panto

7 mins
49 mins
In relation to my practice, pantomime seemed like the next step because it seemed to reflect some of my actions and research. Both swatting flies excessively and nose picking (and the other actions such as running in a circle or catching imaginary thing with a net) seem like they would fit perfectly within a pantomime setting. Pantomime is all about absurdities and exaggeration which is reflective of the way i present my thoughts in my work, almost because i am taking the mick out of myself. I know they are ridiculous so i am playing off this.
With the idea of madness there is special seeing powers of ideas.
With the fly swatting, I panic the same panic in the run, but it is a paradoxical panic, panic for no reason, it is another mission destined to fail. This is prevalent in pantomime a sense that the audience already knows the answer, what is the come, but they go along with it anyway.
Bas Jan Ader - Set up to fail, pathetic as he cannot succeed in 'accidentally falling off the house for example.
PARABLE OF LIFE - PANTOMIME OF LIFE.

Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqxmPMBAJHafk3X2UbjRK7g

John Raffman

Fictions are realities to come

interactive performance

LIVE ACTION ROLEPLAY GAMES - ADAM JAMES

I got involved in the piece, I was actually surprised at how many volunteered. We then began the workshop with everyone not participating as an audience, this was difficult at first but then I became mostly unaware of everyone else. I felt at ease around the strangers. We invented and became creatures in small groups, simple concept but was interesting to be part of and see how it was fabricated... mostly without group verbal interaction, feeding off each others physical thoughts, sort of like how a whole body might work, each of us being a section or organ. We had to sync up with each other. Reminded me a lot of drama games I used to play, where we had to improvise situations, or games where we had to meet a goal without speaking. I really enjoyed the non verbal communication, no planning we just had to get on with it, people couldn't take control as easily. There was a strange sense of team work with out creature and competition between other creature, why and how this happened I do not know. I guess it was a collective creature. We all had to take on an embody the creature. ours was odd as its function was to absorb others, so we kept trying to consume parts of the other creatures, so we became misunderstood. It was also very strange afterwards talking as our creatures and not in our creatures language, we were all back as ourselves physically but still had to talk about the creature as if we still were, like an interview? There is something very exciting about the live unplanned element, where the outcome is not controlled. Also it feels less selfish, the art becomes something enjoyed in the moment, by others, more than just yourself.

The artist Adam James often looks at the outsider, however for me this performance was all about inclusion. Yes we were playing outsiders ( although why does a creature have to be an outsider it can be anything no?) - it was the complete inclusion of individuals
His aims were for us to loose ourselves... did I loose myself... no of course not? but I couldn't have lost of myself otherwise it wouldn't have worked as a group piece, if we had all lost ourselves then we couldn't have collaborated together. I was very aware of the presence of others. If I lost myself that would be selfish and this work felt very unselfish.

I am really inspired by this experience, once the performance art society is in place, I would love to introduce things like this, I am also interested at working with fellow class mates in situations like this, but realise this will be more difficult. Improvisation is what I want to explore.

The hairy ape

@ THE OLD VIC

 Reflecting on the class system and mans status compared to ape.
Highlights of performance :

upper class dressed in white balaclava style masks with drawn on faces, alien and robotic look, mirrored in their dance, contrasted against frustration of the 'YANK' trying to communicate. They almost speak another language.

APE SPEAKING TO 'APE' , APE beating ape- pathetic image of man,  he doesn't belong anywhere, delusional hug to real ape who crushes in then leaves him in the cage.

Being and Time - Heidegger

I am currently trying to read the passage of this book about death, but am finding it very hard to read, so am using guides from the internet to help understand it.

'For human beings, time comes to an end with our death. Therefore, if we want to understand what it means to be an authentic human being, then it is essential that we constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death. This is what Heidegger famously calls "being-towards-death". If our being is finite, then an authentic human life can only be found by confronting finitude and trying to make a meaning out of the fact of our death. '
Extract from Guardian article. (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/13/heidegger-being-time

The notion of becoming is still something i am very interested even though i have put it on pause for now in terms of a 'project', it is still something i think about a great deal. Especially death, earlier on in the term I was looking at ways to surpass human existence and started to focus on death, questioning whether this was indeed our ultimate limitation or if in fact it was the point in which we transgressed our human selves, through becoming non-human, experiencing feelings in death we had never experienced as humans.Or whether the way to surpass ourselves was to accept death, when we had truly accepted death, it could no longer limit us, as surely something you are accepting of is not a limitation? Or maybe not etc.... I agree with Heidegger in the sense that we exist out of death, we need to 'constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death' Being towards death is not morbid and it is through our acceptance of being finite that we become passionately aware of our freedom.  I have spent so long thinking about death negatively, however it is only being towards death that one can become the person who one truly is. I am keen to continue reading this part of the book using guides to help me understand further. Currently I'm not sure how it can physically lead into my practise, but I see how it can affect my everyday outlook, as it is letting me see a new way to see life with death, as the two are married, rather than being separate states. 

MY MOTHER - GEORGES BATAILLE

A short story, which has an Oedipal nature, I am still quite confused by what I read. I gather that it is about celebrating the insanity of life and the pleasures of the flesh. The book has a strange pace, everything feels really high up in the air, the whole time, lots of very strange things are told in such a way it becomes normal, like the sharing of women with his mother, its treated very casual and after reading the book for a long period of time it strange when I would stop and think about things normally realising the absurdity. But in that sense its quite beautiful through normalising madness. I am particularly drawn to the mothers character because of her energy portrayed through text, she is portrayed as the mad but tragic heroine who people seem to love but also are sickened by. When she speaks i imagine her voice to be quite high not in tone but in energy all the time, but in a dead false way. It reminds me of the style of acting in many John Waters films, especially of the character 'DIVINE', everything is on the same level, so it constantly feels like something really exciting is going to happen to the point where you realise it never is. Its an absurd contradiction. The mother is wild in her actions but because of the way she speaks about them she becomes dull but in an intoxicating sort of way. In performance perhaps I could explore her character, or like the character of DIVINE explore the very 'high' way of speaking and acting. Recently I have been watching a show called 'RuPauls Drag Race', all about competing to be americas next top drag queen, in this a lot of the acting is the same, everything high, but i have felt very inspired watching it because this style is enchanting to me, its absurd how the constant tone which in moderation would be exciting becomes dulls but then it becomes exciting through its absurd dullness, its a paradox.

Tate Britain - Tracey Emin's bed

This happened a while ago but I forgot to write about it.

I knew I had to go and see 'the bed', especially because it had been the subject of debate and discussion in our class. I wanted to keep in mind everything B had expressed about her frustration and anger especially with the imposter replica of the bed.

I was looking at a different part of the gallery when an old man, came over to me looking frustrated with the map and asked if i could show him where the bed was. I had not seen it yet but I led him to the bed. When we got there , there was quite a few people crowded round it looking intently (dont know if they were actually interested or whether they were just looking because they felt that had too). After a good 5 minutes of looking at the bed, the old man shouts loudly to me " Corrr, is THAT IT.... is THAT what all the fuss is about".... Everyone suddenly looked up and there was this really awkward moment where everyone sort of reviewed what they were doing in there head, scrutinising the bed, then within moments they went back to looking at the bed. I just laughed, then the man walked right up to the bed and the alarm went off, then he backed away and left.

