being turkey
Sunday 28 December 2008
Sunday 21 December 2008
Elective -self assessment
The elective program has informed my personal practice to a great extent.
Performance and live art is something that I have been interest in for some time. During the first term my practice seemed to naturally progress to work that could be described as performance. However I wasn’t sure were these games and activates I was inventing fitted in, and weather they had much value. Through my own research I started to become more informed about this unfamiliar art form, but the performance/live art elective has given me a much better understanding and a broader sense of what performance and live art practice can be.
What first lead me to undertake these initial activities, which could be described as performance, was a sense of restlessness and wanting to work in an active environment. I wanted to react to the everyday around me. The studio had always been a setting that I was not overly comfortable in; here my mind would go blank. It was a frustrating space to be in, sitting opposite blank walls.
The first brief set ‘being animal’, provided me with a system to make a piece of work I had wanted to do for a while. I would climb the studio space the way an animal might, rejecting the ’normal’ and the expected behaviour for this particular space. I would explore the unknown places, on top of cupboard and under tables.
This original brief is what has informed my personal practice for the majority of this term, I have found a theme that has become the base for an in-depth investigation.
As part of this course I have also been made aware of issues in my work that can be improved or more considered, one of these being how a piece of live art or performance is documented. Previous to this I had not seriously considered the way I document my works and the affect it has on the understanding of the work. Through discussions and visits during the elective I’ve realised the way in which work is documented is very significant, as this documentation becomes the only trace that is left of that moment. This record is all you are left with as an artist, the only indications of the event.
Another is conviction in work; I feel conviction should be more evident in my performances. This art form is all still relatively new to me and I have not fully overcome the shame issue that was discussed in the primary lesson. The role of catalysis rather than performer is I would have placed myself before this elective. My work has developed as a result of being pushed in to situations that I’m not completely secure in, and consequential I’m now more willing to try alternative kinds of performance.
Throughout I have been requested to question what I’m producing and reflect on my work as a whole. Taking into account how my work applies in a broader spectrum. This has aloud me to become more focused on what I want each performance or piece to portray. Thinking more carefully about how it will be received by the audience.
A piece of work can be made form the smallest thing, an object that would normally be unnoticed. Claes Oldenburgs essay ‘I am for an art…’ has inspired me to look at the finer details and the unexpected beauty of our surroundings, ‘ I am for the majestic art of dog-turds, rising like cathedrals.’ in performance we react to our surrounding, and you are completely immersed in what is happening in that moment.
Performance and live art is something that I have been interest in for some time. During the first term my practice seemed to naturally progress to work that could be described as performance. However I wasn’t sure were these games and activates I was inventing fitted in, and weather they had much value. Through my own research I started to become more informed about this unfamiliar art form, but the performance/live art elective has given me a much better understanding and a broader sense of what performance and live art practice can be.
What first lead me to undertake these initial activities, which could be described as performance, was a sense of restlessness and wanting to work in an active environment. I wanted to react to the everyday around me. The studio had always been a setting that I was not overly comfortable in; here my mind would go blank. It was a frustrating space to be in, sitting opposite blank walls.
The first brief set ‘being animal’, provided me with a system to make a piece of work I had wanted to do for a while. I would climb the studio space the way an animal might, rejecting the ’normal’ and the expected behaviour for this particular space. I would explore the unknown places, on top of cupboard and under tables.
This original brief is what has informed my personal practice for the majority of this term, I have found a theme that has become the base for an in-depth investigation.
As part of this course I have also been made aware of issues in my work that can be improved or more considered, one of these being how a piece of live art or performance is documented. Previous to this I had not seriously considered the way I document my works and the affect it has on the understanding of the work. Through discussions and visits during the elective I’ve realised the way in which work is documented is very significant, as this documentation becomes the only trace that is left of that moment. This record is all you are left with as an artist, the only indications of the event.
Another is conviction in work; I feel conviction should be more evident in my performances. This art form is all still relatively new to me and I have not fully overcome the shame issue that was discussed in the primary lesson. The role of catalysis rather than performer is I would have placed myself before this elective. My work has developed as a result of being pushed in to situations that I’m not completely secure in, and consequential I’m now more willing to try alternative kinds of performance.
Throughout I have been requested to question what I’m producing and reflect on my work as a whole. Taking into account how my work applies in a broader spectrum. This has aloud me to become more focused on what I want each performance or piece to portray. Thinking more carefully about how it will be received by the audience.
A piece of work can be made form the smallest thing, an object that would normally be unnoticed. Claes Oldenburgs essay ‘I am for an art…’ has inspired me to look at the finer details and the unexpected beauty of our surroundings, ‘ I am for the majestic art of dog-turds, rising like cathedrals.’ in performance we react to our surrounding, and you are completely immersed in what is happening in that moment.
Saturday 20 December 2008
I am for an art ...
by Claes Oldenburg
I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a staring point of zero.
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap & still comes out on top.
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.
I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.
I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways.
I am for an art that comes out of a chimney like black hair and scatters in the sky.
I am for an art that spills out of an old man's purse when he is bounced off a passing fender.
I am for the art out of a doggy's mouth, falling five stories from the roof.
I am for the art that a kid licks, after peeling away the wrapper.
I am for an art that joggles like everyones knees, when the bus traverses an excavation.
I am for art that is smoked, like a cigarette, smells, like a pair of shoes.
I am for art that flaps like a flag or helps blow noses, like a handkerchief.
I am for art that is put on and taken off, like pants, which develops holes, like socks, which is eaten, like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt, like a piece of shit.
I am for art covered with bandages, I am for art that limps and rolls and runs and jumps. I am for art comes in a can or washes up on the shore.
I am for art that coils and grunts like a wrestler. I am for art that sheds hair.
I am for art you can sit on. I am for art you can pick your nose with or stub your toes on.
I am for art from a pocket, from deep channels of the ear, from the edge of a knife, from the corners of the mouth, stuck in the eye or worn on the wrist.
