Examination Room

Dark Twisted Fantasy

2012-01-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

A dear friend, known as HW, invited me to show at Six Summit Gallery in Ivoryton, CT. So i figured after a long hiatus from posting on my blog -------------------------i'm back.

The work here is for exhibition and will also include 3 body props. This imagery is from an intervention in 2011 with dancer/choreographer Tony Olivares and Jonathan Morales behind the lens. The images have subsequently been converted into hi-con objectified photos -- with the framework of body as object.

With this work I am using the inventory from the project documentation - a rich expereince in viewing/choreographing and experiencing the ideal dancing body.

The body - a very beautiful, severe, graceful, intense object.

If your body was an object - what object would you be?

Body Props

2011-06-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

4 of 5 works from my thesis exhibition Body Props at The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.

Progress

2011-05-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I met with an artist friend of mine who is fabricating 3 additional pieces as part of my project, Body Props. The total installation will include 5 pieces - below are color palettes that I am considering...

SWAP SHOP NY

2011-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Upcoming participatory exhibition in Brooklyn, May 7 + 8, 2011, join me!

movement investigation w/ props

2011-03-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

This post is of a movement investigation with dancer/choreographer Tony Oliveres. I am interested in the many potential ways the body could use a prop and discover new positions.

Monolith in Red

2011-03-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Body shots

2011-02-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

The below images are of users interacting with geometrical body props, a body repositioning system. The props have been edited out leaving the users in alternate arrangements and positions. Interactivity is captured, isolated and reduced to the figure/ground relationship.

Charlotte Posenenske

2011-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

Statement
The things I make are
variableas
simple as possible
reproducible.
They are components of a space, since they are like building elements,
they can always be rearranged into new combinations or positions,
thus, they alter the space.
I leave this alteration to the consumer who thereby again and anew
participates in the creation.
The simplicity of basic geometric forms is beautiful and suited
to the demonstration of the principles of rationalized modifications.
I make series
because I do not want to make single pieces for individuals,
in order to have elements combinable within a system,
in order to make something which is repeatable, objective,
and because it is economical.
The series can be prototypes for mass production.
Series DW (at Fischer’s) is made of corrugated cardboard that
is light and cheap: a material for consumption.
Often the elements of their combinations are very large in order to
alter the spatial environment more thoroughly. They approximate
architectural dimensions and for this reason also differ increasingly
from the former gallery objects.
They are decreasingly recognizable as “artworks.”
The objects should have the objective character of industrial products.
The former categorization of the arts no longer exists. The artist of the
future would have to work with a team of specialists in a development laboratory.
Though art’s formal development has progressed at an increasing tempo,
its social function has regressed.
Art is a commodity of transient contemporary significance, yet, the market is minute,
and prestige and prices rise the less topical the supply is.
It is difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that art can contribute nothing to
solving urgent social problems.

Offenbach, February 11, 1968

Charlotte Posenenske, “Statement” [Manifesto], Art International no. 5 (May 1968)

"Time-Space-Body and Action"

2011-02-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

Klaus Rinke - “Time-Space-Body and Action” at Gallery L’Attico in Rome, 1972

Maneuvering Board

2011-02-17T20:34:00.001-08:00

Relative and true motion

In the early 1980s I went to work for the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center as a Personnel Research Psychologist (they did not know how to hire an anthropologist.) The Navy was having difficulty teaching radar navigation. The radar navigation courses at the Operations Specialist schools had failure rates near 30%. This matters because radar navigation techniques are used to do essential jobs like determining how to change course and speed to avoid a collision at sea. This, and more complex problems such as how to steam out from a task force for reconnaissance, and then to rejoin the task force later, are solved using radar navigation plotting techniques on a polar coordinate plotting sheet called the maneuvering board.

What could be so difficult about simple plotting techniques? To find out, I entered a maneuvering board class. I attended lectures, worked through the assignments, and interviewed instructors and students. I thus began with an ethnographic study of a classroom. In the course of my work, it became clear to me that there was a single subtle conceptual misunderstanding underlying most of the difficulties encountered by the students. They all came to the classroom equipped with robust perceptual reasoning strategies that permit them to understand depictions of absolute motion. This is what we all understand as folk. If someone shows you a bird’s-eye-view animation of a ship moving on a chart, or a vehicle moving on a terrestrial surface, you know how to interpret the motion. If you see two vehicles in motion, you still know how to interpret the motion, although judging whether or not two vehicles will collide is not always easy. The conceptual problem was that the students were trying to apply the strategies that work well for absolute motion to the movement of targets on a radar screen. The motion of objects on a radar screen is relative to the motion of the vehicle on which the radar is mounted. It is thus relative motion, rather than absolute motion. Relative motion again! My work on Micronesian navigation led me to think hard about the relations among frames of motion in expressions of motion.

James Hollan, Donald Norman, and I went on to design a computer-based training system for radar navigation that incorporated the insights of my ethnographic studies. The software system was originally written in UCSD Pascal and ran on the Terak microcomputer. It included a micro-world in which the student could explore the relationships between relative and absolute motion (upper image at left) and a tutorial facility that allowed the student to move step-by-step through radar navigation procedures. This system reduced the failure rate in radar navigation courses at the Operation Specialist school from 30% to about 3%. A reworked version of this program subsequently became standard refresher training for radar navigation aboard every ship in the US Navy.

-Edwin Hutchins

Department of Cognitive Science
University of California San Diego

multiple forms of intelligence

2011-02-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

2011-02-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

SIMONE FORTI Work In A Range Of Mediums

June 27 - August 1st, 2009

Simone Forti, Slant Board, 1960/2004, © the artist, Courtesy the artist and The Box, Los Angeles.

