RDC1 Research prospectus,
March 2016
Title of project:
Transgenerational Interactions and Memory: A Reflexive Social
Sculpture Practice Exploration
Project aims:
·
To
use my practice to explore, reflect upon and articulate issues relating to transgenerational
issues, memories, emotions and their reciprocal influence on my practice.
·
To
develop a body of work of social sculpture experiences where the viewer
participates in a controlled vs. uncontrolled playful situation to create a
space in which all participants experience or contribute to the creation of the
artwork.
·
To
be able to develop my own reflective practice procedure and use it to document social
sculpture in written and video formats.
·
To
explore non-traditional venues (local senior centers and public or community
spaces) in order to focus on a variety of different generational communities
and find ways to interact with their plural and complex subjectivities.
·
To
observe their interventions and surrender myself over to them during the
actions in an exchange of experiences.
·
To
develop a more specific lexicon to use to and articulate my practice. (At
present I am using the term of social sculpture because it is the closest to my
practice.)
Research questions:
1. How can my material-based studio practice and my social
sculpture practice explore and integrate memory and emotions from different
groups of transgenerational subjects?
2. What is the relationship between transgenerational issues,
memories, emotions and experimental gesture making in my creative practice?
3. How can I best present and disseminate my findings and my
practice to the communities which I feel my work may be of relevance to?
Background to Research:
“Unless one likes complexity, one cannot feel at home in the
twenty-first century. Transformations, metamorphoses, mutations, processes of
change amidst dissonant power relations have become familiar patterns in the
lives of most contemporary subjects.” [1]
My areas of inquiry are transgenerational interactions, emotions
and memory.
I use the term
‘transgeneration’ for my research to describe the collision between
transformation and generation in order to convey the complexity and plurality
of subjectivities and their transformations during the interactions in my
social sculpture making. I explore this
through my practice by composing social sculpture pieces with participants from
different local communities in Miami. I use language as an aesthetic element and
as material together with other more conventional materials. My social
sculpture[2]
works are constructed through using language, my own body, sound collections of
the participants talking and other possible props or materials (for example,
fabric, cotton, clay, and a chair) all construct my social sculpture pieces. At
the same time I am also material for the research, so my practice becomes a
mirror and reflection simultaneously. The production of art works is integrated
into social situations and experiences where the participants create while I
take a more passive attitude to let myself be material for the participants.
Photography,
video and sound recording are part of my practice in terms of methods, together
with written production. I have a degree in photography and audiovisual
techniques and the usage of cameras is part of my practice. Even though my
approach to these media will be mainly to document my performance, I do not
limit myself to that. The process of editing images and sounds collected during
social sculpture experiences is both material for my pieces and a meditative
moment that will allow me to process the experience using reflective practice
concepts.
In my former
sculpture making, I always focused on transformations in terms of form, and how
different materials’ qualities could shift a raw material’s natural form into a
new form/shape. Often I wanted to see
the form in more than one material to see how I reacted to it, so the object
could be the same form, but different emotions were expressed through the use
of different materials. I enjoy manipulating materials, solving problems
within its limitations, stretching and discovering its possibilities, having a
dialogue with it, and allowing it to make decisions.
Physical
transformations inform my research, but I am also interested in the
relationship between memory, translocation, emotions and generational issues as
elements of transformation and how they affect present behaviours. These issues
may appear during the participants’ decisions taking, like negotiating
situations during the creation of a social sculpture piece.
“The models of cultural recall (…) those of second and third
generations are situated in a twilight zone between history and fiction…” [3]
That “twilight
zone” between history and fiction is the place of memory I’m interested in
focusing on. It is in the subjectivity of the twilight zone where I believe
memories stay, tinted with emotions, environment and the pass of time. In my
personal interaction during the preparation of the actions and in order to gain
confidence I listen to stories either from children or senior communities as
part of the process. I’m interested in those stories as well, as they may appear
during the actions in a non-literal way and the participants (and myself) may
not even be conscious of it during the experience.
Life
transformations, the accompanying changes of identity and the memories we carry
and we make (at the same time) all play a role in my practice. I will explore
how different generations express their transformations in terms of emotions
through the composition of social sculpture pieces. Reciprocally the
interaction between material, play, and the construction of social sculpture
experiences may affect people’s emotions and perhaps memories.
During my research I will, through my interactions with different
groups of participants, attempt to find an understanding to how the approach to
play (and constructing social sculptures pieces) is different in the
multiplicity of generational subjectivities. My aim is to work through a notion
of social sculpture that is framed by a playful situation and to find a
creative language, a social sculpture language to articulate transgenerational
issues.