I am for art under the skirts, and the art of pinching cockroaches.
I am for the art of conversation between the sidewalk and a blind mans metal stick.
I am for the art that grows in a pot, that comes down out of the skies at night, like lightning, that hides in the clouds and growls. I am for art that is flipped on and off with a switch.
I am for art that unfolds like a map, that you can squeeze, like your sweetys arm, or kiss, like a pet dog. Which expands and squeaks, like an accordion, which you can spill your dinner on, like an old tablecloth.
I am for an art that you can hammer with, stitch with, sew with, paste with, file with.
I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is.
I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.
I am for the art of the washing machine. I am for the art of a government check. I am for the art of last wars raincoat.
I am for the art that comes up in fogs from sewer-holes in winter. I am for the art that splits when you step on a frozen puddle. I am for the worms art inside the apple. I am for the art of sweat that develops between crossed legs.
I am for the art of neck-hair and caked tea-cups, for the art between the tines of restaurant forks, for odor of boiling dishwater.
I am for the art of sailing on Sunday, and the art of red and white gasoline pumps.
I am for the art of bright blue factory columns and blinking biscuit signs.
I am for the art of cheap plaster and enamel. I am for the art of worn marble and smashed slate. I am for the art of rolling cobblestones and sliding sand. I am for the art of slag and black coal. I am for the art of dead birds.
I am for the art of scratchings in the asphalt, daubing at the walls. I am for the art of bending and kicking metal and breaking glass, and pulling at things to make them fall down.
I am for the art of punching and skinned knees and sat-on bananas. I am for the art of kids' smells. I am for the art of mama-babble.
I am for the art of bar-babble, tooth-picking, beerdrinking, egg-salting, in-sulting. I am for the art of falling off a bartstool.
I am for the art of underwear and the art of taxicabs. I am for the art of ice-cream cones dropped on concrete. I am for the majestic art of dog-turds, rising like cathedrals.
I am for the blinking arts, lighting up the night. I am for art falling, splashing, wiggling, jumping, going on and off.
I am for the art of fat truck-tires and black eyes.
I am for Kool-art, 7-UP art, Pepsi-art, Sunshine art, 39 cents art, 15 cents art, Vatronol Art, Dro-bomb art, Vam art, Menthol art, L & M art Ex-lax art, Venida art, Heaven Hill art, Pamryl art, San-o-med art, Rx art, 9.99 art, Now art, New ar, How art, Fire sale art, Last Chance art, Only art, Diamond art, Tomorrow art, Franks art, Ducks art, Meat-o-rama art.
I am for the art of bread wet by rain. I am for the rat's dance between floors. I am for the art of flies walking on a slick pear in the electric light. I am for the art of soggy onions and firm green shoots. I am for the art of clicking among the nuts when the roaches come and go. I am for the brown sad art of rotting apples.
I am for the art of meowls and clatter of cats and for the art of their dumb electric eyes.
I am for the white art of refigerators and their muscular openings and closing.
I am for the art of rust and mold. I am for the art of hearts, funeral hearts or sweetheart hearts, full of nougat. I am for the art of worn meathooks and singing barrels of red, white, blue and yellow meat.
I am for the art of things lost or thrown away, coming home from school. I am for the art of cock-and-ball trees and flying cows and the noise of rectangles and squares. I am for for the art of crayons and weak grey pencil-lead, and grainy wash and sticky oil paint, and the art of windshield wipers and the art of the finger on a cold window, on dusty steel or in the bubbles on the sides of a bathtub.
I am for the art of teddy-bears and guns and decapitated rabbits, explodes umbrellas, raped beds, chairs with their brown bones broken, burning trees, firecracker ends, chicken bones, pigeon bones, and boxes with men sleeping in them.
I am for the art of slightly rotten funeral flowers, hung bloody rabbits and wrinkly yellow chickens, bass drums & tambourines, and plastic phonographs.
I am for the art of abandoned boxes, tied like pharohs. I am for an art of watertanks and speeding clouds and flapping shades.
I am for U.S. Government Inspected Art, Grade A art, Regular Price art, Yellow Ripe art, Extra Fancy art, Ready-to-eat art, Best-for-less art, Ready-to-cook art, Fully cleaned art, Spend Less art, Eat Better art, Ham art, Pork art, chicken art, tomato art, bana art, apple art, turkey art, cake art, cookie art.
add:
I am for an art that is combed down, that is hung from each ear, that is laid on the lips and under the eyes, that is shaved from the legs, that is burshed on the teeth, that is fixed on the thighs, that is slipped on the foot.
square which becomes blobby
May 1961
Source:
I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a staring point of zero.
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap & still comes out on top.
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.
I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.
I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways.
I am for an art that comes out of a chimney like black hair and scatters in the sky.
I am for an art that spills out of an old man's purse when he is bounced off a passing fender.
I am for the art out of a doggy's mouth, falling five stories from the roof.
I am for the art that a kid licks, after peeling away the wrapper.
I am for an art that joggles like everyones knees, when the bus traverses an excavation.
I am for art that is smoked, like a cigarette, smells, like a pair of shoes.
I am for art that flaps like a flag or helps blow noses, like a handkerchief.
I am for art that is put on and taken off, like pants, which develops holes, like socks, which is eaten, like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt, like a piece of shit.
I am for art covered with bandages, I am for art that limps and rolls and runs and jumps. I am for art comes in a can or washes up on the shore.
I am for art that coils and grunts like a wrestler. I am for art that sheds hair.
I am for art you can sit on. I am for art you can pick your nose with or stub your toes on.
I am for art from a pocket, from deep channels of the ear, from the edge of a knife, from the corners of the mouth, stuck in the eye or worn on the wrist.
I am for art under the skirts, and the art of pinching cockroaches.
I am for the art of conversation between the sidewalk and a blind mans metal stick.
I am for the art that grows in a pot, that comes down out of the skies at night, like lightning, that hides in the clouds and growls. I am for art that is flipped on and off with a switch.