 I just found it so funny, this old man just seemed to undermine everyone, everyone for a moment realised the absurdity of the situation but then clicked back into it again. I do actually respect Emin's work, but I do think its funny as sometimes we forget what modern art has become as it is truly absurd when you think about it for a while, but then you think about it for a while longer and its not... Because I have grown up with 'the bed' as a normal ideal of modern art it is hard to take yourself away from it, for this man it must seem like an intrustion of sorts to what he thinks as art, which i find interesting....

Security zone 1971

Vito Acconci

Again I have come to look at Acconci's work, security zone interested me because of the focus on control. Acconci puts himself in a vulnerable position and places all his trust in someone, the control is out of his hands. He claimed that the person controlling him was someone he had an 'ambiguous feeling about', with this the person controlling also becomes an important component to the work, he has given this person a character to the viewer rather than them being just a medium in his work. I find this interesting as it becomes more than just a simple trust exercise. I also want to know more about this person, why he is ambiguous, is he a friend of Acconci's...?  His work looks at the trust in that control, how the other person determines how to use trust. Acconci is a non-swimmer and he is guided around the edge of the pier blindfolded by another person who can see. The significance of location is also important, the pier is on the edge of the city, this is where things happen that people don't want to know about, the criminals, the homeless etc. It suggests that they are doing something naughty, it reminds me of scenes in gangster movies where they meet on the pier, so one person can push the other (or shoot the other) into the water if things get ugly. This highlights the vulnerability of Acconci however it also emphasises the peaceful nature of what they are doing. Artists are often seen as outsiders, so here Acconci is perhaps playing up to this, placing himself and his practise away from society.

I’m blindfolded, my hands are tied behind me, my ears are plugged; in my deprived position, I’m forced to have trust—there’s only one person here who can stop me from walking off into the water. The piece measures my trust; more than that, it builds up trust. (The question is: will the trust last—does this trust deserve to last—once the piece is over?)

I am interested in Acconci's thinking about the end of the piece, it is not just about what we see, but what the after affects are, in doing this will Acconci no longer feel ambiguously about this person, when he watches the video back what will he see, did the person keep him completely away from edge or perhaps take him a little too close sometimes.... does he want the trust to last? I like this as it extends it past just something existing in the here and now, it leaves me to question what their relationship became after this. 

I dont know how this relates to my own ideas and practise. I guess the idea about trust and control is something relevant to me... Acconci putting his faith in someone else, and letting someone else control him, I am interesting in looking at ways to place control on myself. I spoke in a previous post about various ways to be controlled. Perhaps i could try something simple like this, what worries me or make me feel uncomfortable? Right now its the fact that i have found it hard to make work... could i get someone to give ideas to me , seeing as my problem is ideas, perhaps ask them to give me what they consider to be bad ideas, and i have to make them anyway... this way i am getting rid of the thing causing my problems, which is my own ideas. I could also focus on how this could change relationships with people, as i really like how Acconci's work does this or at least addresses this...

?

I see that recently I have been lazy and I need to go and do stuff, make my work and stop sitting at home coming up with ideas without doing any of them. I'm really starting to annoy and frustrate myself now, which is making me getting more frustrated but instead of pushing me to work this is making me just want to come up with more ideas, im very angry with myself.

CRIT

Things to look at from the crit:
ABSURDITY
ESCAPISM - duality of contradiction - which relates my focus on the mind and body and Descartes dualism
Bruce Nauman - dinner date, bad boy, good boy
Bas Jan Ader - performance artist
"The philosopher at the end of the universe"
absurdity of the mind and body and spirit
Catherine Sullivan - performance and repetitive movements
Sophie Call
Francis Allic
SCI-PHY

what has also interested me is Opie naming my performance 'red shoes' obviously based on the red boots used however it has made me think of the play 'red shoes' , where the girl cannot stop dancing so has to cut her feet off. however in this case its sort of like the girl who cannot stop thinking about stupid things, running in circles trying to distract but that is hopeless. Violent methods - but for her it is physical to stop physical mine is physical to stop mental - Worth looking up

Documentation of the performance is exciting as i can see what people were doing when i left the room, everyone just seemed confused , some playing detective, trying to figure out where i had gone. I like it as it put ideas in their head, almost like the thoughts are being taken from me to them, but of course it doesnt work like that  - reminds me of energy cannot be created or destroyed, only trasnfered... would this work with ideas....
Also i like it as its a part of the performance i can never really see properly, i cannot feel the feelings in the room, which i guess is a good thing as i wouldnt want to add more things to my thinking in the run that would defeat the point? However in doing the running all my thinking was focused on what i had left behind in the room, strange how the place i run away from becomes the sole focus on my mind. while running i sort of forgot where i was, dont even really remeber the run because i was so nervous to return. I would have happily loved to just run away, but then i wouldnt be coming full circle and facing up to myself. I had to return, not only for the obvious limits of the crit but for the performance piece in itself. The running did actually stop thoughts about ideas as everything became about entering  and then for a while afterwards all i could think about was what i had just done... short term relief.
How could i expand on running ?? do i want to expand on running or was it more the element of suprise i liked ?
what about circles - want to explore circle more in performance as i feel that it was not explored right in this piece - circle default shape of the mind but seems fitting since circle is infinite and we cannot label the mind as finite. circle as an abyss mind as an abyss , why so negative.
I think the performance was bad, but im glad i did it. couldve been better if i practised it, but how could ii practise ? wouldnt this defeat the point. maybe the performance had to be bad that was the point as it was for me, for my mind, not for anyone elses. Yes, my work i self-indulgent in that way, should i try and escape this?


TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO

Am I supposed to go

What do I film

Do I have to

Lucia?

laughter

Where has she gone

She’ll come back, (she’ll come back)

Ok

Do you know where she is?

Does she have to go to the bathroom

laughter

Is she ok

She asked if she could borrow my card, so she has probably gone out

She asked for your card?

Yeh for my birthday card

laughter

more laughter

I noticed the shoes she was putting on didn’t have heels or something

(unaudiable)

I wasn’t sure if she was going to be walking like (mimics walking with shoes that don’t have heels)

Am I supposed to be filming the wall cos im just filming you guys

Well your getting our discussion about it

Shoes

Were you meant to follow her

Luuuuucccciiiaaaaa

Shes just running around ….(unaudiable) somewhere

Everyone looks confused and awkward, Opie is looking at her paper unsure.

Humming

Whats going on?

Well she just put on some shoes and ran

What shoes?

