Martha Rosler

Last Saturday, I attended the Martha Rosler lecture at SFAI. I became familiar with Rosler through her early videos. Such as "Semiotics of the Kitchen" (1974/75) and “Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained" (1977).

During the two hour lecture, she talked very little of her past, and more of your life in Germany. She showed a series of random “snap shots” of Frankfurt, gave a brief history of Germany, discussed modern architecture and reviewed an installation she did in Germany relating to the Cold War. She showed hundreds of images; quickly passing them saying, “I hope I’m not boring you.”

Rosler talked about her images less as an artist and more as an academic that had experienced things and thus documented them. The second hour was dedicated to her showing recent photomontages relating to the war in Iraq. She discussed similarities of the war in Iraq with Vietnam. She talked of America’s blind eye to the war, and encouraged that we know our history better.  

An incredible intellect, with a dry wit, I am not so certain that I like Martha Rosler’s work as much as a like the mind behind it.