I am for art that unfolds like a map, that you can squeeze, like your sweetys arm, or kiss, like a pet dog. Which expands and squeaks, like an accordion, which you can spill your dinner on, like an old tablecloth.
I am for an art that you can hammer with, stitch with, sew with, paste with, file with.
I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is.
I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.
I am for the art of the washing machine. I am for the art of a government check. I am for the art of last wars raincoat.
I am for the art that comes up in fogs from sewer-holes in winter. I am for the art that splits when you step on a frozen puddle. I am for the worms art inside the apple. I am for the art of sweat that develops between crossed legs.
I am for the art of neck-hair and caked tea-cups, for the art between the tines of restaurant forks, for odor of boiling dishwater.
I am for the art of sailing on Sunday, and the art of red and white gasoline pumps.
I am for the art of bright blue factory columns and blinking biscuit signs.
I am for the art of cheap plaster and enamel. I am for the art of worn marble and smashed slate. I am for the art of rolling cobblestones and sliding sand. I am for the art of slag and black coal. I am for the art of dead birds.
I am for the art of scratchings in the asphalt, daubing at the walls. I am for the art of bending and kicking metal and breaking glass, and pulling at things to make them fall down.
I am for the art of punching and skinned knees and sat-on bananas. I am for the art of kids' smells. I am for the art of mama-babble.
I am for the art of bar-babble, tooth-picking, beerdrinking, egg-salting, in-sulting. I am for the art of falling off a bartstool.
I am for the art of underwear and the art of taxicabs. I am for the art of ice-cream cones dropped on concrete. I am for the majestic art of dog-turds, rising like cathedrals.
I am for the blinking arts, lighting up the night. I am for art falling, splashing, wiggling, jumping, going on and off.
I am for the art of fat truck-tires and black eyes.
I am for Kool-art, 7-UP art, Pepsi-art, Sunshine art, 39 cents art, 15 cents art, Vatronol Art, Dro-bomb art, Vam art, Menthol art, L & M art Ex-lax art, Venida art, Heaven Hill art, Pamryl art, San-o-med art, Rx art, 9.99 art, Now art, New ar, How art, Fire sale art, Last Chance art, Only art, Diamond art, Tomorrow art, Franks art, Ducks art, Meat-o-rama art.
I am for the art of bread wet by rain. I am for the rat's dance between floors. I am for the art of flies walking on a slick pear in the electric light. I am for the art of soggy onions and firm green shoots. I am for the art of clicking among the nuts when the roaches come and go. I am for the brown sad art of rotting apples.
I am for the art of meowls and clatter of cats and for the art of their dumb electric eyes.
I am for the white art of refigerators and their muscular openings and closing.
I am for the art of rust and mold. I am for the art of hearts, funeral hearts or sweetheart hearts, full of nougat. I am for the art of worn meathooks and singing barrels of red, white, blue and yellow meat.
I am for the art of things lost or thrown away, coming home from school. I am for the art of cock-and-ball trees and flying cows and the noise of rectangles and squares. I am for for the art of crayons and weak grey pencil-lead, and grainy wash and sticky oil paint, and the art of windshield wipers and the art of the finger on a cold window, on dusty steel or in the bubbles on the sides of a bathtub.
I am for the art of teddy-bears and guns and decapitated rabbits, explodes umbrellas, raped beds, chairs with their brown bones broken, burning trees, firecracker ends, chicken bones, pigeon bones, and boxes with men sleeping in them.
I am for the art of slightly rotten funeral flowers, hung bloody rabbits and wrinkly yellow chickens, bass drums & tambourines, and plastic phonographs.
I am for the art of abandoned boxes, tied like pharohs. I am for an art of watertanks and speeding clouds and flapping shades.
I am for U.S. Government Inspected Art, Grade A art, Regular Price art, Yellow Ripe art, Extra Fancy art, Ready-to-eat art, Best-for-less art, Ready-to-cook art, Fully cleaned art, Spend Less art, Eat Better art, Ham art, Pork art, chicken art, tomato art, bana art, apple art, turkey art, cake art, cookie art.
add:
I am for an art that is combed down, that is hung from each ear, that is laid on the lips and under the eyes, that is shaved from the legs, that is burshed on the teeth, that is fixed on the thighs, that is slipped on the foot.
square which becomes blobby
May 1961
Source:
Monday 15 December 2008
Tuesday 2 December 2008
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Event theory
is a bit confusing…
Following is my attempt to grasp the initial ideas of event theory ….
An event can take many forms, they start with a screen. This is a setting for the event. So could be (using marks example) a café we decided to meet at for breakfast. The event has a place and a purpose.
We are going to meet have breakfast, perhaps have teas and with toast .we will chat about our plans for the day/evening. It’s a sunny morning so we sit outside. We might order more drinks (orange juice) final we pay and leave.
Or not. The thing with an event is that it’s unpredictable.
‘Chaos does not exist; it is an abstraction because it is inseparable from a screen that makes something-something rather than nothing –emerge from it.’
(Gilles Deleuze ‘whats is an event’)
I have played out the event how I imagine it event will unfold. (An event is the unfolding of life)
But of course this is not how it will happen, it will change due the ‘chaos’ factor.
We get to the café it’s closed (the screen has changed), its rainy. While trying to fine another we get wet. Cold and pissed off we order coffee in the local starbuck (boo).
Attempting to predict an event is futile
Live art is an event. So as an artist when I make a piece I am creating an event.
A setting/screen has been chosen. A time /place. And there is a (basic) plan to follow.
But a huge part of the work is letting chaos in.
The performance needs these inputs to process. The chance encounters.
If you put an event in motion something has to occur/ happen, you just can’t predict what, and let each minute unfold.
(if this is completely wrong please let me know, someone?)
Also
We talked about the process we go through while making work.