They were like erm these big red lace up shoes and they were like

SOMONE INTERUPTS

Kinky boots

They looked like they used to have heels on them

Ah ok

Whats happening (jazz hands)

She told me not to turn it off so

Whats happened

I reckon shes just outside, like wheres Hannah

We needed a go word

Ahhh shes back

THEORY SEMINAR 1

Art & Anthropology

Key points:

The other

The gift

Ethnographic turn

Fine Art in the West, obsessed with the west, the way its taught, not much importance on other cultures artwork, why is this? Linked to conceptual art movement? As we now only seem to value conceptual art, although now art from other cultures becoming more conceptual, but does this mean it is becoming westernised?

Are you wanted here? By whom? – Lucy Lippard text – Tim Rollins moved into lower east side to ‘help’ the community through art.

‘You know, like I don’t want to be nosey, and we all got reasons for doing what we are doing with our lives, but I wonder, everyone here on the block wonders, why are you here?’

Reflects classic western thing, where we go into a community to ‘help’, or to ‘ draw attention to’ but end up just speaking for them. This reminds me of the new film ‘He named me Malala’ which has a lot of negative reviews because in a way, it is the west making the story about them, how they saved her and gave her a better life etc…

Every artist and anthropologist should be required to answer this question in depth before launching what threaten to be intrusive or invasive projects (sometimes known as interventions). I find political artwork to be valuable but am always wary of it myself, as if it’s not something that affects you then it almost feels wrong to make work about it, how can you? Also it can very easily be seen as making money or success out of their cause, even if you are raising awareness.

There is indignity for speaking in others place, saying this is what they are thinking rather than letting them speak. There is a tendency to self-other but you need to question on what grounds this is ok? Is it ever ok?  Making work about problems that are not our own, feels false, even though intentions may be good. Collaborations are also tricky as we have western aesthetic ideals that differ from the aesthetic of the community we are intervening in. Despite this cross culture collaboration good, but must be treated as collaboration not intervention. I am becoming more interested in social artwork, that is not fixed around an art audience, however I see I must always try and ask myself if I would be wanted ? However I realise this question becomes hard when translated into social environments as I may be wanted by some and not others, how do you judge this then? Utilitarianism?  

GLOBALISATION- Argue now that because of things like the internet all artwork is starting to look the same, all installation based across the world…. Yes the maybe, but if you look closer it is not the same, differences just not as easy to see.

What does it mean to use participation and collaboration?

‘art by definition is an anthropological practise, and anthropology by definition is art’ – Susan Hiller

WHAT IS IT ARTISTS DO? WHAT IS OUR JOB? WHAT IS OUR FUNCTION? WHAT IS OUR ROLE? – this is something artists find hard to answer I think, or maybe don’t want to answer? Recently I have been feeling this way, confused about why I am even studying art and perhaps a bit lost because it doesn’t feel like I am being useful, and social usefulness is something I think a lot about.

‘what art does is to reveal hidden, undisclosed, unarticulated codes within a culture and I believe this is true in every culture…. The job of the artist is to make manifest a shared but unarticulated belief or to find a new form for something which is known but not fully understood.’ – Susan Hiller

I’m not sure I entirely agree with this as I don’t think the specific individual subject of each piece of art was not fully understood. However this is her own definition and I can have my own too, although I don’t know what it is yet.

Artwork as cultural artefacts – the culture that forms us is in the consciousness that we share of reality.

Anarchic, to be outside the system. Can art exist outside the system, is it possible to be both irresponsible and be political? Or to be marginal and dysfunctional YET have a social function? These are interesting things I want to bring into my own practise, some of my work can be dysfunctional and seem to be only relevant to myself, however I want to challenge to see if It can have a social function too.

THE GIFT – Ideal way of social inter exchange. We have commodity exchange, buyer and seller both in plastic bags. Consumer goods are consumed by ownership and not by the exchange. The western exchange in selfish, we believe we have right to own everything we buy or are given. However the notion of ‘the gift’ in other cultures is about circular exchange, ceremonial gifts, social gifts not practical ones.  Gifts and handmade, perhaps a necklace carefully made from shells, then passed on to another island. The Kowa gift circles takes 10-15 years to complete. Ownership still exists but it is a shared ownership, the sense of possession is different from Europeans as to possess is to give. When we see it like this, it strange, as I had never thought of entitlement of possessions before, where my things are only mine for a while. We have a culture of passing on goods, but only those that are unwanted and it is not an exchange its passing onto others through sale or free giving. I wonder if I could do an experiment about the gift? Making gifts to circulate? Or would buying be more appropriate to fit our society? Or giving a very special item of our own to someone else, but circulating it back…? I am really interested now to challenge the notion of ownership.

Alfred Gell – art object as extension of oneself, physically or mentally? Prosthetic limb?  Should I create art as a literal extension of myself? AGENCY- created socially, passing work on, seeing the work as a gift to society. So the artist is the gift to society? Like any profession, the doctor, the mother? Are these also gifts to society? Yes.

ART OBJECT – gift of oneself, very egotistical or is it? If you accept that everyone is already gift to society in someway then maybe not. Learning through giving the greatest sense? Performance through giving, cynical reasoning, nothing else to do.

Sophie Calle- enters into the situation of others, she is the artwork. Self-obsessed maybe but giving herself as the gift. Birthday ceremony, Calle is sharing her gifts as social gifts to us through art.

Francis Alys – when faith moves mountains –something that leads to nothing, however it doesn’t really lead to nothing, moving the sand dune a tiny amount, is something not nothing, shows hope?, unity of people. Gift through the paradox of practise. Something totally futile, an act of collective waste of labour… Im really inspired by this piece of work, I am really interested in large scale collaboration but I realise its challenging, could a ‘meaningless’ social event be something as art, or just series of small meaningless gestures, or absurd acts.

BATAILLE - excessive over the top celebration – one should take notion of the gift to the excess, gift of sexual pleasures. Bringing about a higher self… absurdity and hope!

The seminar has been very interesting for me and I see a clear link between what it being discussed and some of the interests of my own practise. I really want to explore more social experiments within my art and have lots of ideas for these in my sketchbook, a problem for me is always having too many ideas and an extreme inability to make decisions, which is absurd, which is also why I have been thinking about absurdity a lot in my work and this reflects the performance I did in my crit. I realise that I need to get just get a grip and start making work, or taking my ideas into social environment’s to experiment, its getting ridiculous now and its making more stressed so now I feel a greater pressure which isn’t helping. I also feel very uneasy about the blogs, I have a lot to say in the evaluation about the way I have conducted my study in these first two months of study, and to how I can greatly improve my way of working which I want to act upon with urgency.  

