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Jean-Francis Lytorad, The Postmodern Condition (Minneapolis, MN: University of

Minnesota Press, 1984).

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“old fear that the postmodern rejection of objectivity and

master narratives might lead us down an Orwellian primrose path.”8 In this world, there

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Schambelan, Elizabeth. "Whitney Biennial." Art Forum. summer 2008, 426-428.
is no metanarrative to deconstruct, rather what was “meant to be a critique…has been

appropriated and literalized as a tactic of power—a truly bizarre and perverse outcome.”9

Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit it Out documents a world where Bakhtin’s carnivalesque

“inversions transpositions, and temporary reversals”10 are alive and real. In Dodge and

Kahn’s videos, the spaces that were once “  
 
 


 
  

 


 

 



 
 

  
 


 

  
 

 


  


 

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grotesque body [that] is open, protruding, irregular, secreting, multiple, changing…[and]

identified with non-official “low” culture, the carnivalesque, and social transformation”12

is the norm. However, where Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit It Out looks at the aftermath

of a world deconstructed by postmodern theory, All Together Now points to the need to

look at new constructions amongst the wreckage.

Together these two videos pose a powerful question to the viewer and make the

“distinction [between] freedom from external restraints and the power of others to inhibit

























































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Schambelan, Elizabeth. "Whitney Biennial." Art Forum. summer 2008, 426-428.

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Brown, Stephen. "I Can't Believe It's Not Bakhtin." Journal of Adverstiing 28 (1999):

11-24.


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Brown, Stephen. "I Can't Believe It's Not Bakhtin." Journal of Adverstiing 28 (1999):

11-24.

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Routledge, 1994

our actions, and freedom to act effectively when restraints disappear.”13 In Can’t

Swallow It, Can’t Spit It Out, the artists depict the resulting freedom from metanarratives

created by the agency of the individual. The space left behind by postmodern

deconstruction is clearly articulated when Kahn’s character finishes a story about one of

her experiences in hell by posing the question, “I mean you’ve got no balls and you’ve

been kicked out of hell. Where do you go?”14 This monologue points to the absolute

“freedom from external restraints.” 15 Yet, with these external restraints removed

postmodernism still speaks “more clearly about what it is against than about what it

seeks.”16

Dodge and Kahn respond to this crisis in All Together Now, looking forward into

what “



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16Booth, Waynce . "Freedom of Interpretation: Bakhtin and the Challenge of Feminist

Criticism." Critical Inquiry 9 no. 1 (1982): 45-76.

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disappear.”21 Furthermore, they reiterate the reality that “all the freedom from in the

world will not free me to make an intellectual discovery or to paint a picture unless I have

somehow freed myself to perform certain tasks.”
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Booth, Waynce . "Freedom of Interpretation: Bakhtin and the Challenge of Feminist

Criticism." Critical Inquiry 9 no. 1 (1982): 45-76.

who surrender to disciplines and codes invented by others, giving up certain freedoms

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Daphna Erdinast-Vulcan’s reading of Bakhtin as fundamentally

“unresolved ambivalence on questions of ethics and agency, which are (or ought to be) at

the top of the postmodernist agenda.”24 Bahktin describes the novel as “ 


 
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Erdinast-Vulcan, Daphna. "Borderlines and Contraband: Bakhtin and the question of

subject." Poetics Today 18 no. 2 (1997): 251-269.

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 Annotated Bibliography

Armetta, Amoreen. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Art Forum. 14 June 2008, 57.

Bedford, Christopher. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Frieze. November 2008, 174-
175.

In this article from Frieze magazine, Bedford provides the most popular and
surface level reading of the works of Dodge and Kahn. Even though in multiple
interviews Dodge and Kahn have suggested that their video works are very
layered in meaning and can be read as having a number of interpretations,
Bedford takes everything at surface value. He reads the hoods in the video works
as having to do with Abu Ghraib, he reads the post apocalyptic landscape in
relation to the Iraq war. Undoubtedly, these are valid interpretations, however,
they discount a number of other clues to nuaned and deeper meanings in the work.
Furthermore, although he gives a nod to the possible “optimism” in the works, he
quickly brushes that off in favor of a dark and politically critical thesis in the
work.

Booth, Waynce . "Freedom of Interpretation: Bakhtin and the Challenge of Feminist

Criticism." Critical Inquiry 9 no. 1 (1982): 45-76.