Touch

2011-02-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Touch

Progress

2011-02-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

The piece below is a tracker that i use to measure loss. I track loss through excess articles of clothing that become too big. The piece went from approximately 6'x6' and is now nearly 13'x13'. Issues of control, body awareness and biography are all themes in which I have explored in my work over the past 2 years.

As a weight loss regiment, I began to use my body as a test case. More recently, my work relies on the investigation of the users body. I use geometrical sculptural forms as props - as positioning and repositioning devices - in which to watch the viewers interactions and relationships with others, themselves and the objects.

1st iteration - Jan 2010

More pieces to be rolled and added - today

Midpoint of reroll

Near completion

Franz Erhard Walther and dance notation

2011-02-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

Dance notation and the work of Franz Erhard Walther share similarities. There are strong connections such as instruction and dictation of the body within its space. After rereading Franz Erhard Walther Arbeiten 1969-1976, I began to look more closely at dance notation marks and Walther is choreographing movement - how one moves, to what extend ones moves in, direction of gaze, inward/outward views, negative/positive physical space, standing/laying, concentration and more. I came across LabanWriter (dance notation software) which is worth a view.

One might suggest that FEW has slowed the process of movement, calling attention to body awareness, surroundings and physical space. Concentration is a key element in both Walther's work and in dance, resulting in the 'users' experiencing "all moments of one's own corporeality and one's consciousness of it, including body chemistry, time awareness and social references" (Vogel).

Motif Description is a symbol system which notates the outline of movement. It records the structure of movements, but not movements in detail. Students should begin by learning Motif Description before going on to the more complex Labanotation system. Motif writing, developed by V. Preston-Dunlop, is based on Labanotation. Symbols are written in columns and read from the bottom upwards, left to right. The following are action symbols which will help teachers and students get started. There are also symbols for other aspects of movement including the body, dynamics, space and relationships. For further information, please refer to resources on notation listed in Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Secondary Level.

Franz Erhard Walther, Zwei Schreitbahnen, gegenüber. 5 Segmente, 3 Segmente., 1975.

1. Vogel, Carl. Franz Erhard Walther Arbeiten 1969-1976

Body Stands

2011-01-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

Human Behaviour

2011-01-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

If you ever get close to a human
and human behaviour
be ready to get confused

there's definitely no logic
to human behaviour
but yet so irresistible

there is no map
to human behaviour

they're terribly moody
then all of a sudden turn happy
but, oh, to get involved in the exchange
of human emotions is ever so satisfying

there's no map and
a compass
wouldn't help at all

human behaviour

--Björk

notes

2011-01-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

use the body

mine

yours

preferably yours

i assume

the position

voyeur

i want people to be aware of their bodies

of the space they occupy

and their relationship within it

sensual versus minimal

contemplative

architectural

authoritative

upside down

reclined

tipped backwards

layered in between

encapsulated

on the wall

on the floor

in the room

in a space that one can be in

Rest - revisited

2011-01-26T15:34:00.001-08:00

chevron shaped bed like structure - in geometric minimalist form where 2 bodies can lay, however, there is only room for 1 head. an interrogation of the body. users to consider issues of intimacy and conflict resolution. how does one compromise? is there such a thing? can it be done? what would happen if 30 participants in groups of 2 were asked to sleep in this fashion for a night? a week? a month? in a shared space?

My artist statement as written by Marat Paransky

2011-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

Brilliant. Thank you Marat.

monday, tuesday

2011-01-25T16:55:00.001-08:00

I spent Monday doing research and began to write draft 1 of my thesis. This was much more difficult after being in residence for 10 days - in 'input' mode. I've decided that if I didn't attend the last rez I would have been able to write as I was in a particular mindset/mode. Now, of course, I've got an inordinate amount of thoughts, ideas and references in which to process.

After researching and looking carefully at some artists, talking shop with another, i decided to mess around with some cardboard, tape and one of my creepy figures that i have lurking around the studio in abundance. I imagine it in white fur with silk (or plastic) handmade puffy or stuffed flowers.

Not balloons but parade float.

A personal utopian float for 1 - for many.

Group 4 crit notes from Jan residency

2011-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

Crit notes from rez

Group 4

Small group crit w/ Laurel Sparks

Erwin Wurm
Aldo van Eyck
work looks uncomfortable but is comfortable
expectation vs experience
squeeze chaise lounge (wendy jacob)

Crit w/ Dominique Bluher

movement
Yvonne Rainer
Trisha Brown
isolation
another form of absence
interrogation of the body
Look at Carrie Lambert-Beatty at MIT
choreography

Small group crit w/ Judith Barry

How does my work provide meaning?
What does it mean to other people?
Work produces its own meaning...
Consider taking contact improvisation classes
Yvonne Rainer
Erwin Wurm
Figures appear synchronized in 2D images (AM)
Aaron Siskind
Elizabeth Streb’s gravity dance, Williamsburg studio
AA Bronson massage treatment

Crit w/ Nuit Banai

1920’s Russian Constructivist theatre design
The eye and the mind: reflections on perception and the problem of knowledge By Charles Landesman
Modernist
Reforming the subject
Reread Constructivism
How subjects are made
How art forms are made in constructivism
Site will influence reading, context in which one responds
Not only empty vessels
Is it my connection to make? (re: reading in library w/ plinths)
How is it used? - is there a pedagogical leaning to the work?
Single person cannot move it
Monolithic quality makes you the subject
Very authoritative
Is my thesis show documentation of a project through photography?
Forms are pure + simple
Look at Dan Grahams pavilions Whitney retrospective
Unfamiliar to familiar
Strange scales that haven’t been incorporated into participation yet
Authority/hardness/intention
Rita McBride
Object is aggressive
Does the user have to be creative?
Jeppe Heins work-turning pav-wooden crate elements
Social moments open ended?
James Hyde furniture
discovery/self discovery