The social
sculptures pieces and interactions with material are going to be delivered as
artist/participant-constructed social experience. My main focus will be on
different generational communities such as local senior centers, afterschool
programs, my five years old son’s group of friends and groups of teenagers from
the art high schools’ internships program, which is organized with the help of
the Art Center South Florida’s education department. I am interested in a
dynamic social environment, in finding ways to create a situation, an
experience where the participants create the social sculpture through playing.
“Playing, like ritual, is at the heart of performance. In fact
performance may be defined as ritualized behavior conditioned/permeated by play
(...). Ritual has seriousness to it, the hammerhead of authority. Play is
looser, more permissive-forgiving in precisely those areas where ritual is
enforcing, flexible where ritual is rigid.” [4]
In a series of
recent (November 2015) performances/actions experiences, I worked at the North
Beach senior center in Miami Beach. We (the participants and myself) created a
playful environment where I lost control of my own action and gave up myself to
the participants’ control, decisions and proposals. I (and a roll of white
fabric that I brought) became the material for them, the material for the social
sculpture. The participants made all the decisions; they directed me with
details of what to do and also how to move. I also lost control of my camera on
the tripod as one of them decided to manipulate it and to play music she chose
for the piece.
After the
performance was complete, I stayed and talk with the participants. I recorded
their comments, thoughts and feelings. I documented and internalized the
subjectivity of their very different perceptions to the same performance they
created: while all talked about metamorphosis, some of their thoughts and
intentions were related to the butterfly process, while another person was very
sad perceiving the death of things. I realized at that moment how talking about
“the senior” is not appropriate. Their individualities guided me to become
aware of the diverse subjectivity in beings of different ages.
Nicolas
Bourriaud’s ideas on “Relational Aesthetics” are of relevance here as I am
drawn to the notion of finding community or public spaces instead of using
traditional ones. Bourriaud describes relational aesthetics as:
“A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and
practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social
context, rather than an independent and private space.” [5]
However, Joseph
Beuys’ idea of social sculpture is perhaps of greater relevance, as he states
‘everybody is an artist’, 'everything is art’, and ‘life can be approached
creatively’[6]
as socially engaged ideas, is perhaps of greater relevance. There is a genuine
existence of a deep contradiction in me of both wanting to socialize and or
interact with the public, but knowing my own personal limitation in doing so
with strangers. The resolution of this contradiction might be productive for
both my practice and my research, producing work that speaks, relates and
hopefully transforms.
My interest in
transformation is also pedagogical: for the future and to facilitate the
transformation that Nietzsche speaks of on his theory of triangulation, which
includes the use of diverse approaches, measuring the data from different
perspectives and interdisciplinary approach. Joseph Beuys claimed that his
greatest work of art was to be a teacher and explored this through his
experimental pedagogy. Similarly, Claire Bishop in her book Artificial Hells
has written a chapter dedicated to pedagogic projects:
“Viewers are not students, and students are not viewers, although
their respective relationships to the artist and teacher have a certain dynamic
overlap…for many decades, artists have attempted to forge a closer connection
between art and life, referring to their interventions into social processes as
art; most recently this includes educational experiments…” [7]
I will analyze
these ideas in terms of how I present and deliver my actions to/with the
participant. The social sculpture exploration pieces I want to produce will
imply social/political and pedagogical elements that could possibly, through
the experiences, transform us (the participants). I believe that during the
interactions that lead to the construction of the social sculpture something
very pedagogical and political happens. It is mainly in the process: the
negotiation of the decisions where all opinions have to converge in a piece is
probably the most political and pedagogical moment: a ‘hands on’ moment for the
ideas, the materiality of ideas and emotions.
At the same
time, by facilitating the environments for the social sculpture to happen, I
will be able to witness myself in the participant’s transformations during the
experience, which will feed back into my research inquiry into how life is
transformed through experience.
“…pedagogic art raises a persistent set of epistemological
problems for the art historian and critique: What does it mean to do education
(and programming) as art? How do we judge these experiences? What kind of
efficacy do they seek? Do we need to experience them first hand in order to
comment on them?” [8]
I believe that in fact I
need to experience them and reflect first hand in order to write about them. To
live the experience is the only way I have to go through the reflective
practice process (D. Schön) both during the experience and during editing. I
sit and write: writing as method, writing as part of my practice and not
separated from my social sculpture producing. The ultimate research process for
me is not to differentiate writing and social sculpture making, but for them to
melt together as one practice. Katy Macleod proposed:
“…A further option is to consider both the visual and written work
as texts, which constitute the final submission...”[9]
Yoko Ono and
Marina Abramovic are artists I’m currently discovering. Yoko Ono’s “Cut piece”
(1964) relates to my work as she gives herself up to the viewers, giving them
the control of the performance. “… Ono sat motionless on the stage after inviting the audience
to come up and cut away her clothing…”[10] Yet still she is the one giving to the viewers the instructions:
this is a difference from my actions as my intent is to give myself up,
becoming material and letting the participants (viewers) to take decisions, to
direct the action, which is completely the opposite as to giving them
instructions,
Marina
Abramovic’s performances and her interest in the state of consciousness are
intriguing to me and I can see how it may develop in my own practice.