Booth’s insightful criticism of theorists who expound on the deconstruction of

power hierarchies, while at the same time being directly connect to that power
hierarchy fills a void in critical theory. Authors and theorists of social protest
groups, such as Toni Morrison, have often distanced themselves from postmodern
theorists due to the perception of these theorists as belonging to an elite group.
There is a major contradiction in the reality that these elite theorists consistently
discuss the breakdown of hierarchies that privilege one large construction over
smaller individual constructions of social identity and importance. Booth
addresses the issue of how to speak about power and freedom with an awareness
that as the speaker you are clearly tied to education and priveldge. Furthermore,
Booth address distinctions in the term “freedom” that are insightful and exciting
to read.

Brown, Stephen. "I Can't Believe It's Not Bakhtin." Journal of Adverstiing 28 (1999): 11-
24.

Cornell, Lauren. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Time Out New York. 11 may 2006, 81.

Cranston, Meg, Rita Gonzalez, Kathy Rae Huffmann, Glenn Phillips, Robert Riley, Steve
Seid, and Bruce Yonemoto. "Dissociated/Dislocated: Thoughts on the Short
Videos of Stany kahn and Harriet Dodge." In California Video: Artists and
Histories, 82-85. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2008.
Erdinast-Vulcan, Daphna. "Borderlines and Contraband: Bakhtin and the question of
subject." Poetics Today 18 no. 2 (1997): 251-269.

Erdinast-Vulcan provides an intriguing and insightful reading of Bakhtin in this

article. Previously, Bakhtin has been seen and explained as a kind of prophetic
theorist. Current theorists see him as predicting the future of extolling the virtues
of deconstructing language and the role of the omnipotent narrator that represents
large social metanarratives. However, using a close literary reading of Bakhtin,
Erdinast-Vulcan suggests that Bakhtin, while he does celebrate the
deconstruction, uses language that discloses his desire for the structure and order
that existed inside of the metanarrative. This is a well written essay and a unique
perspective that makes it very interesting to read in light of the other
interpretations of Bakhtin.

Francis, Frascina. "Four Decades of Politics and Art in Los Angeles." Mod Painters.
November 2006, 80-87.

Francis, Richard. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn at Elizabeth Dee." Art Forum. August
2008, 384.

Garrels, Gary. Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, 2007.

Halle, Howard. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Time Out New York. 12 July 2003, 57.

Hapgood, Susan. Slightly Unbalanced. New York: Independent Curators International,

2008.

Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn. (2002). Winner [Video] Retrieved November, 2009, from
http://www.ubu.com/film/dodge_winner.html.

Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn. (2006). Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit It Out [Video]
Retrieved November, 2009, from http://www.ubu.com/film/dodge_swallow.html.



Johnson, Ken. "Stanya Kahn and Harriet (Harry Dodge)." The New York Times
Weekend Arts. 05 August 2005, 1.

Kushner, Rachel. "1000 Words: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Art Forum. January
2008, 241-242.

Kushner’s endeavor to allow artists to speak for their work provides an insightful
voice to interpreting contemporary art. Post MFA artists come into the art scene
with an awareness of critical theory that rivals their journalist and critic
counterparts. However, in contrast to the perspective offered by journalists
defending a theory, the writing of Dodge and Kahn offer possible avenues of
entry into the work without deciding and defending anyone of the avenues. They
make connections, but allow the viewer to navigate his/her own way through the
 work. It is clear via this reading that Dodge and Kahn are intelligent and
thoughtful in executing and considering the artistic endeavors they undertake.

Lachmann, Renate. "Bakhtin and Carnival: Culture as Counter-Culture." Cultural

Critique 11 no. 1 (1988): 115-152.

Russo, Mary. The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess, and Modernity. New York:
Routledge, 1994.

Schambelan, Elizabeth. "Whitney Biennial." Art Forum. summer 2008, 426-428.

Schambelan’s perspective provides a unique interpretation of the work of Harry

Dodge and Stanya Kahn. In comparison to most of the other critics, Schambelan
views the works of Dodge and Kahn in relation to a theoretical context, rather
than a larger socio-political context. This article provides the most unique view
and draws in a number of ways that the theory can be attached to the work and
larger social issues. However, theory is the lens of investigating the work and the
social issues, where normally the social issues become the method of
investigating the work. This article provides a chilling comparison to the fears of
theorists regarding the possibility of theory becoming active cultural practice in
the hands of powerful individuals. Schambelan makes a nuanced and excellent
argument that is fun to read.

Smith, Michael. "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn." Bomb Magazine. August 2009, 1-13.

Volk, Gregory. "Spring in Dystopia." Art in America. May 2008, 158-165.