REFLECTION OF TUTORIAL

Palais de TOKYO
SERIALISM - letting work re-act in a certain way - reactions and series - taking the control away from myself, or creating something to cause control - CAUSE AND EFFECT
Mind / Body ethics control - man wanted his legs chopped off mind and body distinction. He claimed he did not feel like himself with his legs they were not part of him + phantom limb syndrome- mental on the physical and vice versa. tests on me as only i can judge my own conciousness.
Medical
anti-physician movement
Guattari - schizophrenia totally legitimate outcome of capitalism -should not medicate them - does capitalism enter my work?
Ritkers paintings
YVONNE RAINER - feelings are facts
Heidegger death vs Quentin Malleaux
consumed by death or transgressed - technology approach
Hagels aesthetics - animal sculpture
ARTISTIC AVANT GARDE - no consciousness is the dream SYSTEMS AND FUTURISTIC FETISHES
Rachel Rose serpentine sackler - MUST SEE THIS EXHIBITION
BEATRICE - testo junkie -state of becoming 3rd item
OBJECT ORIENTATED ONTOLOGY
NEED TO ENFORCE A STRUCTURE UPON MYSELF - BOOK where author takes out all the e's

From the tutorial I see my work heading towards now areas and science but also still with groundings in philosophy.I am very interested in the idea of placing abstract (or non-abstract) restraints on myself as a way to control my thinking and order myself. I already try and do this by having lots of 'sketchbooks' for different things, but how can this idea be expanded... Perhaps with an idea factory set up, forcing myself to create ideas under a time frame and also 'disposal' of ideas. Time is a constraint relevant to me very literally. I also want to explore with being fixed or trapped, being restricted to certain movements, or a limit on words. Perhaps I cannot speak for a day, or only communicate with one person... additionally these are all absurd things.... i see absurdity is key

Black arts medium

Limits of a medium... what are the limits if any? - makes me think of Duchamp referring to himself as a painter...
Sin city challenges the limits of a medium, a huge blockbuster but also artisan in style. Comic book style but new and unique with the introduction of one colour, red. Creates look of pen and ink, labour and love. Rain, sketched in, creates damage, physical effects like that of old films, reflective physically of rain damage.
Inspired by a chain of references, things get muddy. With avoiding a direct link to one medium you get a set of elements.
Anthony Cairo - sculpture boundaries
Gary Webb - real objects blurred - internal logic of work of art - stacked and piled to lean - sprouting. Reflects biomorphic procedures of organic growth the objects are alive and spilling out, materiality and objectness - object responding to medium. So is the medium being challenged by the life the works have?
Manet- draws attention to the surface of the painting -  Glenn Brown self consciously playing on art as flatness, the surface has presence!
Auerbach- 'the enemy' expressionist paintings - Brown thought bad painting was Auerbach because it wasn't flat, wasn't what painting was supposed to do.
Brown developed style where surface was painted to look like it was textured, when really it was completely flat- he is playing on the surface, experimenting with the medium as though it was something else.
Donald Judd - Minimalist , literal realisation of what Greenberg was looking for, but not what he wanted
Writing about Duchamp's work simply as sculpture, separating it from the ready-made, talking about the beautiful form of the bottle rack for example. This is interesting why should we have to look at it for what it is, cant we appreciate the form of a ready-made without relating it too anything political or social?


Constantin Brancusi - reducing sculpture form into something very pure. Still as sculpture obviously but to me this could even be a painting.



Stephan Balkenhol - The plinth, other than something just to lift the work, becomes part of the work, considering how this will affect the piece. Balkenhol carving the plinth and head as the same sculpture. Plinth is almost as important as the focus, can very easily change the piece. When displaying work I admit I am too careless about how it is displayed, I need to consider more things such as a plinth and also where it is shown, in a gallery space or not?



Richard Serra - the possibilities of sculptures physicality, thinking about where the floor meets the wall, rather than overlooking this important formal quality of a room, an immaterial gesture, involving the space it is in.

Robert Smithson, Spiral jetty - challenges what medium can be- the work is actually the film not the land work, the spiral jetty itself is a component made for the film. This is subverting the medium, deciding that the jetty is not a sculpture, even though it is something that was laborious to build.

Man with the movie camera , Vertov - the film shows the filming process and makes this part of the film, or rather doesn't stop filming...steps back and reveals , interrupts to expose. How could I translate this to my own practise... showing the process of art thinking, through something other than a sketchbook? But this works because it is raw and true, literally showing the process.

LOONEY TUNES - subverting the role of the artist and loosing control. I really liked the clip as its very relevant to me, I'm trying to control all my ideas, but maybe I need to loose control, loose control to someone else. Let someone else control my day? or maybe the art could just be letting someone control my piece, give myself as the art object. Although light-hearted I liked Daffy the Ducks frustration at all the changes, how things were not going to plan, the artists in control were making  a mockery out of him on his own show. Removal of mouth for speech, removal of colour, trappping under black goo. All quite violent things. I want to create something like this! But how need to brainstorm this more.
CLOSE UP (I liked the joke on the close up)

Rosaline Kraus - everything as installation, like seeing contents of a teenagers bedroom.

Corey Archangel - use of gaming and the internet, but not introducing anything new?

Sophie Calle - ART JOURNALISM & ART OBJECT - social performance
Jeff Wall - light boxes - like billboards and adverts - narrative history

Overall I found this lecture very interesting, especially the clip from Looney tunes (see above) - constraint and control are things I need to place upon myself in some aspects but they are also things I need to let loose of, let loose my restriction at the moment to just ideas, these are things are want to experiment with. Black arts medium is something i have always been interested in, I have never worked with a medium in mind, as I tend to work through ideas and then create from this. Medium barely ever enters into my mind, which I find strange. Maybe this is something to explore itself... a lot of my ideas revolve around the mind which a lot of people would argue is imaterial , it is anti-matter, perhaps this is why my feelings towards medium are as they are, a reflection of the mind...

CONCEPTUAL ART

CONCEPTUAL ART

-not minimalism as that looks at perception - can be mistaken with minimalism, living where everything is post conceptual art it can seem like everything with a 'concept' is conceptual art. minimalism situation in which the viewer finds themselves in

aesthetic experience of looking at object formalism

artist (cannot remember name) 2 spaces, primary space is catalog of texts linking to artworks, secondary space with material objects THEY ARE SUPPLEMENT to the texts
idea of idea = record of object

materialises in many different forms
conceptual art is about openness, openness of ideas and outcome everything - i am very open in the outcome and ideas of work i have no set medium nor do i like the term medium really as it places restraints on things, that set the work back.
IDEA can generate work (very much what all art nowdays follows)
not reduced  to any material form
DE-MATERIALISATION is big part of conceptualism, however not something i find relative to my practise, however it is certainly something i would now to like experiment with. i guess performance is a form of de-materialisation but once shown as video it becomes something material, tricky.
I am a very material person, despite also being focused around ideas. "TRUE conceptual art" i am not. but my work values thought over material. BATTLE
We are all not artists post conceptualism, how does this effect us? in a world where everything is now conceptual - does conceptual art of this nature have a place.
Douglas Hubler - work dedicated to making a portrait of everyone alive BUT IMPOSSIIBLE
every minute death and birth, loosing and gaining people
changes - non-material changes
TENSION BETWEEN PROPOSITION OF THING AND THING BEING CARRIED OUT.
Proposition must be re-done or left alone! proposition as idea.
SETH ZIEGELAUB
1. The artist may construct
2. the piece may be fabricated
3.the piece may not be built
each being equal and constant within intent of artist the descion as condition rests with the conceptual practise - identity
LAURENCE WEINER
Place exists as title and then something being done
points to notion of de-materialisation aesthetic centres of work  - MATTTER must be involved
WHY CAN BOTH NOT BE INVOLVED
CARL ANDRE
The Tate paid a lot of money for a pile of bricks
making simple structure gravity to do the work for him
horizontal lake things not being erected to the sky but flat to ground - buildings going up and up reach infinity or god in the sky NO flatness is key
material strip everything away to matter
self sufficient, no extra fuss, he helps himself and that is it. The bricks are not important it could be any bricks!
work exists in that moment the dispersed and re-made - like performance in many ways - although does performance change with other actors, yes? but bricks the same with different bricks
IMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURE a moment in time
LIMITS OF WHAT WORK CAN BE REDUCING DOWN SO WORK BECOMES JUST WHAT IT IS
Martin Creed work number 227 the lights going off

