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Week 11 Index

1. Artist Presentations

2. Special Collections Research

3. Immaterial Processes and Elements: Final

4. Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance for the Camera)

#1, #2, #3, #4

5. Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance with the Camera): Final

6. Body Prop and Environment

#1, #2, #3

7. Special Collections: Shrines, Alters and Pedestals Final Proposal

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Body Prop and Environment #2

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Body Prop and Environment #1

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Body Prop and Environment (video #3)

  For this performance-based video pieces, I used a self-made wooden chair frame as a prop and placed myself in public places (except for the first video) performing unassuming tasks. For my first video I decided to involve my piano instructor in the video, and have her play a song to then  interrupt the performance to change the position of the chair. It was an experiment to see how I could include other people interacting with the prop. For the second video, I went to the park and sat inside the frame reading a book, while the camera captured the people in the park going about their day. In the third one, the camera follows me as I get myself a frozen yogurt using the chair as a purse. I intended to make every performance increasingly uncomfortable for me to perform, from asking an acquaintance to participate, to being surrounded by strangers in a public place, to interacting with strangers.

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 Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance with the Camera)

For this exercise, we were instructed to create a performance piece where we interact with the camera, and so I decided to do a quick self-portrait using the front view camera on my phone as reference. For this piece I used a clear plastic screen, white board markers, and my phone. I placed the clear screen in between myself and the camera, and positioned the phone so that I could follow the outline of my face in a way that made it look as if I were drawing directly on the camera lens. The trickiest part was, finding the best spot in the room and the angle to position the clear screen in order to avoid capturing the reflections of the lights in the room. It was an interesting exercise and quite entertaining to execute, even though it was supposed to be a “quick sketch” I couldn’t help but go back and correct what I didn’t like.

P.S. the green hand is the result of me erasing the maker on previous takes. It wouldn’t wash off.

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Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance for the Camera) #4

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Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance for the Camera) #3

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Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance for the Camera) #2

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Liminal Spaces and the Body (Performance for the Camera) #1

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Immaterial Processes and Elements

In this piece, I’m experimenting with immaterial elements, more specifically, light and sound. The objective of most of my artworks usually leans on providing pleasant experiences for the audience, so this time I wanted to experiment with the opposite approach. With this installation/performance piece, my goal was to create an overload of sight and hearing stimulation in order to overwhelm and stun the senses. Since I didn’t have the proper materials to perform the piece on a larger scale, I asked a classmate to volunteer as the subject of the piece. Prior to beginning the performance I made sure to give a brief explanation of what I was about to do to ensure the safety of the volunteer. It was a fun experiment and would like to further explore immaterial elements and sensory stimulations in the future, like the sense of smell for example.

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Susan Philipsz

The Internationale

Lowlands

Part File Score

Study For Strings

The Lost Reflection

A Single Voice

Seven Tears

Prelude in form of a Passacaglia

Separated Strings

I See Darkness

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Week 5 Index

DO IT!: Library

2. QCQ #1:Installation Art and Experience the Dream Scene

3. Mile (String) Land Art (final)

4. Margulies Collection Visit

5. QCQ #2: Hightened Perception and Mimetic Engulfment

6. A Room (final)

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Mirror Project

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QCQ #2: Hightened Perception & Mimetic Engulfment

Q- “The visitor was implicated in the installation-performance, and this complicity was soldered by Acconci's suggestion that without the viewer, he would be unable to 'perform' successfully.”

C- This quote refers to Acconci’s installation-performance work Seedbed, in which he lays under a wooden ramp masturbating and “responding verbally and physically to the visitor's presence above.” Learning about this “piece” caused a very unpleasant feeling to arise, making me wonder how the visitors felt about being subjected to the performance and if they were even aware of what they were getting themselves into when they walked into the installation. Now a days, consent is a big part of our society and Acconci’s work could be potentially a wildly problematic. On the other hand, society has become a lot more open and accepting of sexuality and unconventional styles of art.

Q- And so I raise the following questions. First, how do you think the public would react to a piece of this nature today? And second, in the context of this sort of works, where would you draw the line of what is art? Would you consider Acconci’s installation-performance art?

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Margulies Collection Visit

Disliked piece:

 Peter Bagehot, On Hold #3, 2015, mixed media (aluminum, wood, etalon, plastic, iron, textile, and polyurethane foam), 115 3/8 × 135 3/4 × 90 1/2 in

  In Peter Buggenhout’s “On Hold #3” we see an arrangement of various objects, that seem to be construction materials and decoration items. To me, it almost looks like a room that imploded and those are the only remains of it. Visually, I must admit, that it is an interesting piece, specially the way it seems to balance only on that object (which I clearly could not identify) and the wall. However, I can’t help but dislike it, I find it visually unappealing, possibly because it reminds me of the piles of waste that constructions leave behind, and honestly, I don’t understand it (there was also no description of the piece). I know those are very shallow reasons to dislike an artwork, but besides of the impressive balance of the piece, there is nothing I find visually appealing.

2. Liked piece:

Bertozzi & Casoni Composizione No. 8, 2005 Glazed ceramic 62 3/16 x 35 x 16 ½ inches

  In this piece by Giampaolo Bertozzi and Stefano Dal Monte Casoni, “Composizione No.8,” we see a series of abandoned medicine cabinets filed with seemingly used items. It does not seem like a very impressive or beautiful piece at first glance, in fact I find the rendered unsanitary conditions of the cabinets quite unappealing. What I find incredibly interesting about this piece, is the media it is made from. Almost everything, from the cups, the figurines, to the tubes and cans “made of metal,” and  the cabinets, is actually made out of ceramic. The attention to detail and mastery of this medium -which is not the easiest to use, specially for hyperrealism- had me speechless.

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OSHA Nightmare (Room Project)

This piece is titled OSHA Nightmare, for obvious reasons. When given the prompt for this project, to create an installation within the room structure, we were also given a set of rules regarding our safety and the preservation of the structure. Some of these included: no leaning on the structure, no climbing it, don’t lean the ladder on it; if you use power tools, be careful, no drilling holes, no nailing things to the wall, etc. Basically, avoid anything that entails altering the structure of the room. So, as it is natural, I decided to break said rules. To clarify, I did not actually break them, I only staged the disregard for them. For example, the upside-down ladder, decorated like a Christmas tree with potentially dangerous tools and a hair drier (for comic relief), or the screws attached to the walls, and all the other tools laying around obstructing the way.

  You can also notice oranges laying around in the scene. This is to reference the movie The Godfather. Now, the plot of the movie has absolutely nothing to do with the piece, only the oranges and their symbolism in the franchise do. I the movies, the oranges symbolize tragedy, in other words, they are a bad omen, appearing when something bad is about to happen. In a workplace like the one I am presenting, accidents are inevitable, which is why I decided to incorporate this reference.

  Lastly, to accompany the chaotic ambience of the scene, I put the instrumental version of the song “Dumb Ways To Die” in the background, for its light tune to add to the absurdity of the piece. Originally, this song was used as public campaign by Metro Trains, promoting safety around trains, with the slogan “Be safe around trains.” Hence why I put the message “Be safe around power tools” at the end of the video.

This piece is meant as both, a word of warning, as well as a lighthearted joke.