Because although the process is more obvious in a piece of performance, as the effect has a direct and immediate input. This also happen in a painting/ drawing etc. as everything has a period of time in which it was created. What took place in this segment of time? Everything happening around affects the process of making. And in turn the making process affect you. (working late into the night on a detailed drawing you wake up the next day tired and bleary eyed.)
Things to think about...
- Consider why I’m making work, what is instructing me to do so.
- What types of work do I create, why?
- Why do I want to create these things, what are the reasons behind each piece?
- Reflect on my work as a whole, what links each piece
- Apply it to a broader spectrum.
Those bullet point repeat themselves?( I just want to get these thoughts down so you will have to forgive me).
Thinking about my practice and how it will one day have to stands alone in the world scares me.
Just making work is not enough, there has to be reasons/depth within it.
I would say my work is about me trying to identify with and understand the world around me. And the many layers of this place in which we exist.
Were do I fit in? (too open?)
This started with me wanted to find out about the people around me, not the ones I know (they weren’t interesting) but the people rushing around me in the city. Each one had somewhere to go / or somewhere they wanted to go.
But were? Was it somewhere exciting/ dreary/ unknown/new?
I needed to find out, so I picked one of these bodies from a crowd and followed them.
Recording what I found intriguing about them (shoes, walk, glasses etc)
Making up what type of person they were.( were they lived, children they may have, hobbies, problems ,jobs etc)
These people (who I have records of, who I remember) don’t know me, but I have a tiny insight into their lives on that day.
They showed me around the city.
And now when I come across these places. I have a connection.
I was interested in conversations that took place in certain parts of the city.
I recoded walks I took in London, in parks, along the river, in shops.
Extracting the snippets of overhead conversations;
(‘ I just never thought of him until I saw Phil’ ‘more expensive then hers then?’)
Putting the back in place in the form of text. Taking these offhand comments (?) and making them visible.
This developed in to using the city as a place to play games. Rules were the basis of the games.
The people of the city joined in our games without realising. Their everyday action/appearance informed our action and appearances. They were our focus as we tried to find out place in the city.
i explored what happened when my space(my room) was relocated in the city.
how could a mark it as my space. with objects/belongings.
Recently my focus has shifted to the spaces directly surrounding me. Considering how I approach and react to these spaces.
For more details on this follow the link :thisisanon-space.blogspot.com
answers to these questions soon.....
Following is my attempt to grasp the initial ideas of event theory ….
An event can take many forms, they start with a screen. This is a setting for the event. So could be (using marks example) a café we decided to meet at for breakfast. The event has a place and a purpose.
We are going to meet have breakfast, perhaps have teas and with toast .we will chat about our plans for the day/evening. It’s a sunny morning so we sit outside. We might order more drinks (orange juice) final we pay and leave.
Or not. The thing with an event is that it’s unpredictable.
‘Chaos does not exist; it is an abstraction because it is inseparable from a screen that makes something-something rather than nothing –emerge from it.’
(Gilles Deleuze ‘whats is an event’)
I have played out the event how I imagine it event will unfold. (An event is the unfolding of life)
But of course this is not how it will happen, it will change due the ‘chaos’ factor.
We get to the café it’s closed (the screen has changed), its rainy. While trying to fine another we get wet. Cold and pissed off we order coffee in the local starbuck (boo).
Attempting to predict an event is futile
Live art is an event. So as an artist when I make a piece I am creating an event.
A setting/screen has been chosen. A time /place. And there is a (basic) plan to follow.
But a huge part of the work is letting chaos in.
The performance needs these inputs to process. The chance encounters.
If you put an event in motion something has to occur/ happen, you just can’t predict what, and let each minute unfold.
(if this is completely wrong please let me know, someone?)
Also
We talked about the process we go through while making work.
Because although the process is more obvious in a piece of performance, as the effect has a direct and immediate input. This also happen in a painting/ drawing etc. as everything has a period of time in which it was created. What took place in this segment of time? Everything happening around affects the process of making. And in turn the making process affect you. (working late into the night on a detailed drawing you wake up the next day tired and bleary eyed.)
Things to think about...
- Consider why I’m making work, what is instructing me to do so.
- What types of work do I create, why?
- Why do I want to create these things, what are the reasons behind each piece?
- Reflect on my work as a whole, what links each piece
- Apply it to a broader spectrum.
Those bullet point repeat themselves?( I just want to get these thoughts down so you will have to forgive me).
Thinking about my practice and how it will one day have to stands alone in the world scares me.
Just making work is not enough, there has to be reasons/depth within it.
I would say my work is about me trying to identify with and understand the world around me. And the many layers of this place in which we exist.
Were do I fit in? (too open?)
This started with me wanted to find out about the people around me, not the ones I know (they weren’t interesting) but the people rushing around me in the city. Each one had somewhere to go / or somewhere they wanted to go.
But were? Was it somewhere exciting/ dreary/ unknown/new?
I needed to find out, so I picked one of these bodies from a crowd and followed them.
Recording what I found intriguing about them (shoes, walk, glasses etc)
Making up what type of person they were.( were they lived, children they may have, hobbies, problems ,jobs etc)
These people (who I have records of, who I remember) don’t know me, but I have a tiny insight into their lives on that day.
They showed me around the city.
And now when I come across these places. I have a connection.
I was interested in conversations that took place in certain parts of the city.
I recoded walks I took in London, in parks, along the river, in shops.
Extracting the snippets of overhead conversations;
(‘ I just never thought of him until I saw Phil’ ‘more expensive then hers then?’)
Putting the back in place in the form of text. Taking these offhand comments (?) and making them visible.
This developed in to using the city as a place to play games. Rules were the basis of the games.
The people of the city joined in our games without realising. Their everyday action/appearance informed our action and appearances. They were our focus as we tried to find out place in the city.
i explored what happened when my space(my room) was relocated in the city.
how could a mark it as my space. with objects/belongings.
Recently my focus has shifted to the spaces directly surrounding me. Considering how I approach and react to these spaces.
For more details on this follow the link :thisisanon-space.blogspot.com
answers to these questions soon.....