Rachel Rose

vito acconci

Acconci describes himself as an art-dooer rather than an artist. Right now this is something very relevant to my work, as a lot of my ideas seem to be revolving around things to be done, where the outcome in the action of doing, not neccesarilly performance, although I do intend to do performance but also long winded activities that could not be documented as a performance, things perhaps to be documented in words. Acconci was a poet before also combining it with art and this is seem throughout a lot of his work. I cant see myself right now writing actual poetry and it does not seem natural to me, i want to move out of my comfort zone but I believe there are better ways to do this. I want to create poetry out of performance, perhaps a physical thing i put myself through, rather than documenting with video i document with words, so that this can become the poetry, maybe words that come from physical or mental labour? In Acconci's 'claim excerpts' his use of language seems to come from the experience he has put himself, his semi improvised speech seems borne from his building up paranoia and anxiety from the stressful situation he has put himself him. In my work i would like to experiment with this sort of thing, putting myself in a stressful situation to see what language can come from it. Acconci's work is also all to do with interaction, involving the viewers, he belives art should not just be there to be viewed, which is something i agree with. There are some exceptions, like if the restriction of no touch is key to the concept of the work. Touch is a vital part of human existence and is also something i find extremely fascinating. I am not really a 'touchy feely' person, it never crosses my mind to touch someone unless they are someone i know really well, or it feels natural to do so, otherwise if someone else touches me, like a new friend with a hug i respond weirdly because i over think it. I am very fascinated with it though and with people who it comes so naturally too, and this is often reflected in my work. In relation to this 'seedbank' makes me think of touch, but touch through words. Acconci is hidden beneath the floor, wanking and making sexually agressive comments to the people above him, being hidden he can interact with people safely without having to think about actually touching anybody, yet he can communicate sexually with sounds and physical substance, it feels like a sort of solution to touch. In 'Undertone', Acconci seems desperate for touch, trying to convince himself there is a girl there, his arms are under the table so we assume he is touching himself. The same sort of desperation mixed with aggressiveness felt in 'open book' is present here. The confused nature of his speech here, for me connects to my own confusion of touch, it seems like he both wants and does not want touch, happy to touch his own leg but to imagine there is someone else, having his own touch makes everything more simple. In my own practise i realise now that i need to explore touch in someday, human need for tactility was something key to my practise last year but more in terms of animals, however maybe that was just a distraction from humans as I didn't want to use my own thoughts on it.  Video is such a strange way to explore touch, it was my medium too, maybe because its less upfront than exploring actual touch, you as the performer can explore it, but no-one else. I have realised recently that my work is very self oriented and egotistical, how do i get away from this? should I?

OPEN BOOK

The video is just Acconci's open mouth, a mouth which he tries to keep open, the act of not closing the mouth affects the speech into something nearly non-nonsensical. We are just able to make out sentences like, 'I’m not closed, I’m open. Come in… You can do anything with me. Come in. I won’t stop you. I can’t close you off. I won’t close you in, I won’t trap you. It’s not a trap.' The speech is desperate, with Acconci offering his whole self, however because the video is just the mouth, we are left to wonder what he really means by 'You can do anything with me', is he just referring to his mouth in which it would seem like a trap. By not closing his mouth he is restricted instead to the over-use of his teeth and tongue making his mouth much more active and again more aggressive, like the mouth of a hungry predator. However the loss of clear language portrays him as someone lost, on the brink of reality, or just someone excessively drunk , however this again leads to aggressiveness.  The focus on just the mouth takes us away from Acconci himself, he has become the entity of the mouth, which is perhaps something to be feared. He has become the art object of his mouth, however the question remains whether his mouth still belongs to him in this video? Watching the entirety of the video the movement of becomes something unhuman like a cave that is alive, a cave that you both want to enter from curiosity but also one that you know you shouldn't enter, i guess this plays on sexual desire which is something very key to Acconci's work. The mouth becomes something both repulsive and alluring. Strangely the speech seems to become more audible as the video goes on, continuing to watch gives you a strange power to begin to understand the language of the mouth entity, like a reward for watching, perhaps this is what allures you in. The allure is also felt when the mouth makes a mistake and accidentally closes the mouth , 'That was a mistake. I won’t close. I won’t close you off. I won’t close you in. I’m open to everything'. After building the mouth up into something hypnotically un-human and un-relatable, the mouth instantly becomes more human, and we connect it back to Acconci, the mouth is begging for our forgiveness. In terms of my own practice, I'm very confused at the moment as what to focus my work on. But i know this is something that interests me. I think particularly in the way it relates to the mind and body. Separating a key body part and turning it into something that simply talks, separating it from all other visible body functions, does this connect it to the body, as we physically see it come from the human mouth without other distractions of eye movement, surroundings, expression etc? I also find the careful line between threat and desire portrayed in this work interesting, how easily the two can run into one another. Also the way speech is used, Acconci uses a physical process controlled by his brain, to restrict the words from his mind, we can both physically see and hear the way his actions affect him. I guess i'm interested the way one action can affect the physical and mental very differently, with the mouth and words coming from the mouth doing very different things, the mouth becoming something aggressive whereas the words something alluring, or the words becoming disorientating. On reflection i think Acconci's use of duality is something to take into my own work, with my interests being on mind/body, conciousness/ unconsciousness, becoming/ dying, transgression of humanity/ acceptance of humanity  etc. 

SEEDBED

BRUCE NAUMAN

Bruce Nauman

Looks at so many themes – observation of the human condition abrasive engagement with viewer yet humorous, he is a key artist to look at in relation to my work, as I try to address some of the things he successfully showed. Plus his work looks a performance in an exciting way, that I inspiring, through use of chaos, repetition and absurdity etc... 

Questions the function of the artist in today’s world – anthropology … what are you doing, are you wanted here? 

Looks at existential behaviour – self-scrutiny of behaviour within determined parameters, repetition, rhythm and textural meaning.

