Context
reference to position my research.
In
the context part of my RDC1 I wrote about Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic. I also
wrote about Joseph Beuys’s ideas on “Social Sculpture” and my interests not
only in his theory but also in his work as an artist with pedagogical
approaches. Although I did not write about Beuys directly in the context
section, his work also serves as context for mine.
Artists
as context for my research practice:
Yoko
Ono, Marina Abramovic, Joseph Beuys, Peggy Phelan, John Newling, Pablo
Helguera, Paul Ramirez Jonas, France Morin “The quiet in the Land”, Tania
Bruguera ‘Catedra arte de conducta”, Thomas Hirschhorn, David Lamelas, Erwin
Wurm.
Erwin Wurn’s work is of particular relevant to my artistic practice
because of his ability to speak, as he puts it, “about the whole entity of a
human being: the physical, the spiritual, the psychological and the political.”
I
am interested in his work “One minute sculptures,” in which the ephemeral
element relates to the social sculpture practice, because in both the concern
is about the moment and the place where and when the piece is being produced.
The photograph or the video becomes a document.
In
an interview in the magazine Artology (05/05/2015), he discusses how
each “One minute sculpture” differs in each exhibition venue and local
background. I have similar experience in my social sculpture pieces.
I
currently work on pieces at both senior centers and Art Center South Florida.
These are different environments that influence the participants in multiple
ways. There are several parallels between working in these two different venues
and the practice in professional sports of teams playing either at home or
away. Being “home” or “away” has a different impact on the participants.
Things like feeling more or less secure, comfortable or confident, just
to mention a few, are elements that certainly will impact the decisions the
participant will make during the process.
Moreover,
the participant’s decision about whether or not to participate in the piece
will be influenced by the environment. The environment’s impact could/may be
different for different personalities as well. Being “home” could help one
particular individual feel more confident, while it could make another person
feel embarrassed (for example, acting differently in front of people who they
know). Perhaps for this personality, being “away” and being able to act with
more freedom and spontaneity in a new place or unknown environment could be
more beneficial.
Also,
the environment has an impact on myself, as an artist and facilitator of each
particular social sculpture situation: being “home” and opening my own studio
for the production of the piece is different than being “away” and going to
(i.e.) the senior center to provide a situation in a place that does not belong
to me. In this last case I am providing a situation, a frame of work. At “home”
I am providing a situation and a physical space to which I belong.
Familiarity
or nonfamiliarity with the environment has different impacts on each of the
participants in different ways, and therefore on the work process and the final
piece.
Last,
I want to go over some of the differences between my practice and Wurn’s work.
Erwin Wurn, as many artists working with participants to complete the
piece, works by giving to the spectators and/or participants a set of
instructions for them to follow.
Far
from giving instructions to the participants, in my work I let the participant
decide. Through doing this, I become an increasingly passive subject as the
work progresses. By the end of the piece, I am simply material for the
participant to work with.
This
approach has bases in the social sculpture’s element of pedagogy which will
analyze later.
Pablo Helguera’s work has several mediums and approaches, it is
known as Social Engaged Art (SEA). He was trained as a painter also interested
in music, and performance, he is an educator and he works with audiences. His
center of interest is people, the narratives of the participants, in his
projects he tries to find those narratives.
In
his work “El club de protesta” he worked with low income no musical trained
people from NYC, and invited them to write songs to express their situation.
Helguera believes that each critical moment in History has its own song. He
brought the songs to professional musicians to make the music, at the and they
took them to stage. In this piece, as in many other, Heguera’s role was the
facilitator of his Social Engaged Art. In Italy he worked with activists from
1977 movement and with local students as well, they build a tent on the piazza
and develop a radio program, recovering the historical political context of
Bologna as well as its long history of independent radio.
In
his ongoing piece “Conservatory of Dead Languages” 2004-present he focusses on
the topic of the death languages. At the same time he has worked in museums and
one of the things that intrigued him is the parallel to preservation museums
have, as he believes: “museums preserve things supposedly for ever for future
generations, but the act of preservation is in a way what kills it, the thing
is not anymore what it was”. For this piece he decided to use old technology, a
phonograph. He was attracted by the cylinders carved by diamonds upon the sound
frequency, the objectification of the sound in a more tangible way as supposed
with digital technology that is more difficult to understand. He traveled to
Sonora, Baja California to record disappearing languages, some times he finds
last speakers of certain languages, this is an ongoing piece, he is always on a
search of last speakers from anywhere in the world*
Helguera’s
work gives to mine a strong context, as SEA, educator, performer and his way of
approaching the situations he cerates from multiple disciplines.
*Notes
taken from the video Big Ideas in Art and Culture: Pablo Helguera. Dance
Theater David Earle in Guelph, Ontario, Canada September 14, 2012. Published on
Jan 8, 2013.
Victoria Eleanor
Bradford
House
Unbuilt is a collaborative performance body of work.
Victoria
Eleanor Bradford describes herself as choreographer of structures and forms,
she is interested in shaping body’s in motion, images on film, and social
situations. She is the Artistic Director.
I
am reviewing “Text Improvisation”. It is a video documentation of a
performance piece.
In
this performance this two women are exploring the space with their bodies in
what seems to be contemporary dance movements.
It
is a 5:56 minutes piece documented in video from one camera, one point of view
approximately 2 mts high camera.
Through
the entire piece this the two performers move through the space with a variaty
of approaches. From interacting to each other to ignoring one another, from
using the floor or walls gravity, to standing up in balance, from fast hands
movements to slow motion. It really gives the feeling of space/ form motion
exploration.
The
performance happens in a empty room where the main surface is the floor.
The
space is divided with straight lines made with black, white and yellow tape.
In
the first 2 minutes there is voice describing an ordinary situation that does
not seem to be related with the performance.
A
second performer appear in escene.
Later
the video goes silence with the exception if the performer’s body and movements
noises.
Peggy Phelan
“By
exposing the blind spot within the theoretical frameitself, it
may be possible to construct a way of knowing which does not take surveillance
of the project, visible or otherwise, as its chief aim”
John Newling
Paul Ramirez Jonas
France Morin “The quiet in the Land”
Tania Bruguera ‘Catedra arte de conducta”
Thomas Hirschhorn
David Lamelas
Pipilotti Rist