Sunday 16 November 2008
Monday 10 November 2008
Protest
As a group we have come up with an ideas to protest against builders wolf whistling (or general leering, shouting and being horrible dirty men!) at women (and anyone else for that matter) .
I suppose this is a bit tongue in cheek, but at the same time it’s really intimidating and degrading when it happens to you.
Any woman who says they take it as a complement needs their head checking!
I think the idea at the moment is to give the builders a taste of their own medicine.
By harassing and wolf whistling them. But its early days and this might change.
There is a separate Blog for this project and the address is: http://wolf-whistle-back.blogspot.com/
Dates/time/places will be posted on here nearer the time. I hope other people will get involved!
I suppose this is a bit tongue in cheek, but at the same time it’s really intimidating and degrading when it happens to you.
Any woman who says they take it as a complement needs their head checking!
I think the idea at the moment is to give the builders a taste of their own medicine.
By harassing and wolf whistling them. But its early days and this might change.
There is a separate Blog for this project and the address is: http://wolf-whistle-back.blogspot.com/
Dates/time/places will be posted on here nearer the time. I hope other people will get involved!
The POWER of performance lies in it not really being there......
The POWER of Performance lies in it not really being there...
The different between Performance art and other Arts…
Take Sculpture for example: You can go and visit it, you can walk around it, and it’s an unchanging physical thing that has been placed in an environment. In years to come you can revisit it, and it will be the same, you might feel differently, but you are receiving the same information.
A piece of work that is performed only exist for a few moments, there are a limited number of witnesses to the actual event. It exists is a completely different way to other art.
Yes its true there are documentation of the work. In forms of film/images etc but this is never going to be the same as the actual event. You can never re stage the event as it was at first.
The narrative of a performance is very important and takes place in three stages: before/during/after.
‘Performance art is the runt of the litter in contemporary art’.
‘within the history of theatre the real is what the theatre defines itself against’
(Quotes from Unmarked by Peggy Phelan)
The different between Performance art and other Arts…
Take Sculpture for example: You can go and visit it, you can walk around it, and it’s an unchanging physical thing that has been placed in an environment. In years to come you can revisit it, and it will be the same, you might feel differently, but you are receiving the same information.
A piece of work that is performed only exist for a few moments, there are a limited number of witnesses to the actual event. It exists is a completely different way to other art.
Yes its true there are documentation of the work. In forms of film/images etc but this is never going to be the same as the actual event. You can never re stage the event as it was at first.
The narrative of a performance is very important and takes place in three stages: before/during/after.
‘Performance art is the runt of the litter in contemporary art’.
‘within the history of theatre the real is what the theatre defines itself against’
(Quotes from Unmarked by Peggy Phelan)
Sunday 9 November 2008
Documentation of performance.
‘Live art development agency offers a portfolio of resource, professional development schemes, and projects and initiatives for the support and development of live art practices and discourses in London, the uk and internationally. The agency is committed to working strategically, in partnership, and consultation with artist and organisations in the cultural sector.’
(Statement taken from live Art Development Agency leaflet)
I gained a lot from the visit to the Live Art Development agency. The first was realising the support available for artist working in the live art sector. Sessions can be booked for one on one advice, artistic development schemes are available and loads of other things that help you on your way (I didn’t really know these places existed). And the study room with its vast number of resources of Live Art related publications including: DVDs, videos, cd-roms, magazines and journals. It’s an amazing place to go for research and to explore new artist and to explore the huge range of ways you can document your work.
I have never really fully considered how I document my performances. Just used the normal ways of recording a moment: photos, film, and objects/relics that were used in the performance. But the discussion we had on Monday opened my eyes to how carefully I must consider the ways I document my work. This becomes the trace that is left of that moment. This becomes a record of your work and its what you are left with as an artist.
The thing to do is document your work in as much ways as possible, video, photo, sound recording, writing about it, drawings, relics, objects. Then you have a choice afterward and lots of material to work with. Every little detail must be considered, as the person that is viewing the work will read into everything.
Quality of the work is important. Printing off a few pictures on a bit of old paper is not enough. These things have to be considered as they all add and take away from how your work is portrayed.
You can control the documentation of you work. The performance could have been shit, but the pictures could make it look incredible. Does is have to tell the truth? No.
So now I have to consider all these things when I make a documentation of our spur of the moment performances at Tate. (Pictures shown a few posts below) this is a challenge because they were quick and we were in a very controlled environment (the Tate has a lot of rules, no filming, no pictures etc) so I could only document it using a phone camera.
Perhaps in this case the rubbish quality adds to the images, Colours are intensified and images are grainy.
A book/ leaflet could be an interesting way to document these. Perhaps with diagrams of the poses I am mirroring. So the viewer could also pose in this way. Adding another layer to the work and making it interactive?
(Statement taken from live Art Development Agency leaflet)
I gained a lot from the visit to the Live Art Development agency. The first was realising the support available for artist working in the live art sector. Sessions can be booked for one on one advice, artistic development schemes are available and loads of other things that help you on your way (I didn’t really know these places existed). And the study room with its vast number of resources of Live Art related publications including: DVDs, videos, cd-roms, magazines and journals. It’s an amazing place to go for research and to explore new artist and to explore the huge range of ways you can document your work.
I have never really fully considered how I document my performances. Just used the normal ways of recording a moment: photos, film, and objects/relics that were used in the performance. But the discussion we had on Monday opened my eyes to how carefully I must consider the ways I document my work. This becomes the trace that is left of that moment. This becomes a record of your work and its what you are left with as an artist.
The thing to do is document your work in as much ways as possible, video, photo, sound recording, writing about it, drawings, relics, objects. Then you have a choice afterward and lots of material to work with. Every little detail must be considered, as the person that is viewing the work will read into everything.
Quality of the work is important. Printing off a few pictures on a bit of old paper is not enough. These things have to be considered as they all add and take away from how your work is portrayed.
