Miranda July

My Miranda July girl-crush is escalating. I have been studying her more in depth for my media class this quarter - mostly her online assignment based project with Harrell Fletcher - Learning to Love You More. The following is a critique of the project.

July’s wistful and intelligent approach to her artworks create a comfortable forum in which viewers can interact. This idea of relevant art is evident in her online project, Learning to Love You More. In conjunction with Harrell Fletcher, July posed assignments for readers to complete, document, and post to a web forum. As Jessica Santone stated in her article, Learning to Document More, July and Fletcher created “a new kind of archive as it teaches participants how to document and encourages cross-engagement between these documents.” It is imperative to note this change in “the archive.” Although the idea of the archive is traditionally regarded as a stagnant documentation of the past, July resurrects past projects by cross-referencing them, publishing them in books, and displaying them in exhibitions.
The collection of July’s work is important in the way it challenges viewers to re-approach activities in their daily lives. She states, “we have archived some of the work that has commanded us in some way…. In the same way that the ocean gives the assignment of breathing deeply, and kissing instructs us to stop thinking.” Through the critical thought process July poses, her work is sweet and thoughtful, with a humorous element of being clumsy and self-deprecating.