Crit w/ Oliver Wasow

Andrea Zittel
1st impression of 2D’s is that they inform the sculpture. Would not have seen sculpture the same way w/o them
Dike Blair
Look at general furniture design
Statement: design body to social regimentation class (ex. bus stops in NYC have breaks in them so to keep people from sleeping on them.
Investigative forces - stop investigation and publish results for thesis.
!!!Work points to modernism more than minimalism (disagree)
Right angle, pure geometric shape
The minimalist response was to war to reduce elements - no pleasure
Jorge Pardo reintroduces design
Production values of work are important to consider
!!!Figure out now where these exist: home, gallery, public, etc
Use google sketch up - free software
Look up Nancy Dwyer
Work is nonmalleable opposes Neto’s work

Crit w/ Thomas Little

Possibly use video - combine video w/ sculpture of something banal - show it slowly - something organic/or of pure color
!!!Use images of people w/ sculpture where the sculpture has been removed as instructions
When you talk about your work need to only ref 3 or 4 artists
Talk: keep it simple at 1st then add

Call w/ Jan Avgikos

Franz Erhard Walther
Work can’t be revealed unless its performed
Franz West’s - amorphous expressive/austrian sculpture
Users altering them is close to destroying them
Zittel’s early blankets - folded. Use of a vehicle to inhabit. High density foam carved in gallery for use. Work functioning in physical way - physical interactivity.
Gillian Wearing-WBA 90’s videos and photos-approached strangers and wrote notes from strangers and photographed them.
Art has become a space of interactivity.
theanyspacewhatever show at the Guggenheim - catalog.
Piet Weis (?) installation of hotel room-one could rent a room overnight, Jerry Salz rented the room and wrote about it.
Justin Lowe- younger artist makes conversation pits that define space for people to hang out in.
!!!Anna Chave’s response to Freid 1989 Minimalism and the rhetoric of power.
Erwin Wurm
yayoi kusama
Need to chart a course w/ Jan
Work engages many pulse points - need to craft carefully a route of histories and contemporary practices to define the specifics.
!!!Look at early Matthew Barney
!!!Look at Bruce Nauman
Freid’s objections to minimalism - Robert Morris

My ideas after rearranging my space - snow day

Hang a man from a wall - mount a unit so a body can stand on/against the wall on said structure.
About the body - objectification of object - antisocial?
No need to use tools to measure space, use bodies.

From Steve + Jeff

See Green Cavier, Marilyn Minter

Crit w/ Sunanda Sunyal

body, geometry, claustrophobia
There is a social context to my work that minimalism did not have.
!!!Bruce Nauman’s Green Corridor is about social context, testing limits to endure, restraints of space.
!Can frame thesis not about individual experience but how people interact - with each other.
From Meret Oppenheim’s furry teacup we started to ask ourselves if one were to interact what would happen? What would happen if? Lucas Samaras 50-60s. Then came the interaction of the late 60’s.
Joseph Beuys
Idea of touching prevalent in minimalism but did not actually touch except for Andre’s floor pieces.
Duchamp would not have objected touching, Judd would.
!!!!!Brauce Nauman using minimalist space - now we are invited to touch.
SS would ask me to differentiate members of audience - instead of interaction with object what is the interaction withe each other as mediated by the object.
For SS: Not only do i want to interact with the object but i want to interact with others.
Make at least one piece where i need to people to interact.
Object becomes catalyst or mediator for at least 2 or more people.
The difference between individuality of modernism as opposed to now.
The modernist individual had this kind of sense - wholesomeness of individual - individual is a unit of knowledge - cartesian.
Spirituality in modernism.
Today, not necessarily despair but banal.
Make objects to frame interaction to be symbolic of specific banality (my individual should not be confused?)
something repetitive.
Criticism: My objects are too interesting. Make them banal - not attached.

Crit w/ Carolyn Rordam

Minimalism denies the body.
How do i gauge the interaction I'm seeking in the viewer/user.
The instructions or device have to be a stand in for me.
Is it about confinement?

Crit w/ Nuit Banai

immersion of the viewer
singular ilo of multiple
physical structuring of events and social exchanges
new relationships with critical discourse
Barbara Galluci - social sculpture
Pedro Reyes - shows at Yvon Lambert Gallery NY
unitary relationship with object - 1 on 1
look at 'Site', a performance by Robert Morris with Carolee Schneemann - ubuweb
what do you get? singular relationship to object.
body is literally an object
consider 1 to 1 relationship - how does this relate to a group of people? or does it open up the possibility of greater creativity for people?
each in our own pod
rest + inactivity/disengagement
or engagement?
context specific
art as therapy - be careful
Sara Meltzer Gallery - look at list of artists

exercise 2: edited list of 10 words to best describe my work

2011-01-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

geometric
self directed
architectural
participatory
delight
device
social
authoritative
performative
playful

exercise 1: 30+ word list to describe my work

2011-01-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

sculpture
geometry
body
interactive
user
self directed
architectural
design
positioning
arranging
participation
equality
form
function
delight
modular
device
tipping
organizing
comfort
uncomfortable
human scale
mimimal
together
separate
object
social
self discovery
authoritative
vessels
pure
simple
intentional
aggressive
open ended
performative
playful
inquiry

Erwin Wurm

2011-01-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

The artist Erwin Wurms work was mentioned to me in many of my critiques over the past 10 days I spent in residence at AIB, Boston. After arriving home today, i started looking at images of his work and i thought i'd post this one with one of the pieces I presented. I am interested in the reorganization of the body in space.