You can control the documentation of you work. The performance could have been shit, but the pictures could make it look incredible. Does is have to tell the truth? No.
So now I have to consider all these things when I make a documentation of our spur of the moment performances at Tate. (Pictures shown a few posts below) this is a challenge because they were quick and we were in a very controlled environment (the Tate has a lot of rules, no filming, no pictures etc) so I could only document it using a phone camera.
Perhaps in this case the rubbish quality adds to the images, Colours are intensified and images are grainy.
A book/ leaflet could be an interesting way to document these. Perhaps with diagrams of the poses I am mirroring. So the viewer could also pose in this way. Adding another layer to the work and making it interactive?
Monday 27 October 2008
deep play/dark play
Help
I have to take a risk
I have to do something that scares me ( and that could be embarrassing and make me stand out)
The consequences could be good or bad.
I want to take a RISK. Push myself further, do something that I no maybe I shouldn’t be doing (and that’s the whole fun) ……danger?
To do something half hearted is worse then doing nothing at all.
But its easier to stay at home and do little drawings (of buildings and memories) and drink tea.
Its effort to go out and do something in the REAL world
Something that brings on shame
Embrace the shame and then you will be powerful (!?)
Also
I need to protest.
But who for, or against?
Artist/people I have looked at for ideas are Daniel Lehan, Mark Thomas and of course Mark Wallinger.
Mark Thomas a comedian and campaigner, among other things , is protesting against not being able to protest. So against the Serious Organised Crime and Police act 2005, which prevents any demonstrations around and in Parliament Square. With out prior notice to the police. the last event that was organized attracted over 100 ‘lone protesters’. In 2006 he was added to the Guinness Book of Records for most demonstrations held on one day, 20 individual protests in 20 different locations.
Everyone wants something to change even if as little as FREE TEA for students???????
The Serious Organised Crime and Police act could (probably was) have been brought on as a result of Brian Haws peace protest outside parliament.
Mark Thomas (2004):
" ...Now they wish to evict Brian from his place of protest. Maybe because he is an embarrassment to such a war mongering government. Whatever their reason it is wrong. A democracy that can not stand one man and some placards outside its front doors doesn't seem to have much faith in itself. That is why I support Brian for Parliament."(From http://www.parliament-square.org.uk/ Brian website)
Artist mark Wallinger recreated this protest for a Tate Britain show. See at http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/wallinger/
Finally
Daniel Lehans work which is witty and straight to the point. Nice I think you will agree!
http://www.daniel-lehan.com/
I have to take a risk
I have to do something that scares me ( and that could be embarrassing and make me stand out)
The consequences could be good or bad.
I want to take a RISK. Push myself further, do something that I no maybe I shouldn’t be doing (and that’s the whole fun) ……danger?
To do something half hearted is worse then doing nothing at all.
But its easier to stay at home and do little drawings (of buildings and memories) and drink tea.
Its effort to go out and do something in the REAL world
Something that brings on shame
Embrace the shame and then you will be powerful (!?)
Also
I need to protest.
But who for, or against?
Artist/people I have looked at for ideas are Daniel Lehan, Mark Thomas and of course Mark Wallinger.
Mark Thomas a comedian and campaigner, among other things , is protesting against not being able to protest. So against the Serious Organised Crime and Police act 2005, which prevents any demonstrations around and in Parliament Square. With out prior notice to the police. the last event that was organized attracted over 100 ‘lone protesters’. In 2006 he was added to the Guinness Book of Records for most demonstrations held on one day, 20 individual protests in 20 different locations.
Everyone wants something to change even if as little as FREE TEA for students???????
The Serious Organised Crime and Police act could (probably was) have been brought on as a result of Brian Haws peace protest outside parliament.
Mark Thomas (2004):
" ...Now they wish to evict Brian from his place of protest. Maybe because he is an embarrassment to such a war mongering government. Whatever their reason it is wrong. A democracy that can not stand one man and some placards outside its front doors doesn't seem to have much faith in itself. That is why I support Brian for Parliament."(From http://www.parliament-square.org.uk/ Brian website)
Artist mark Wallinger recreated this protest for a Tate Britain show. See at http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/wallinger/
Finally
Daniel Lehans work which is witty and straight to the point. Nice I think you will agree!
http://www.daniel-lehan.com/
Alfred Jarry……………
was a very eccentric man,
He liked to drink, take drugs, and write plays, essays, poetry and speculative journalism.
He had a gift for pranks and was a trouble marker at school.
He was left a small inheritance when he parents died which he quickly spent,
Around this time he also discovered the pleasure of alcohol- he called it his
‘my sacred herb’
And his favoured of all was the ‘green goddess’…..absinthe.
To express his love to the goddess he once painted his face green and rode around the town on his bike.
He had to join the army in 1894.
He did not respond to discipline very well.
He was a tiny man and the smallest army uniform was still to big- it ended with him being made exempt from marching drills…….. He was too much of a distraction in his huge uniform.
He was excused in the end for medical reason.
Jarry and others (Leon Deschamps, Remy de Gourmont) were the ones that introduced Marinett to the principles of ‘free verse’ while they were involved in the literary magazine La Plume.
He is best know for his play Ubu Roi, which is often cited as the forunner to the theatre of the absurd . Ubu Roi was a slapstick production modelled on an earlier play he had created as a 15-year-old schoolboy. It poked fun at his well meaning /obese /incompetent physics teacher.
He was sometimes grotesque and misunderstood.
The opening line to Ubu Roi , which was shown in 1896 at Lugne-poe’s theatre de L’oeuvre, was ‘medre’…………
Which translates to shitter/ shikt/ shitsky
Pandemonium broke out,
The response was mixed. Some hailed him a hero others reacted violently.
The theatre de L’oeuvre became famous after only two performances of Ubu Roi.
And so did 23-year-old Jarry.
As a result he became immersed in his own fiction.
Adopting ridiculous and pedantic figures of speech.
Referring to himself in the third person.