PheNAUMANology – sound and movement – basic function of human behaviour

Work – result of experiment in which artists attempts to give form to a question of idea

A lot of work about frustration and anger with social situation

INFLUENCES

Duchamp

Man Ray

Samuel Beckett

Jasper Johns

Alain Robbe – Grillet

Vladimir Nabokov

Steve Reich

Phil Glass

John Coltrane

Spectator often physically and psychologically  included in a intermediary space where he or she is the subject to constant surveillance.

Clown torture
-poetics of confusion, anxiety, boredom, entrapment and failure, reflective of my own work. I really like the term 'poetics of confusion' and I think it can be applied to my practice because some aspects of my work are about the absurdities and paradoxical nature of the mind which is in itself poetic. Keep this term in mind with my work in the future.
-wanted to 'make art that was all there at once, almost like getting hit round the back of the head, as you never see it coming, it just knocks you down'
-intensity you can never see whether you like it or not
-IT IS AN ASSAULT ON THE VIEWERS PERCEPTION
-Unhurried delirium
-Clown taking a shit- fellow witness to the madness in the room, I really like this sort of audience participation, not literal but instead the audience is made to very much feel part of the madness in the room.
-Abundance of action, overload of funny anxiety and plenty of clown - manufactured violence time never moves along - stuck in repeat - HELL
RELATES TO MY IDEAS ABOUT ENDLESS LOOP OF THE MIND,myself running away from myself, my mind running away from my mind, my physical self running away from mental self, the ridiculous things like that, i see that in Nauman's video and in other peices of his work. I SEE THAT THINGS CAN BE DONE IN THIS WAY. Abstract subject matter eg time... can be shown through something physical. I need to stop getting caught up in ideas, trying to have reasons for everything. I see I can make practical work that is loosely symbolic. My word is about absurdity and dualities and of course the mind, the clown is an absurd symbol, so i should look for abstract symbols like this, to get me out of this rut.

Clown torture

PARODY OF MYSELF

NARRATING OBJECTS

My ideas surrounding the idea of becoming started to go very far and become very confused, I got a bit lost in the thought process. I drew together my ideas of becoming and my ideas of the hierarchy of matter in terms of need. With this is also fed off the ideas of BATAILLE, about this desire to communicate with what exceeds us and to become what we are not. I eventually ended up questioning objects, what was there role in the hierarchy, were they in fact above us or below us, they were made by us for us, can they although limited by humans in this way, exceed us? Some Objects, more useful than I ever can be. Are objects greater than humans because they do not die like us, and they are born more efficiently and can be cloned. Death is what restricts us so anything that does not die must be above us? Do I want to become object, what is the language of object, what would they feel about being an object, would they like their roles or would it not matter, if you were made with a purpose then you would like that purpose as your whole way of living is centred from that purpose it connects all your thoughts (humans and evolution)... so I went down this path about objects for a while. Then I stopped read it all back and laughed at myself. What on earth was I saying. Objects are just another form of human, made for humans by humans. Objects do die, from being unwanted, they live a sad existence. Fast pace of consumerism, objects live a short life. Additionally all my thoughts about what the object would feel, just projecting my human thoughts onto the object. I felt it very necessary to make a video to express this parodying of myself, to highlight the madness of becoming and also the madness of thoughts.

Woman in the park caressing the swans

This weekend I went out looking for the 'perfect' Sunday, obviously I'm never gonna have the perfect Sunday and if I do I wont know it until I have experienced all the Sundays I'm ever going to experience. This was a good Sunday. I went to the park and fed the ducks, geese and swans at St James park. A little woman with her family kept on asking for some of my bread which was fine, she would use it to lure the birds towards her out of the pond, and when the took the bread off her hand, occasionally biting her fingers, she would say ouch in the most playfully sexual verging on orgasmic way. I wondered was she getting sexual pleasure from the birds biting her fingers. She was also stroke their backs and heads and she particularly liked the swans because the could caress their necks, again the noises she made from this would suggest something sexual. I remembered the famous Greek myth of Leda and the swan. In my project last year I had overlooked birds completely especially swans. When actually they were important. Swans are also dangerous despite their appearance and can actually strangle and kill a human with the power of their necks, swans are also associated with sexuality and darkness as shown in the black swan. The woman kept telling the swans how beautiful they were, I wanted to understand what she saw in them?

I don't know what to do with this observation right now, but I know its important.

PROBLEM OF IDEAS ABOUT IDEAS ABOUT IDEAS

I have found it extremely difficult to work with my ideas. I find immense difficulty in choosing ideas, the problem stems from the fact that I am an extremely indecisive person and also that I am interested by far too many things. Initially I started out around the idea of becoming, but quickly became very confused in my sketchbook, as I kept stemming off into different things, creating greater webs of thoughts, that made it even harder to decide. Even sitting down to 'decide' it stupid because it is forced and for me when its forced it doesn't work. But then if I don't force myself I don't get anywhere, as I cant just sit around thinking of ideas all day. What I need to happen is the natural decision where one just falls into place, but when does that ever happen.

Bob suggested I group my ideas and write them under separate headings on A4 pieces of paper, I did that and ended up with 16 sheets, which I then put in a box and tried to chose at random. Letting 'fate' decide is surely a good way to chose because it is neither forced by me or left to dangle for ever. However 'fate' doesn't work as it only highlights my indecisiveness, as when I chose one I then have the final say of whether its the 'chosen one' because I have the power to put it back in the box.

I realised that right now the only non-forced thing to do, would be to focus on the problem of ideas about ideas about ideas. Anything else would cause me problems. I am looking at this as a solution to my problem. Hopefully I can solve this and then get back to exploring all the ideas in the 'ideas box'

The world goes POP @ tate modern

This exhibition exapanded the boundaries of what could be classified as pop art, I wondered if all the artists would've even classified there own work as pop art. Pop art is normally asscoiated with pop culture, glorifying or highlighting key components of consumer culture. However this exhibition was highly political. A big issue with displaying highly political works from the past is that most of the viewers will not have known how it felt to live affected by

these things, knowledge of is not the same as experience, therefore the works seem to loose their relevance. Additionally the nature of pop art, is partly to 'pop', to shove the intentions of the work in the viewers faces, however a whole exhibition filled with work like this becomes hard to digest. The lack of subtly becomes tiresome as you are handed everything you need to read the work there and then. In opposition to this, Marcello Nitsche's 'Kill Fly', was far more politically subtle and used symbolism as a way to camouflage the conceptual content of his work. However the work itself still encompassed pop art composition, being bright and big and unrealistic. Kill fly plays on the notion of command and punishment, the imagery of the fly swatter and the hand being a microcosm for these themes in the greater world. The idea of microcosms is something I want to take forwards into my own practise. A lot of my ideas deal with very big human issues, things that I cannot resolve or work with, so microcosms are a good way for me to deal with these issues. Kill Fly also seeks to involve viewers, making them participants in the artwork, placing them at the mercy of a larger entity, ready to punish squat in hand. Interaction is also something i value in art, not necessarily a literal physical reaction, but instead the feeling of being part of the work, or being affected by the physical presence of the world, making them feel big or small, human or non-human.