The Ass of Sigmund Freud, 2004

Erwin Wurm

Monolith (prototype), 2010

Melanie Carr

Crit space pics Jan 2010

2011-01-11T18:59:00.001-08:00

Body Plinths currently installed at the Boston Public Library Grove Hall Branch.

Crit space

Thesis outline + bibliography

2011-01-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

Title: Together but Separate

I) Abstract (personal statement)

A) Classrooms, workplace cubicles, theatres or military barracks all serve as places where bodies can exist together but separate. In classrooms, many are seated in perfect rows of single desks. In the military, servicemen and women march together in perfect formation but as separate units - all lined up just so. I am interested in the body as object defined by isolating the body within space. By placing the body in unfamiliar positions, it becomes objectified and generates new experiences while sharing space as an object among other objects, an intersection of performance, architecture and minimalism.

“And once he is in the room the work refuses, obstinately, to let him alone - which is to say, it refuses to stop confronting him, distancing him, isolating him” (Michael Fried).

I) Introduction
A) How does ones perception of space change through the use of ones own body? How does active participation get one closer to literal space?
B) Dorothea von Hantelmann’s comment “ sculpture has always been marked by its aspiration to transcend its own material objecthood, an aspiration that is continued in modernity with the attempt to negate the commodity status of the artwork, which was seen to relate to its physical materiality.” As the viewer becomes the user, does this activation of space transcend the material objecthood? How does this use of space through architectural forms result in isolation? How does isolation result at the intersection of minimalism, performance and architecture? Is contemplation/isolation the result for the user, for a work of art?

II) The body as a point of departure
A) The body as object in art and culture.
1) Amelia Jones on body art: “Unlike other objects in the world, the body cannot be thought as separate from the self” (39).
(a) The pose
(1) Hannah Wilke
(2) Supermodels
2) Performance art as it intersects with architecture.
(a) Valie Export, (Touch cinema)
(1) Objectification of the body as commodity.
(b) Vanessa Beecroft (VB 43, 2000)
3) The isolate body in contemporary culture.
(1) Wii – computer gaming
(2) Flash mobs
(a) Frozen Grand Central (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo)
(3) Excessive use of personal gadgetry.

III) The relationship of the body to architectural space and how it defines ones actions.
A) Activating the viewer/user.
1) Vito Acconci
(a) Seedbed
(b) Storefront Renovation with Stephen Holl and Acconci Studio: Luis Vera, Charles Doherty) 1993
(c) Park up a Building (Acconci Studio: Luis Vera,Jenny Schrider, Charles Doherty) 1996.
2) Carlo Scarpa
(a) Galli Tomb, Genoa 1978
3) Ernesto Neto
(a) Navedenga

CP's notes (Acconci’s Seedbed belongs to a group of artwork where the artist is directly experiencing the confinement and the relation between the body and the architecture. To such group also belong artworks such as Five Day Locker Piece (1971) or White Light/White Heat at the Ronald Feldman gallery in New York (For this work Burden spent twenty-two days lying on a triangular platform in the corner of the gallery right under the ceiling. He was out of sight from all viewers and he could not see them either) by Chris Burden, or Bruce Nauman walking in an exaggerated manner in his Corridors. I think all these works are important for your research, as well as others where the performative aspect is crucial, such as Santiago Sierra piece with the immigrants spending their time inside cardboard boxes in the gallery. My suggestion is to make a difference between these kind of works, that show a strong accent on performance, and the others that you mention that are either more installation-oriented (Ernesto neto), or frankly architecture (Acconci studio, Carlo Scarpa ecc.)

B) Scale of objects with the body’s interaction implies conditions of isolation.
1) I will discuss Michael Fried’s Art and Objecthood and the human scale as central to the examination of shape/space.
(a) Themes of alienation and concentration of minimalist art.
(b) The human scale.
(1) Robert Morris, Untitled (Box for Standing), 1961.
(2) Tony Smith’s Die

ICP's notes (If you talk about the “human scale” you should mention Le Corbusier’s “modulor”, and the modernist utopia of a perfect harmony between human body and architecture space)

IV) The design process, positioning the body and adaptive geometry.
A) Define Adaptive Geometry
1) Interaction of the body with a form built for the body’s use.
(a) What happens when the body it is put in unfamiliar positions? How does this change ones thought? What does it mean to be in between standing and sitting?
(1) Franz West’s early adaptives of the 1960’s
2) Making general assumptions on the body, its size.
3) Functionality comes once activated by user in space.
4) Testing of objects.
V) Participation as social inquiry.
A) Reclassifying space, the integration of the body with objects communicates an equality of parts, creating neutral space for viewing and using.
1) Tino Sehgal’s at the Guggenheim.Ascension, the spiral and evolution (this should become n.2 of this chapter)
2) The visual and sensual work of Lygia Clark. “Clark’s hoods, masks, goggles, gloves, suits and other relational objects made of cheap materials provide viewers with experiences that sometimes constrain and sometimes enhance the various senses to activate new connections between them” (Osthoff). This should become n.1 and it should include Oiticica’s parangoles as well as Acconci’s Proximity Piece and Ulay and Marina Abramovic completely naked, standing at the entyrance of the “week” of performance, Bologna 1977.
3) The body as equal module within a whole.
(a) Bending, tipping, overlapping, etc. to integrate an environment “as if the position of spectator were the essence of the spectacle, as if basically the spectator in the position of a spectator were his own spectacle” (Auge 70).
B) Yoga and dance
VI) Isolation as a byproduct of restricted controlled environments.
A) Hyper organization and geometry of minimalism
1) Donald Judd
2) Fred Sandback
B) User instructions and play
1) Franz Erhard Walther
2) Natalie Quagliotto
C) Classrooms, military and workplaces
VII) Conclusion
I will summarize how ‘together but separate’ is prevalent in both art and life as the body as object intersects with its environments.