He called the wind ‘that which blows’. He called his bike which he rode everywhere ‘that which rolls’.
Moving in to a flat that was once one flat but had been horizontally divided into two.
He could stand……………….Guests had to bend over or crouch.
He took to carrying a loaded pistol.
And lived in worsening poverty, neglecting his heath, he drunk excessively.
Alfred Jarrys Ubu Roi still retained a special place in the history of performance scandal.
He was a sort of hero to the Parisian Dadaists.
Many young artist in Paris sort him out….including max jacob.
He died in Paris in Nov 1907, from tuberculosis.
Later Picasso acquired his pistol.
It was recorded that his last request was for a Toothpick.
He liked to drink, take drugs, and write plays, essays, poetry and speculative journalism.
He had a gift for pranks and was a trouble marker at school.
He was left a small inheritance when he parents died which he quickly spent,
Around this time he also discovered the pleasure of alcohol- he called it his
‘my sacred herb’
And his favoured of all was the ‘green goddess’…..absinthe.
To express his love to the goddess he once painted his face green and rode around the town on his bike.
He had to join the army in 1894.
He did not respond to discipline very well.
He was a tiny man and the smallest army uniform was still to big- it ended with him being made exempt from marching drills…….. He was too much of a distraction in his huge uniform.
He was excused in the end for medical reason.
Jarry and others (Leon Deschamps, Remy de Gourmont) were the ones that introduced Marinett to the principles of ‘free verse’ while they were involved in the literary magazine La Plume.
He is best know for his play Ubu Roi, which is often cited as the forunner to the theatre of the absurd . Ubu Roi was a slapstick production modelled on an earlier play he had created as a 15-year-old schoolboy. It poked fun at his well meaning /obese /incompetent physics teacher.
He was sometimes grotesque and misunderstood.
The opening line to Ubu Roi , which was shown in 1896 at Lugne-poe’s theatre de L’oeuvre, was ‘medre’…………
Which translates to shitter/ shikt/ shitsky
Pandemonium broke out,
The response was mixed. Some hailed him a hero others reacted violently.
The theatre de L’oeuvre became famous after only two performances of Ubu Roi.
And so did 23-year-old Jarry.
As a result he became immersed in his own fiction.
Adopting ridiculous and pedantic figures of speech.
Referring to himself in the third person.
He called the wind ‘that which blows’. He called his bike which he rode everywhere ‘that which rolls’.
Moving in to a flat that was once one flat but had been horizontally divided into two.
He could stand……………….Guests had to bend over or crouch.
He took to carrying a loaded pistol.
And lived in worsening poverty, neglecting his heath, he drunk excessively.
Alfred Jarrys Ubu Roi still retained a special place in the history of performance scandal.
He was a sort of hero to the Parisian Dadaists.
Many young artist in Paris sort him out….including max jacob.
He died in Paris in Nov 1907, from tuberculosis.
Later Picasso acquired his pistol.
It was recorded that his last request was for a Toothpick.
Friday 24 October 2008
Thursday 23 October 2008
Monday 20 October 2008
Intervention in Tate
We tried out some performances in the Tate, but the employees were aware of us before we had even entered the building as the result of a performance piece on the steps.
Here are some pictures of me trying to understand paintings better by copying how other people view it.
and another of just copying he pose in the painting?????
Here are some pictures of me trying to understand paintings better by copying how other people view it.
and another of just copying he pose in the painting?????
NO RUNNING IN THE GALLERY
Today as an elective we scared the Tate employees and went to see Martin Creeds Work No. 850 .
This is what Tate says about his work:
Work No. 850 centres on a simple idea: that a person will run as fast as they can every thirty seconds through the gallery. Each run is followed by an equivalent pause, like a musical rest, during which the grand Neoclassical gallery is empty.
This work celebrates physicality and the human spirit. Creed has instructed the runners to sprint as if their lives depended on it. Bringing together people from different backgrounds from all over London, Work No. 850 presents the beauty of human movement in its purest form, a recurring yet infinitely variable line drawn between two points.
(ttp://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/duveenscommission/about.shtm
This piece changed the gallery atmosphere dramatically. One of the aspects I found most interesting was the time after the runner, were people who had only just entered the space caught a glimpse of this running figure disappear round a corner. The buzz of silence afterwards. You could still feel the presents of the runner after they had gone. Everyone in the space was a part of the work and could dictate were they ran .The runners frequently had to change their path when someone got in the way.
It was also good to view the work from different places. From between pillars so you only catch a second of the power passing you by.
The sound to thudding feet hitting the floor echoed around the room so your aware of their existence even if you can see them.
In the discussions we had afterward someone commented on how it compared to other works by Creed. All his works are very precise and contemporary. This one is messier around the edges; more is left up to chance. I like the way He can’t have complete control over each runner. Even though they have been given the same instruction there are many factors that can differ depending on the person running.
Some are faster; some have to go a longer way around to avoid people. All these nameless people make the work what it is.
This is what Tate says about his work:
Work No. 850 centres on a simple idea: that a person will run as fast as they can every thirty seconds through the gallery. Each run is followed by an equivalent pause, like a musical rest, during which the grand Neoclassical gallery is empty.
This work celebrates physicality and the human spirit. Creed has instructed the runners to sprint as if their lives depended on it. Bringing together people from different backgrounds from all over London, Work No. 850 presents the beauty of human movement in its purest form, a recurring yet infinitely variable line drawn between two points.
(ttp://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/duveenscommission/about.shtm
This piece changed the gallery atmosphere dramatically. One of the aspects I found most interesting was the time after the runner, were people who had only just entered the space caught a glimpse of this running figure disappear round a corner. The buzz of silence afterwards. You could still feel the presents of the runner after they had gone. Everyone in the space was a part of the work and could dictate were they ran .The runners frequently had to change their path when someone got in the way.
It was also good to view the work from different places. From between pillars so you only catch a second of the power passing you by.
The sound to thudding feet hitting the floor echoed around the room so your aware of their existence even if you can see them.
