Between 2008 and 2012, Rapoport created a series of extensively researched, visually rich, and highly ideosyncratic blog posts at Sonya Rapoport’s Artblog.
She stated that the purpose of the blog was “to re-appropriate my former work and to re-contextualize it into current events, topically, politically, and/or conceptually.” This self-informing feedback loop of returning to older work had long been a strategy in her practice, and would find ultimate expression in her New York Times series of collages (2012-15).
Goethe’s Primal Scream: The Plant and Sexual Love (imagine Imogen’s images), 2008
Collaging together photographer Imogen Cunningham’s Nude and Tuberose series, Rapoport offers this re-approach to her computer printout drawing Goethe’s Urpflanze (1979), which made use of scientific data recording the effects of pollution on bean plants in the context of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s alchemical theory of the primal plant.
Higgledy-Piggledy: The Transgenic Bagel Redux, 2008
Intrigued by the discovery that bagels were potentially part of the diet of the ancient Egyptians, Rapoport updated her Web Art and Book Art project The Transgenic Bagel (1993-96) to reflect recent developments in genetics that show that one gene can code for several different traits.
Vagrancy Among the Shadows of Love, 2009
Inspired by puppeteer Vit Horejs’ The Very Sad Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, Rapoport recontextualizes the accused spies’ story via her computer-assisted interactive installation Sexual Jealousy: The Shadow of Love (1993), in which participants investigate the ounces of their jealousy and methods for coping with their feelings.
The Once Animated Soul of Bernard Madoff, 2009
An ancient Egyptian mythological approach to understanding the Madoff investment scandal; Rapoport speculates which choices Madoff would have made if he had participated in her interactive installation The Animated Soul: Gateway to your Ka (1991).
Shoe-Field: Our Fate Is On Our Feet, 2009
A reflection on the difference between American and Iraqi cultural attitudes about shoes, with images related to Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s shoe-throwing attack on U.S. President George W. Bush. An update of Rapoport’s interactive installation Shoe-Field (1982-89).
Focusing on the upbringing and family life of U.S. President Barack Obama, Make Me A Superman updates the Web Art project Make Me A Man (1997), which explores gender and masculine initiation ceremonies in traditional New Guinean culture and the West.
Brutal Kicks: The Witch Hunt for Michael Jackson, 2009
Looks at the effects of child abuse on the life and career of Michael Jackson. Based on the earlier Web Art project Brutal Myths (1996, with Marie-José Sat).
Digital Mudra – Extended, 2010
The original Digital Mudra (1987-89) matched photos clipped from the newspaper with traditional Indian Kathakali gestures. 23 years later, Rapoport takes a look at contemporary society through the same lens.
FISH OR FOUL: The World Cup 2010, 2010
Updates Rapoport’s aromatherapy themed Web Art project Smell Your Destiny (1994), assessing soccer players’ personalities using traits found in marine animals.
The Nuclear Family in the Atomic Age – Extended, 2012
This post is associated with the performance The Nuclear Family in the Atomic Age, presented at the 2012 Zero1 Biennial, San Francisco. It uses images of the work of American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97), Rapoport’s family photos, Russian translations of terms associated with nuclear proliferation, and the figure of the Golem.