Conversely, I can’t relate to the energy (in her case coming from body pain),
her personal political views and her aesthetic of violence simply because they
are not part of my interests.
I would like
to close this section with this quotation from Yoko Ono:
"I often remember this sort of story from my childhood:
Buddha actually came from a rich family he was a prince or something like that
and one day he just dropped everything and started walking with his wife and
his children. Soon, someone comes out and says, Give me something. And Buddha
gives him his jacket or shirt. Then he goes on, and somebody else asks him for
something; he gives them his family, and so on. And finally, I think it’s a
tiger that asks him for his body. So, he just gives his body and is transformed
into a spirit. It’s the total giving concept. The struggle with art, for me,
became about the concept of whether you were stating your ego through your work
or creating an environment where other people can be creative as well.[11]
This
paragraph relates to me and my practice very closely: her past memories and the
way it shapes her perspective as an artist, her will to create an environment
for people while recognizing and giving value to all of us as potential
creators. Ono’s childhood influences, her will to work for the community and her
subjective memory connect closely with my practice and to my research.
Research Methods &
Strategies:
‘Each tale has its own technique’ J.L. Borges
My research
methods will include social sculpture and sculpture making and/or manipulating
materials. For documentation purposes I will include the use of video,
photographs, recording and writing. Katie McLeod’s ‘seesaw’ method will be
fundamental during my practice-based research:
“Research
evidence has demonstrated that the making/writing issue has gone far beyond a
simple binary argument. The relationship between the two can be extremely
productive. It is about the tension between them, as each visits and revisits
the other and constantly revises, rethinks and (re)presents each to the other.
Artist/researchers shows that the two forms are integral …” [12]
This process has
already started as I have embodied the interrelation between the writings I
have been working with and my practice. I can see evidence of the ‘seesaw’
method in my own research project.
The method I
will use to transfer my explorations-experiences during my social sculpture to
writing will be based on the concept of reflection. I’m interested in Donald
Schon’s ideas and his concepts of reflective practice and organizational
learning because through them I will be able to embody the experience and
therefore articulate it in writing. Reflective practice’s aim is to bring
together theory and practice: using reflection will allow me to have a clear
view, process thoughts and theory within the context of my practice during the
actions and even more during the editing of the material collected. I will
reflect on the practice and being aware of emotions, experiences, actions and
responses while
“paying critical attention to the practical values and theories
which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and
reflexively. This leads to developmental insight” [13]
The methodology
used in my research will be based on Nietzsche’s Triangulation. He proposed the
use of diverse approaches in order to increase knowledge, which echoes the
often interdisciplinary nature of practice based research
“Gaining knowledge, requires the resources of many disciplines; no
single approach is sufficient. Truth-seekers will have to became more versatile,
master many disciplines and methods, learn artistic creativity and balanced
judgment” [14]
Schroeder
explains that Nietzsche proposes the usage of the cognitive element to
elaborate the way to determine the truth; the cultural reconstruction element
to diagnose the present; the legislative for the future and the educative
element to facilitate the transformation in others. The condition required for
the new philosophers, Schroeder states, is an existential transformation, the
three-stage metamorphosis of the spirit, Nietzsche refers to in “Human, All Too
Human” and in Thus Spoke Zarathustra” the three Metamorphoses.
Similarly in his
book, Education for Socially engaged Art,
Pablo Helguera explains how in to set a curriculum for socially engaged art,
history and theory and the inability in doing so with a critical approach.
Furthermore he explains social engaged art as performance that “must break away
(…) from self-referentiality” and needs to be approached from different
disciplines to get a better knowledge:
“Socially engaged art is a form of performance in the expanded
field (…) Only is better served by gathering knowledge from a combination of
the disciplines-pedagogy, theater, ethnography, anthropology, and communication
among others-from which artists construct their vocabularies in different
combinations depending on their interests and needs”[15]
As I have moved
in my research from Nietszche and Beuys to Helguera and others, I have become
more convinced that framing a methodology-theory that references different
disciplines and methods is the best way to articulate my practice and the
insights it reveals.