In the discussions we had afterward someone commented on how it compared to other works by Creed. All his works are very precise and contemporary. This one is messier around the edges; more is left up to chance. I like the way He can’t have complete control over each runner. Even though they have been given the same instruction there are many factors that can differ depending on the person running.
Some are faster; some have to go a longer way around to avoid people. All these nameless people make the work what it is.
Wednesday 15 October 2008
BEING animal/thinking ANIMAL
Video from first class with Mark:
I’m Thinking about 'being animal' project, but not getting very far. I might just try and film some bits and see what happens, i should stop over thinking everything and just do it because its fun. Actually I was in our studio today, and usually when I’m in there my mind goes BLANK. Think its something about all the white walls and the pressure from other students around me(I feel like there watching ME )anyway I looked at the space and saw it not as a place to sit but a place to climb, explore and change. Boards have been left up from the final degree show and there’s a space in between the wall and the boards. A non-space were only dust goes. Just the sort of place my cat would explore… ..... And as for Alfred jerry all I know is that he loved to drink and put on crazy plays.
ALSO I want to work out these small interventions I can construct at the Tate on Monday. Found this video ages ago of some sweet performances at Tate Modern, this is just the kind of thing that makes me wish I thought of it first( link http://www.tate.org.uk/tateshots/episode.jsp?item=9481 )
I’m Thinking about 'being animal' project, but not getting very far. I might just try and film some bits and see what happens, i should stop over thinking everything and just do it because its fun. Actually I was in our studio today, and usually when I’m in there my mind goes BLANK. Think its something about all the white walls and the pressure from other students around me(I feel like there watching ME )anyway I looked at the space and saw it not as a place to sit but a place to climb, explore and change. Boards have been left up from the final degree show and there’s a space in between the wall and the boards. A non-space were only dust goes. Just the sort of place my cat would explore… ..... And as for Alfred jerry all I know is that he loved to drink and put on crazy plays.
ALSO I want to work out these small interventions I can construct at the Tate on Monday. Found this video ages ago of some sweet performances at Tate Modern, this is just the kind of thing that makes me wish I thought of it first( link http://www.tate.org.uk/tateshots/episode.jsp?item=9481 )
Monday 13 October 2008
second year shame
Today was good…….
I think I understand marks work better now, we watched a show reel of his work, some of which I had seem before. It’s amazing how much media coverage he gets and how quickly newspapers pick up a story and run with it. I couldn’t help but notice during the news reports the anchors doing there best to look very disapproving (especially the women, one even shock her head is distaste!)
But I wish I didn’t get so nervous when is came to the video recordings. It was fine then the person next to say 'your next’. And the space felt so big and empty I was all on my own but people were watching. I really annoy myself sometimes.
I’m looking forward to doing the ‘performance’ art history, I could just make up the history of Alfred Jarry and everyone would take this to be the truth (except I wont of course.)
I think I understand marks work better now, we watched a show reel of his work, some of which I had seem before. It’s amazing how much media coverage he gets and how quickly newspapers pick up a story and run with it. I couldn’t help but notice during the news reports the anchors doing there best to look very disapproving (especially the women, one even shock her head is distaste!)
But I wish I didn’t get so nervous when is came to the video recordings. It was fine then the person next to say 'your next’. And the space felt so big and empty I was all on my own but people were watching. I really annoy myself sometimes.
I’m looking forward to doing the ‘performance’ art history, I could just make up the history of Alfred Jarry and everyone would take this to be the truth (except I wont of course.)
Wednesday 8 October 2008
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Lay your table the Lawley way
Sophie Calle : if I could be another person I would be Sophie.A French writer, photographer, artist...
She makes rules the dictate her day and plays games with life. Some of her Ideas have fed directly in to my work, for instant the following (not forgetting vito Acconci), although I guess ive moved on a bit from this now.
Performance has been in the forefront of my mind for a while, but I hadn’t found one word to describe these things I was reading about (being carried around the city by its occupants, eating only a certain colour of food for a day, dragging a stick along railings…) and these things I wanted to do but not as ART just games ( follow people and guess who they were, be a different person for a day, start walking not knowing were I was going but recording the noise around me) .until a year or so ago my only real though about ‘performance art’ were it involved rolling around naked covered in paint (hmp) .
My knowledge on this subject broadened after writing a research essay on Performance art that explore the use of audience participation, something I want to explore further (I will include the essay in this blog).
The electives I hoping will open my eyes to performance in a much broader sense. These are some of the things I like to do in my work and what I thought about in our first elective discussion.
• Use my surroundings (the city, public places) as a studio space. I like to have time to do drawings etc in a room with a desk but most of the time I find this place stagnant and I feel like time has stopped. I want to go out in to the real world, see people move around, objects working together, sounds competing.
• Letting go, becoming someone else or adopting another person’s movements. I think this is why following was challenging at first because it so hard to completely stop thinking about was you want to go and let a stranger lead. You have no ideas were they are going but its exciting and refreshing. You don’t have to think about yourself just about not losing them and keeping them in sight. Walking with out a destination, and being carried along by the crowd just enjoying the sites around you.
• Performance is exciting because it’s happening in the moment, is unpredictable. Everything that’s happening in the space/place at that time can contribute to the piece (for better or worse)
• The relationship between Audiences and performer is a thing of much concern for me. Works that have audience interaction interest me ( essay explains this fully)
• Doing performances in public places. I really like the ideas of this little girl going round Ikea and trying out all the beds. For her to do this was perfectly natural, this is of course what beds are for. Small intervention in to normal everyday life can be really effective, they make you look inwards.
I feel like there’s a lot to think about and I want to research more artist including Diana cooper and the Situationist, and also get ‘Perform’ by Jens Hoffmann and Jona Jonas out the library. It was really interesting to here other peoples thoughts on performance. I haven’t really ever spoken to many people about it . And my performances are more like games then anything, maybe I have to become a bit more serious and start asking myself why im doing these things?
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