Bibliography

Adriani, Gotz and Walther Franz Erhard. Franz Erhard Walther: Arbeiten 1969-1976. Sao Paulo: Bienal Internacional, 1977.
Alexander, Darsie. Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2008.
Auge, Marc. Non-Places. Brooklyn: Verso, 1995
Bertalot, Silvano. “Gianni Colombo September 16, 2009 - January 10, 2010.”
e-flux. (2009). .
Bishop, Claire. “Viewers as Producers.” Participation. Ed. Claire Bishop. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2006
Coulter-Smitht, Graham. “Deconstructing Installation Art”. .
Debord, Guy-Ernest. The Society of the Spectacle.
Fried, Michael. “Art and Objecthood.” Art and Objecthood: essays and reviews. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Georgel, Chantal. “The Museum as Metaphor in Nineteenth-Century France”,
Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, Ed. Daniel J. Sherman and
Gillick, Liam. “What is the Object.” Frieze Magazine. 82 (2004): 3 pars.
.
Hass, Lawrence. Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2008.
Jones, Amelia. Body Art/Performing The Subject. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
Kellein, Thomas, Donald Judd: Early Work, 1955-1968, New York: D.A.P., 2002.
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1991.
Meyer, James. Minimalism. New York: Phaidon Press, Inc., 2000.
Rolnik, Suely. “Molding a Contemporary Soul: The Empty Full of Lygia Clark.”
The Experimental Exercise of Freedom. Eds. Susan Martin and Alma Ruiz. Los Angeles: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1999.
von Hantelmann, Dorothea. How to Do Things with Art. Zurich: JRP|Ringier, 2010.
Interview with Robert Smithson, 1972
Specific Objects, Donald Judd
Acts of Architecture, Vito Acconci/Acconci Studio

Artist Statement

2011-01-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

In classrooms, many are seated in perfect rows of single desks. In the military, servicemen and women march together in perfect formation but as separate units - all lined up just so. There is a geometry and efficiency to these formations as the body moves through space as object/subject. As we travel in packs from the classroom to the workplace and all the spaces in between, the body stands as a measure of its own existence through its movements; we move together but exist separately. In the end, my body cannot go with your self; my body is part of myself.

Through the use of sculptural objects, I am exploring concepts in the area of social inquiry by way of structuring specific ways in which the body can be re-positioned in various spaces as the body interacts with sculptural forms. The viewer/user is constrained within their environment where the distinction between interaction and alienation remains a fine line. As the body is placed in unfamiliar positions, sharing space as an object among other objects the result of isolation is an inevitable by-product.

Together but Separate image

2010-11-24T10:33:00.001-08:00

a favorite image on the above topic - from Skins

Progressive monolithic seating

2010-11-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Monolithic seating (in progress)

2010-11-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

Rest

2010-11-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so i've been working on this piece... Below are some pics - it's not complete but i've been playing around with different configurations just to see...

It started out as a giant foam pillow, however i am finding that building cubbies out of the modules is best, as if a human filing cabinet.

wool felt and textiles: Untitled, 1976, felt by Robert Morris & Interview by Simon Grant

2010-10-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

wool felt and textiles: Untitled, 1976, felt by Robert Morris & Interview by Simon Grant

Foam is in

2010-10-19T10:38:00.001-07:00

The foam I ordered cut to my spec's for Rest is finally here. Below is the maquette and the first upholstered piece. The overall size will be approximately 10'. In the end, I decided to make each section as a separate unit so the overall piece is modular.

Foam cut from The Foam Factory

Maquette for Rest

Upholstered section. There will be 8 sections at 2" high. The other 8 sections will be made to create a barrier between each section so one cannot see into the other space if laying down.

3 completed sections

Together but Separate

2010-10-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Body Plinths

Classrooms, workplace cubicles, performance centers or military barracks all serve as places where bodies can exist together but separate. In classrooms, many are seated in perfect rows of single desks. In the military, servicemen and women march together in perfect formation but as separate units - all lined up just so. There is a geometry and efficiency to these formations as the body moves through space as object/subject. As we travel in packs from the classroom to the workplace and all the spaces in between, the body stands as a measure of its own existence through its movements; we move together but exist separately. For example, my body cannot go with your self; my body is part of myself. In this paper, I will examine the existence of the body as object, together but separate. This examination, the body as an object/subject defined by isolating the body within communal spaces. Upon entering these spaces, the body is placed in unfamiliar positions, objectified and generating new patterns while sharing space as an object among other objects, an intersection of performance, architecture and minimalism.

Vito Acconci, Seedbed, 1972

Arranging the body within other objects communicates an equality of parts. The viewer and subject of the viewers gaze now share the same role. In Vito Acconci’s Seedbed, the artists body is crucial to the work of art. Acconci, literally isolated under a ramp while viewers were elsewhere, remained separate. The viewer was neither equal nor together with Acconci. In my work, I would like the viewer to participate with their own body as an equal component within an installation - together but separate, yet as equal objects. In contrast, Acconci “performs his narcissistic relation to his own body in order to interpellate the experiencing visitor” (Jones 136). Acconci successfully activates the viewer, he remains the object/subject himself. The viewer’s role remains separate, outside the spectacle.

