n