Bibliography:
Artificial Hells, Bishop Claire, Verso 2012
Performance
Studies, Schechner, R.,
second edition, 2002
Education for Socially Engaged Art, a
materials and Techniques handbook Pablo Helguera, Jorge Pinto Books NY, 2011
Thus Spoke
Zarathustra, Nietzsche
F., translated by Kaufmann W. 1978, Penguin Books
Continental
Philosophy: A Critical Approach,
Schroeder W. R., 2005, Blackwell Publishing
Ethics:
Subjectivity and truth,
Foucault M., Translated by Hurley R. and others, 1994, Edited by Ravinow P.
Relational
Aesthetics,
Bourriaud N., 2002,
Translated by Pleasance S. & Woods F., Les Presses Du Reel Edition
Nomadology:
The War Machine, Deleuze
G. & Guattari F., 1986, Translated by Massumi B.
Liminal Acts:
A critical Overview of Contemporary Performance and Theory, Broadhurst S. 1999, Cassell
The Nomadic Theory, Braidotti R., 2011, Columbia University Press
Metamorphoses, Braidotti R., 1988, Polity
Patterns of Dissonance, Braidotti R., 1991, Polity Press
After
Poststructuralism: transitions and transformations, Braidotti R.,
The Doctorate
in Fine Art: The importance of Exemplars to the Research Culture, Macleod K., Holdridge L.
Language and
Social Psychology (Language in society)
Giles H.,
St.Clair R. N., 1979,
Basil Blackwell
The Social
Meanings of Language, Dialect and Accent: International Perspectives on Speech
Styles (Language as Social Action)
Giles
H.,
Watson B.
Runaway Girl, Bourgeois Louise, 2003, Greenberg &
Jordan, Adams H. N.
Louise Bourgeois, Berdanac M. L., Flammarion, 1996
Louise Bourgeois,
Gardner P., Universe
Publishing, 1994
An interview
with Louise Bourgeois, Kuspit
D. 1988 Elizabeth Avedon Editions,
Eva Hesse, Lippard L. First Da Capo Press Edition,
1992, 1st edition 1976
October files
Eva Hesse, Nixon M.,
Editor. 2002, Cambridge MS: MIT Press
Three Artists
(three women): modernism and the Art of Hesse, Krasner and O’keeff, Wagner, Middleton A., The Regents of the
University of California, 1996.
Where Is Ana
Mendieta?: Identity, Performativity, and Exile, February 24, 1999
Mendieta, Ana Manchester
E. Untitled (Silueta Series, Mexico)". TATE, 2009.
English Is
Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the, by
Fusco C., 1995
Performance
and Technology: Practices of Virtual Embodiment and Interactivity,
Broadhurst S. (Editor),
Josephine Machon
(Editor), 2011
Video Art
Theory: A Comparative Approach,
Westgeest H., 2016
[1] The Nomadic Theory, Braidotti R., 2011, Columbia University Press,
pg.1
[2]
“Social sculpture is a
definition developed by the artist Joseph Beuys in the 1970s on the concept
that everything is art, that every aspect of life could be approached
creatively and, as a result, everyone has the potential to be an artist. Social
sculpture united Joseph Beuys’ idealistic ideas of a utopian society together
with his aesthetic practice. He believed that life is a social sculpture that
everyone helps to shape.” Tate glossary of art terms, tate.org.uk
[3] Amsterdam
School for Heritage and Memory Studies, www.ashms.uva.nl
[4] Performance
Studies, Schechner, R., second edition,
2002, pg. 89
[5] “Relational
Aesthetics”, Bourriaud, N.1998. pg. 113.
[6] Joseph
Beuys: the reader, Edited and translated
by Mesch C., Michely V.with foreword by Danto A. 2007
[7] Artificial hells, Bishop, C., Verso 2012, pg. 245
[8]
Artificial
hells, Bishop,
C. Verso 2012, pg. 245
[9] The Doctorate in Fine Art: The Importance
of Exemplars to the
Research Culture, Katy Macleod and Lin
Holdridge.
[10] Source:
Stiles, K. «Uncorrupted Joy: International Art Actions,» in: Out of Actions:
between performance and the object, 1949–1979, Schimmel, P. (ed.), MoCA Los
Angeles, New York/London, 1998, p. 278.)
[11] Yoko Ono’s website (in Sculpture Magazine, 2000)
[12] The
Doctorate in Fine
Art: The Importance
of Exemplars to the
Research Culture, Macleod, K., and Holdridge, L.
[13] Bolton, G., Reflective practice: writing and professional
development (3rd edition) Los Angeles: Sage edition p. 19
[14] Schroeder, W. Continental Philosophy – A Critical
Approach, Wiley Blackwell, London, 2004, pg.118
[15] Helguera, P. Education
for Socially Engaged Art, a materials and Techniques handbook, Jorge Pinto
Books NY, 2011, pg x