In Body Plinths, I am interested in the integration of both the viewer/participant within adaptive modules. Integrating the body within geometrical modules, I will refer to as performative geometry. At the core of my investigative practice, I wish to examine the relationships of the body as arranged and open to chance encounters. Throughout life, the body is positioned in standard fashion such as: standing, seated, laying, etc. Dance, yoga, exercise, etc. remain outside of this standardization of positions. They inform the movements and positions of the body as the arranged body becomes isolated within a communal setting, together but separate. I am interested in creating alternate positions through the use of interactive modules. These arrangements can be choreographed or random, either way the viewer becomes the work through integration, without hierarchy. By applying geometrical forms straight to the body, the body becomes equal as object/subject with the other elements as shown in Body Plinths. The body becomes human mortar within an overall structure, like bricks and mortar. Similarly, the body becomes part of a building science and material within architectural framework as the Plinths are made of recyclable wall insulation, minus the edifice. The body, the modules, become their own architecture produced through integration and interaction. The industrial modules are upholstered in felt, to soften the rigidity of the forms, to make them accessible and adaptive.

Lygia Clark, Elastic Net, 1973

A key ingredient is the experimentation of spatial arrangements of the body with these geometrical forms. If we consider Suely Rolnik’s essay, Molding a Contemporary Soul: The Empty-Full of Lygia Clark, Rolnik describes Clark’s oeuvre as “liberating the artistic object from its formalist inertia and its mythifying aura by creating living objects” (60). Somewhat in contrast, I am interested in the body as object/subject whereby a reintroduction with the once removed formal objects are rehearsed as one. Clark used the net to create her living objects whereas I seek to use the body as an equal module within a whole. This creates a patterned arrangement and intersection of bodies in space through bending, tipping and overlapping, etc. to integrate an environment “as if the position of spectator were the essence of the spectacle, as if basically the spectator in the position of a spectator were his own spectacle” (Auge 70).

Robert Morris, Untitled (Box for Standing), 1961

The process of editing changes the relationship of spectator to spectacle. In 1961, Robert Morris’ Untitled (Box for Standing), performs the editing with the artists body. Morris is contained in an architectural form. Use of actual space, geometry and the body put the viewer closer to literal space. This artwork integrates the artists body, laying groundwork for performative geometry, integrating usage of the viewers body. Morris is in space, not just depicting it for the viewer. The viewer can now enter space as subject/object - a position once held for the artist via the artists body.

Minimalism and geometry inform my work in a way similar to James Meyer’s statement in Minimalism when discussing Frank Stella’s stripe painting that “painting stripes on a canvas was a valid enough act in its own right” (20). Stella’s interest in pattern was evident. There is no end to the patterns that the body can make when integrated with geometric modules. The expressive act of touching, moving and arranging adaptive modules can lead to the discovery of new patterns based on experimentation - such as Stella found the notches for his black paintings through investigating pattern.

Throughout the history of art, the body, or depiction of the body, has been a central theme and subject within the visual arts. From minimalism’s removal of illusionistic space to the use of the artist’s body as subject, the body and its position in space has been well traveled. The integration of the body with geometrical shapes and forms - as equal parts - are where new experiences begin to unfold. It is through performative geometry, layering, arranging and organizing the body, in which the search for new patterns will generate new experiences, based on unfamiliar positions outside the standard norm. In the end, its all about the body; while we move together but exist separately, there is still the matter of fact that “unlike other objects in the world, the body cannot be thought as separate from the self” (Jones 39).

Works Cited

Auge, Marc. Non-Places. Brooklyn: Verso, 1995

Jones, Amelia. Body Art/Performing The Subject. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.

Meyer, James. Minimalism. New York: Phaidon Press, Inc., 2000.

Rolnik, Suely. “Molding a Contemporary Soul: The Empty Full of Lygia Clark.”

The Experimental Exercise of Freedom. Eds. Susan Martin and Alma Ruiz. Los Angeles: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1999.

Bodies in formation

2010-09-29T12:50:00.001-07:00

Below are some studies with bodies in formation. This was a preliminary look at how the Plinths can adapted to the body. I am interested in the body as part of the installation, how the geometrical configurations fit into space - as fully integrated pieces.

Living Architecture - extract

2010-09-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

Bodies in formation

2010-09-28T15:20:00.001-07:00

The found images below show body formations. The arrangements of the bodies are particularly interesting in how they relate to space - whether they're stacked, placed in niches, elevated, aligned or intersected. The body always interacts with its space - these images in some way convey isolation within communal spaces - together but separate.

Formations

2010-09-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today i completed some more Plinths and decided to do some preliminary body formations, so i can begin to see/feel how these parts belong together. I began using my body as if it were mortar - with the plinths (upholstered insulation) to build geometric formations.

This investigation of integrating the body within a particular module led to the following images below.

Plinths con't...

2010-09-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

Body Plinths con't...