KILL FLY - MARCELLO NITSCHE

In the gallery the sculpture itself was displayed, however I find this image much more interesting as it places it in an appropriate context, in the clean gallery environment, it feels like more importance is placed on its formal qualities. However outside in social environment, it becomes more read-able, and more sinister, with the viewer being very aware of the power and command ratio, with the bigger playing on the small and more vulnerable. In reflection it has made me more aware of how i present my own work, I must remember to carefully consider this aspect. In fact I would like to experiment more with displaying my work in a mixture of more social surroundings to reflect the content of my ideas.

Colin Self's Leopardskin nuclear bomber no.2, interested me because of its complexity in comparison to some others. At first your eyes are drawn to the seemingly lovely well made, aesthetically appealing children's toy, the toy is a bomb, but this is nothing unusual in children s toys. However this should be shocking, just as any violent children's toy should. This bomb a weapon of mass destruction into a consumer commodity. The leopard fur reminds us that this is a threat, like a predator, except our own man made predator, The aggressive spiked tips wildly contradicts the soft and inviting fur, with the two entirely different tactile sensations, perhaps masking the pain of war. Self is also supposedly referencing male aggression with the phallic shape, however I disagree, the soft fur and pale pink colour of the tip are obvious stereotypes of femininity, additionally I do not see the bomb shape as being overtly phallic because it is masked by the wings of the bomb. In regards to matter this made me think of miscommunication of matter, and matter of mind coming together, how one object/ one thing of matter, links to different things, evokes different matter of the mind. The end of the bomb is a very fleshy pink, relating to the target of the bomb, almost like the bomb itself is a severed limb or leg, relating to my ideas surrounding hierarchy of matter and making the body more useful. However it is ironic, the bomb made from a leg or arm, targeting more legs and arms, separating them from the body so they can then be made useful again...

COLIN SELF - LEOPARDSKIN NUCLEAR BOMBER NO.2

In regards to matter, the work of Antonio Dias was interesting. On the description on the side, it said something like 'this realistic human flesh', i wondered why I must be told something is realistic, if it is realistic then it doesn't need to be said. The 'human flesh' was not realistic, so the curators must've felt the need to label it as this, because it was 'supposed' to be realistic. But then In my mind, i started to wonder what the importance was of real matter and representational matter in art. Obviously it would be very hard to get an actual piece of human flesh and it would put an expiry date on the work (EXPIRY DATES ON WORK TO BE THOUGHT ABOUT METAPHORICALLY but not right now), however should you pretend it is what it is not. Is it not better for the representational matter to own being representational matter. Is there more power in representational power. New connotations are added to the plastic flesh that you cannot ignore, such as consumerism, the human body as invaluable or as valuable, or as an object, a product? The body as disposable. Additionally the work is supposed to reflect a shrine, but having a shrine for a piece of plastic flesh is wildly different from a piece of real flesh... feels more like a worship of plastic, or of human dummies?
On reflection my work focuses a lot around the body and no doubt I will end up using animal meat and flesh and body parts ( i always do), however it will be interesting for me to consider the effects of using them rather than human parts, including limits and restrictions. Additionally whenever i use plastic representations to be aware of the connotations of doing so.

Overall the exhibition had many interesting parts and left me lots to think about. I think the curation was bad, grouping all these works under the title of 'pop art' may not have been the best thing for them and perhaps having them altogether was too overpowering to take in. The choice of colours was also questionable at times, with the 'feminist' art grouped together in a PINK room. It felt almost insulting the female artists work on show, everything they worked for only to be displayed in a pink room, perhaps there was some irony to it, I just cant think what... I was also quite unimpressed with the feminist art on display, most of it being very obvious, however i must remember the context of these artworks, being made in a time where attitudes to women were poor (although there are still lots of problems today, woman have made progress), so the artworks needed to be obvious to have affect.

Bill viola @ Blaine Southern

 'Moving stillness' is a landmark in Viola's meditations on the fragility of nature and our perception of its changes over time. Viola's video installations create total environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound. In doing this, the viewer is forced into feeling the effects of the artwork, with no distractions from anything other than their mind. Viola's work explores the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self knowledge, linking to universal human experiences like birth, death and the unfolding of consciousness. In this way is creates an accessible platform to all, but with a focus on subjectivity, as the artworks seek to truly engage ones mind. Myself, I am very interested in consciousness and the human condition, and my works are often concerned with exploring the both the limits and phenomena of humanity. However my approach if often more forceful and questioning. Viola's work is more subtle and calm with 'moving stillness', creating a 'rare moment for mindful focus', perhaps in my own practise I employ this quote and seek to create work that allows for concentration on ones mind, to reflect some of my ideas around consciousness.
Viola subverts the image of a mountain from one of strength, something that is solid and unmoving into a form that appears fragile. Due to the installation environment the mountain is constantly unravelling & reforming. It becomes metamorphic for the existence of the mountain as a conceptual image in the mind. THE MOUNTAIN NEVER MOVES, ONLY YOUR MIND DOES. This idea of the mind over reality is something that deeply interests me. I believe that only what your mind see's is real, as you can only live through your mind. If your mind tells you the mountain is moving then the mountain is moving because subjectively there is no world other than the one you see. Viola's approach is slightly different but both focus on the mind and the world we see. I find making artwork about this topic very difficult because it focuses on something we cannot see and anything I make is completely subjective to me as only I know my mind. However 'moving stillness' shows how this sort of subject matter can be tackled.

