Thinking about taboos… also the idea of a performance piece being documented by video or photograph if it needs to be witnessed in order to be a performance piece if the viewing of it can be accidental… and the possible implications not wearing shoes in western society… about Marina Abramovic saying she no longer did pieces about endurance… The shoe throwing political protestor… use of another taboo.
Yes it was bitterly cold, slippery and surprisingly challenging to let myself do. Very worried about explaining to any other walkers what I was doing and why.
Image Marina Abramovic presents….from the Manchester International festival 2009.
Marina Abramovic interview Journal of Contemporary Art, Inc. June 1990
essay
December 4, 2009
Had a really kind email from May in response to a weblog I’d posted for Tuesday’s chat (see the post below) discussing the learning outcomes. It was lucky I posted it as Jonathan made some points and highlighted some issues with it. Here’s the chat:
‘ there are several slide show options including my favourite option, which is to upload your pics to flickr (I have this theory that flickr host photos, that is all they do so why should we host them on our sites and fill up the space, just use flickr, same with video, use youtube or vimeo) anyway, once pics on in flickr you can them get a feed from your photos and create a slideshow in worpdress and if you make any changes to the flickr pics, like new tags or extra pics in automatically updates
….Susan i realise it was an experiment, the work and the use of the slide show but maybe you could comment more on how you think the experiment went, at the moment you simply describe the work which is fine but we also need to see a little more comment about how ou felt making it, did you feel it was successful, if so why, what worked well, what would you develop further; and if it didn’t work well how did you feel about that, what would you change, what did you change, etc etc…. ‘
So I have updated the post in italics to show the amendments.
And here’s is May’s email:
‘Something related to your work … whilst I was in think airport catching a flight back to London, there were these art pieces on display in the departure lounge. They were done by recent graduates. One graduate did a series of items of clothing – gloves, socks, shirts. The clothing pieces were each dipped into wet clay and then the pieces were put into the stove (sorry… I don’t know what the process is called when u fire clay to dry). Anyway, once that process was done, the heat would burn the clothing material so that all that was left was the clay casts it made.
The artists’ concept was that the clay left the impression of the person as the item was gone and all that was left was the essence of it.
There was also a shirt that exhibited that was made up of several square pieces of clay attached together to make up the shirt. I think each piece was from a different item of clothing belonging to the person that wore the shirt or something like that. If I recall correctly, the meaning behind it was the garments that were a part of the person’s life – their essence formed part of the person/ person’s life.
I saw your pictures of the skirt and the walking idea and it reminded me of the exhibit I saw 
I like the concept of the items leaving their essence and imprint into the cast that was left behind… kind of like footsteps left behind after walking ’
I was really grateful to May for this email. The theme of exhibition she describes deals with some of the ideas I have been looking at. Also it gave me the incentive to start making some practical work again.
Tried continuing this thread of ideas from White Sheet and August Steps 2009 in these 2 photos below:
The top photo, wearing pointe shoes that are no longer used, no longer a part of my daily life, and the second of the marks left on my feet from having worn them. This idea follows on from earlier work where I drew on my body causing urticaria. Showing the impact on my body of a particular physical history
In the essay (apologies it will get posted am behind and need to catch up with a few things including learning outcomes.), I refer to common phrases about walking E.G. ‘Walking on egg shells’.
What does it feel like walking on egg shells? Started taking some photos and filming video sketches today.
Made the following slide show (not yet on flickr sorry … next one will be) to be viewed as though a flick book to generate the movement.
My project began as an attempt to question the link between our movements and our identities and understand if our engagement with mundane physical activities may be seen to contain relevance.
I have narrowed down the range of movements to focus on walking, an activity unique to humans, in an attempt to provide a framework to examine some of the issues around the lived body.
White sheet was an early piece that incorporated the use of mundane movements; in it I tried hiding the body with the sheet to express the idea of the hidden, unconsidered body.
I used the format of slide share in order to create a very basic form of interaction with the piece. These are themes I would like to develop within the final piece.
The things that worked about this piece:
The camera set up.
Using a video clip to lift stills from.
Using an activity that hides/traps the body.
What would I develop further from this piece?
Save slide sequences as iMovies and incorporate sequences in to Korsakow to keep interactive element.
The things that didn’t work in this piece:
The imagery is too soft /hackneyed it doesn’t convey the idea strongly enough. It is too pleasing.
I wasn’t clear enough about viewing slide show quickly like a flick book to create the sense of movement rather than as a series of photos.
Haven‘t provided clear rationale for using slow motion.
What would change next time?
Imagery.
Might also try speeding up sequences.
Provide a clearer rationale for image speed.
I am going through a phase where can’t seem to keep up with the course: going through the learning outcomes/assessment for unit one; thinking about the essay, trying to keep up with the chat content.
I realised today that a key element about walking for me is that it represents a freedom. A political freedom: anti capitalist not be reliant on money for a car, bus, whatever. I have never thought about the political implications. There was just a satisfaction in walking from A to B. That’s an issue that comes from the virtual walking environments currently being developed… lack of freedom. I will need to pay. Someone else will prescribe my views, my interaction, and sensory experience. Those implications worry me.
I was born and grew up in London. My family didn’t own a car and there wasn’t much money, if you wanted to go somewhere you walked. I would regularly walk from Kilburn where we lived to Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square or the Tate gallery and back again, without thinking about it.
Walking represents a personal freedom I never queried until health issues, location and transport became factors to me. For one reason or another it has become problematical to rely on walking and I realized that the small films I’ve made about walking for the course in some ways have acted as a document of that contrast.
It took writing the essay to make me realise these issues. It feels like not having seen something because it was too close. I wish I’d had had this overview before writing the essay but can start to take these ideas forwards from having engaged through the essay.
The essay is nearly finished. Just waiting for proof reading, and to do the layout, etc… It has proved a far more rewarding experience than I thought. Just to have done the reading at that depth, even if it hasn’t all been absorbed or put in the right context. Might not have done a good essay, but have found it a positive way of asking questions and opened up to ideas and exposed thought patterns that weren’t very useful but are proving very hard to root out… Think like a lot of the course the pay off will come later down the line, and it can be filed as another learning curve.
Next Post
November 19, 2009
Been thinking about Jackson Pollock, and Pollock’s interest in Jungian psychology. Reading around some of Jung’s ideas and considering Pollock as an archetypical hero in Jungian terminology.
Here is a web definition of Jung’s archetype of the hero:
‘The hero basically represents the ego. The hero is something we all identify with, something we all want to project to the world: a balanced, gallant personality with the ability to face obstacle with grace and strength. However, the hero is very ignorant of the unconscious, just like the ego is. The hero archetype seeks to battle these shadows, unaware of the fact that itself is created from the same thing. In other words our egos often seek to individualize ourselves, to make decisions with as little consequence as possible, yet it’s still connected to a collective psyche that includes hidden motives and drives. In Jungian psychology, the hero represents a self-sacrificing character that faces great adversity for some greater purpose.’
Collective consciousness how does it function on the web/ Cyberspace?
If archetypes are rooted to a shared consciousness what happens when that shared consciousness becomes a mechanical/electronic structure rather than an organic structure as it has previously been? Is this the reason for the rise in much negative human experience: cyber bullying/sense of isolation/ our need for rapidly changing identities?
According to Jung we are born with a psychological heritage as well as a biological heritage. Both according to Jung are important determinants of behavior and experience:
“just as the human body represents a whole museum of organs, each with a long evolutionary period behind it, so we should expect to find that the mind is organized in a similar way. It can no more be a product without history than is the body in which it exists” (Jung 1964, p. 67).