I decided to add color - light to dark blues/grays. I did a study for a gradient line of Plinths but after maneuvering them around in different configurations, I decided to continue to build an environment. By combining formal elements with function, I will explore how multiple users can be in the same environment without the need to be together.

collage

Body Plinths

Reclassifying Space

2010-09-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Reclassifying Space

On October 21, 1959, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened in New York City. The building’s architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, is known for this landmark piece of architecture that stands in opposition to the typical skyscraper-dotted Manhattan skyline; others have sometimes criticized it for overshadowing the exhibited artwork. The Guggenheim Museum’s commitment to collecting and presenting “non-objective” art was firmly established upon opening 51 years ago. Though the Guggenheim collected and presented non-objective art, it was also Wright’s building that many sought to experience. That experience was transformed through the work of Tino Sehgal. In this paper, I will argue that the preeminence of this structure hasn’t been fully reached until recently, through the removal of objects in Tino Sehgal’s This Progress. The Museums role of classifying objects as described in Chantal Georgel’s The Museum as Metaphor in Nineteenth-Century France, has been radically altered by Sehgal’s performance whereas all art objects were removed from the space.

Sehgal was able to effectuate a shift from viewing to experiencing visual culture, once the objects were removed and the participatory experience began. Though the Guggenheim is home to a significant collection, it now becomes a performative visual arts space as we have seen through Matthew Barney’s Cremaster and Tino Sehgal’s This Progress. Both of these projects outline the importance where “actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface” (Judd 4). The ability to alter space can transcend ones expectations, when architectural space and social sculpture merge as one. For example, the spiral of the Guggenheim is integral to This Progress. The visitor of Nineteenth Century France where “each work had its own story”[1] shifts to “viewers as producers”[2] where the viewer becomes part of the story.

Upon entering the Guggenheim’s lobby, at the base of the structure, there was a svelte young man and women suggestively writhing about, clothed - the spectacle began. Entering the spiral, a child approached and asked if I wanted to join her for a walk. Next, was the question...what is evolution? From this point on the experience unfolded into a walk through the space; first with a child, then a teen, followed by an adult and concluded with a senior, as we progressed up the spiral conversing about evolution, culture, philosophy and so on. This provided a provocative and radical museum going experience. There were no objects in sight other than human beings engrossed in conversation. The spiral of the Guggenheim became a metaphor for evolution, therefore transitioning the nineteenth century museum model from “a site where the products of nature, of science, and of the arts were preserved and exhibited” to a performative space where art/architecture and body/space are integrated and become indistinguishable from one another (Georgel 113).

In Chantal Georgel’s The Museum as Metaphor in Nineteenth-Century France, the word museum represented the “symbolic power of the institution” (113). Its classification of objects on display for the viewer served as its main role, similar to that of the department store - with the distinction among these consumables depending upon whether or not they were for sale. “The press, the museum, and the department store can thus be understood to have played complementary roles within a single ideological system” (Georgel 119). All three systems had significant roles of classifying objects - interdependent upon one another. Each offered the viewer/reader something to consume; information, commodity or prestige “for its part, the museum allowed its visitors symbolically to possess objects that were inaccessible...” (Georgal 119).

In contrast, the inaccessibility of objects has been removed through the participatory artwork as experienced in Sehgal’s work. In 19th century France the museum served its patrons a dose of “high cultural prestige” (Georgal 119). Today, the museum can become a propagator; synthesizing the experiences between the artwork and viewer, extending more to the viewer than prestige alone. As with my own studio practice, I have explored reconfiguring the use of basic construction materials by upholstering bricks of insulation known as Body Plinths. The purpose is about editing out the walls and insulation of interior space, bringing the material straight to the body for one to use as seen fit by the participant/viewer.

The creation of experience leaves the viewer as part of the process, suddenly it becomes difficult to discern between life and art. Ones museum experience now includes viewing, eating, shopping, learning, joining, socializing and participating in a variety of programs. Today, participation becomes a component of consumption. Yet, how do we classify participation? Is it exclusive to museums and galleries? How do we classify participatory events that take place outside defined artistic spaces? Does it mean the same thing? Do viewers accept and recognize this form of engagement as artwork? While the viewer’s role is extended through such works as Sehgal’s This Progress - the classification of the museum for viewing inaccessible objects of art is forever changed. Is it likely that our institutions continue to expand the role of the viewer as participant? Time will tell as it did take 51 years for the Guggenheim to align its revered architectural space with a performative work of art where each was interdependent and fully in sync.

As artists continue to utilize space both inside and outside of the institution, in an effort to expand the description of art beyond object-hood; one thing that remains the same from 19th century France to today is the museum “is still one of the main agents of cultural values, and over time, offers a possibility for long term politics” regardless of its classification of objects or lack thereof (von Hantelmann 136).

^[1] On this, see the essay by Chantal Georgel, “The Museum as Metaphor in Nineteenth-Century France”, in Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, ed. Sherman, Daniel J. and Rogoff, Irit (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994).

^[2] See essay by Claire Bishop, “Introduction/Viewers as Producers”, in Participation, ed. Bishop, Claire (Co-published London: Whitechapel, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2006).

A Feather Garden: Architecture of Water: Tenochtitlan

2010-08-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

The construction project below is from the following summer camp series at the Eli Whitney Museum in New Haven, CT. I have a friend who attended and was willing to share her project. In addition to learning about Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, the one thing that inspires me most is Shae's idea to include a feather garden.

My young friend Shaelyn Moody's project from camp which included a line for drying, a sun umbrella and most importantly, a feather garden.

Body Plinths

2010-08-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Body Plinths as chaise lounge

Jaques Tati - Mon Oncle (Kitchen Scene)

2010-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

2010-08-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

The axonometric schematic below depicts an idea for a resting station - a circular pillow where niches for the human head are able to rest. I am currently considering a sound component for the station.