Londonography

Marian Goodman Gallery

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

What struck me most about Kentridge's work was the sense of organised chaos with conceptual inputs coming from all over and this chaos could be seen through the work, with varying languages written all over the paintings and the contrast of music, dance, costume and other references in the video pieces. I find this exciting as it reflects my own confused way of working, as I have a inner (and outer) chaos with my ideas. However despite the excess of inputs, I felt the work was read-able, the chaos was not a problem, far from it, instead it was part of the success. Why? because it boosted the works enjoyment, the work was hard to read, so watching it felt like a puzzle. The video downstairs 'notes towards a model opera' was particularly strong for this, part inspired by Madame Mao's eight model revolutionary operas which involve jingoistic representations of military victories, martial arts and ballet, and even include peculiar skills of learning to throw a hand grenade. The dancing seems to conflict itself, dancers in culturally revolutionary uniform, wealding guns like limbs, the dance a  mixture of south African choreography and classic ballet. Not even the background to the piece feels constant, as it presented as a notebook with pages being torn out and flipped continuously. My last video piece from foundation, was also chaotic like this, with many different contextual references running through it, i tried to explain them all, but ended up realising this was self-defeating so left it be. My question is, with complex but also visually exciting work, how does knowing the context change the viewers perception, is important where all of the references came from. However saying this... I felt Kentridge's work was fairly easy to read in a general sense, easy to grasp the basic idea, is the basic idea all that matters? No?
The work has huge political and social groundings, referencing many humanitarian issues from past and present, work grounded in things of this nature, for me, can either be very powerful or not at all. This work was powerful. The dunce hats and cardboard covered boards bearing slogans is referencing the self- denunciatory rituals that many Chinese academics were forced to endure under Mao, however the implicit approach works here, rather than something very obvious.The humiliated professor is part goya etching, part dadaist, part contemporary African. Often politically driven work, is only made by those who are victims of it in some way, Kentridge grew up in south Africa through the apartheid,, however being jewish he was more of a bystander to it all, a watcher, I find this interesting, of course he was still affected by it, but he himself was not a victim, perhaps this is why he has has softer approach in his work.
'More sweetly play the dance' was a danse macabre, coming from the medieval notion of dancing as means of starving off death. I like this powerful subversion of dance, maybe when we dance we are just fighting off death, keeping ourselves occupied, so we cannot think of it, dancing is supposed to make people happy. Cleverly this medieval link is so relevant today, making us think of all the refugees fleeing warlord. A sombre dance, they are also dancing to fight off death. Then there is links to the 'existential solitude of the walker' and with 'social solitude', lines of people walking in single file from one country to another, from one life to an unknown future. The work releases a huge sense of guilt in the viewer (for some viewers), here we are sat on chairs enjoying the music enjoy this 'dance', this dance that is painful for the performers( metaphorically) . There are priests guiding patients who cling to sketched saline solutions barely keeping them alive, they are weak and frail, and we are sat there from the comfort of our chairs enjoying it.
Music plays an important role in the mood of the piece, the music both celebratory and wailing to fit the tones of the piece, celebration of the people, but showing the pain. The music is still empowering though, as sad music would simply mock, music transforms it into an epic.  In my own practise although i work with video, sound is very foreign to me, I use sound, but comes secondary to moving image, however i feel i should try exploring sound more and its importance, as mood is very important to my work, the human condition is something felt through all senses.
( The firework display today an example of music power, the jolly music suddenly made the fireworks seem possibly scary as if something was about to go wrong, whereas the more moody 'epic' music made everything seem like a circus act)
On the technical side, I liked the complex nature of the videos, making it very much something to be experienced rather than watched, with the multiple screens that surrounded the viewer and also the physical presence of the work, especially with 'more sweetly play the dance', as the whole video was full of physical movement, bringing the animated video very much into the real world, when the figures reached the final screen it felt as though they would march right out and towards you, in both in friendly and threatening way. Kentridge's work has presence in a way i have barely seen from video work before.



Frith Street Gallery

FIONNA BANNER  (Font)

Sadie Coles

UGO RONDINONE (clouds + mountains + waterfalls)


RICHARD T.WALKER (everything failing to become something)

Formalism

Formalism

How does formalism relate to my practise. Being someone who places a lot of importance on ideas and concepts, I find it hard to separate these from my work, nor do I want to. However formalism is intriguing, especially in relation to audience, the form is the content, everything you need to see is right in front of you, provides complete new way of valuing art. I think it makes art more challenging, how do value something so subjective? Currently I am in a rut with my work, the independent study although very exciting has left my with too many ideas and no structure, perhaps a way out would be to adopt to temporary formalist approach towards art and work on form. However where does the form come from, it must come from somewhere?

"Paintings are about paint." - how can a painting be about paint?

How can formalism be applied to video work? 

painting strictly visual - except out body can see depth as it knows how to move through space. Video work is movement through space. 

Formalism turns the viewer purely into an eye, what if i could turn myself purely into an eye, would it be possible to separate my viewing from the world around me? How can the eye be just an eye, with nothing connected to it, how can it make sense and store what it is seeing. NOTHING CAN BE PURELY VISUAL. But I want to try and reason with the ideas of Greenberg 

Autonomous artworks. Independent do not need anything else of the world, self contained and self sufficient. How could i respond to this through work, creating two artworks, the same but claiming one as formalist and one as not, through the eyes of what theory is it most sucessful.

-Go to galleries as an 'eye' - view works just an ellusive eye. Be just the eye- HOW?

Eglatrian art for everyone - is it though? 

isnt formalism just impossible? Or it reaches a point with no room to go higher. Death of himself. Suicide of Greenberg?

Solar Anus

Artist in response to Bataille's Solar Anus.

Tetsumi Kudo

@ Hauser & Wirth 

- 'Prevailing obsession with the theme of impotence linked to nuclear attack, a penchant for grotesque renderings of the body, cut into pieces or dissolving into puddles of goo, a science fictional dystopian picturing of the body as part machine' - Dystopia is something I am interested in, because it depicts such a negative future, highlighting how negative we are as humans, turning even the future (which should be exciting as it is unknown) into something depressing and scary. The mind & body and the problem of conciousness is another thing related to my practice. Many of the Kudo's assemblages seem to also question this, with heads connected to plant pots in incubators and human brain type creations hooked up to wires and separated from a human body. For me the work seems to lean towards idea of AI, however it is unclear whether Kudo see's these human parts as concious. The work could be read as scary, perhaps a vision of what happens when aliens are combined with nuclear weapons, a  greater unknown power, studying, cutting up and trapping our bodies, just as we have done to animals. The throw away and rough edge to the work, adds to the discomfort, like a botched surgery. The lack of care given to our precious body parts, with the brain being the most precious of all, roughly stuck to a box made of egg cartons. Kudo is strongly anti-humanist and i see this reflected in his work, through the dismemberment of body parts, again with the lack of care shown towards them, disregarding them as human and of any importance. This is a refreshing viewpoint, as it goes against the egotistical human nature. 

The prop like qualities to his work, create a distance between reality and his assemblages, making them easier to bear.

"Disillusionment with the modern world - its blind faith in progress, technological advancement, and humanist ideals." - Kudo was an anti-modernist, which is highlighted through his work, showing troublesome results of technology and modern science, it does question whether things are better left alone. Not only does his work evoke imagery of nuclear consequences but that of genetic engineering, the phallic figures being grown from plants, and heads in incubators, trying to morph humanity falsely into perfection. In the cube series, the small boxes contain decaying cocoons and shells revealing half living forms, often replica limbs or detached phalli or paper mache organs, that merge with man made items. This imagery is disturbing yet fascinating, perhaps suggesting that the ideals for humanity are met when mixed with consumer goods, reflecting the adoption of mass production, a way to mass produce the perfect human?

In terms of materiality the use of plastic is everywhere, plastic the pinacle product of consumerism and the opposite the the human flesh in texture. It is malleable and quick to make, much easier than the human body. Yet for some reason i am drawn to the shiny plastic and the goopy textures, the science fiction kitsch aims at repulsion, but all i want to do it touch. The tactile urge is overpowering. The squishy forms seems trapped, in the intermediary state between solid & liquid. Kudo expressed a key component to his art philsophy as CHRYSALIS, the pulp stage of the butterfly, again a state between states, is this a reflection of humanity? A pulp state before we become something new? 

In my own practise, I am concerned with science fiction related to the anatomy, new forms, pushing where humanity could go next, also with dystopia in mind. I feel now I want to explore more with sculpture and installation again, to reflect my focus on the body. It has left my questioning my view on humanism, am I anti-humanist or pro-humanist (something to think about)...