Resting Station Exploded Axonometric

Residency Summary/Group 3

2010-07-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

Residency Summary

Reference key:

Jan Avgikos (JA)

Judith Barry (JB)

Melanie Carr (MC)

Michael Conti (MCo)

Eliza Gagnon (EG)

John Kramer (JK)

Michael Newman (MN)

Cesare Pietroiusti (CP)

Carolyn Rordam (CR)

Sunanda Sanyal (SS)

Erin Shafkind (ES)

Trevor Spaulding (TS)

Deb Todd Wheeler (DTW)

Isn’t it always on the last day or perhaps after the fact that things start to get interesting? On the very last day of the June 2010 residency, artist Carolyn Rordam and I started to really play with Body Plinths. Above is a synchronized seating arrangement referred to as B 90°. The intended interactivity of the modular work allows the viewer to conjure up body arrangements in which geometric lines and shapes can be applied to the body, sort of like performing the elements of art. The interest stemmed from 10 days of viewers/users typing, writing, laying, napping, critiquing on the plinths in the bodily arrangement of one’s choice.

My interest in body arrangements and configurations has brought about new dialog in which I shall explore in the upcoming months where I will research the intersection of my practice with performance, architecture and minimalism with an emphasis on isolation in communal spaces. The introduction of isolation has brought about new questions to examine as I further my work.

Below serves as a synopsis of my exchange with colleagues and faculty during the June 2010 residency and will serve as a point of reference as I navigate this semester.

Artists:

Erwin Wurm (ES)

Ward Shelley (ES)

Liz Cohen (ES)

Tim Hawkinson (TH)

Helio Oiticica (JB)

Lygia Clark (JB)

Andrea Zittel’s earlier work (JB)

Vito Acconci’s work from the 80’s + 90’s (JB) (CP)

Documenta 1972 artists (JB)

Robert Irwin (JB)

Michael Asher (JB)

Dan Graham (JB)

Daniel Buren (JB)

Situationists COBRA (JB)

Richard Serra’s torqued elliptical pieces (JB)

Robert Smithson (produce an effect in the viewer) (JB) (CP) (EG)

James Turrell (JB)

Franz Erhard Walther (JA)

Rirkrat Tiravanija (JA)

Dike Blair (JA, DTW)

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (JA)

Francis Alys (JA)

Mel Chin’s revival fields (JA)

Joe Scanlon, shows at D’Amelio Terras (JA)

Orlan (MCo)

Bruce Nauman (MCo)

Matthew Barney (MCo)

Robert Morris (CP)

Donald Judd (CP)

Fred Sandback (CP)

Pipilotti Rist (EG)

Gianni Colombo, early 60’s kinetic/optical art (CP)

Anni Ratti (CP)

Susan Morris (MN)

Robert Morris (MN)

Jorge Pardo, pier into lake in Germany (MN)

Themes:

Making a special place - game as a child (JA)

Isolation (CP)

Weight loss as satire (MCo)

Exploration of in between places/stories/global characters/same all over the place (CP)

Analyze how museum/gallery spaces are neutral (CP)

Experimental architecture (CP)

Public/private body image (DTW)

Intimacy - so intimate your alone/isolation is the result (DTW)

Body relation w/ architecture, non-relational (CP)

Functional furniture: doctors, dentists, office chairs (MN)

Design - modes of gathering social interaction (MN)

Reading:

Michael Fried, Art and Objecthood (CP)

Marc Auge, Non-Places (CP)

The Artist’s Body, Tracey Warr (blog - TraceyWarr.wordpress.com)

Performative installations, book by German author email EG (EG)

Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information (DTW)

Show catalog - Volume: Bed of Sound at PS1 curator Elliot Sharp (CP)

Making Things Public - exhibition by Bruno Latour (MN)

Invisible Dragon and Air Guitar, Dave Hickey (TS)

Research:

Guy Debord (JB)

Lefebvre on space (JB)

Robert Smithson’s reclamation sites of the late 60’s early 70’s

Show catalog, Anything whatever at the Guggenheim (JA)

Gianni Colombo’s 60’s built environments that challenged the perception of own body (CP)

Minimalism/gestalt vision/psychology of perception (CP)

Visit:

Sculpture parks (JB)

Walker Art Center (JB)

Dia Beacon (JB)

Public sculpture at MIT (JB)

Movies to see:

Look at filmmaker Jaques Tati - lampoon of modern architecture (EG)

The Fog of War, Robert McNamara (DTW)

Discussion/consideration:

Work on thesis work now while in group 3 (JK)

Take Plinths to the mall to test them out, photograph what happens (JB)

Animate concept drawings (MCo)

Social space with object/icon (RT turned gallery into dorm) (JA)

Object as tool/makes sense with the body (CP)

What is my blueprint (EG)

Monolithic seating disturbing/comforting at the same time, sarcophagus (DTW)

Sleeping study...kids with full beds are more trouble than kids with single beds (DTW)

Use of headphones as space protectors (DTW/CP)

Follow discussions of reviews online (MN)

Format crit space more like a trade show/set up like a trade fair (MN)

Criticism:

Can’t do all the investigations at once (EG)

Look at people who looking from a removed point of view (DTW)

Food to others is different to self (CP)

Combine video that would reflect what forms about (MN)

Consider problems of doing installation (MN)

Thing not as object but as meeting to decide something (MN)

How does one negotiate creating social circumstances and how something functions as an artwork, look at R. Tiravanija’s work. (JA)

This chart below suggests 4 possible directions in which I might chose to investigate. (CP)

Ergonomics	Feng Shui	Unknown Places	Shift
study of body	arrangements	interventions	create a shift + change that people can have in these places
has to do w/ design	space + mental health	create new possible relations of known space	create meeting/community spaces
		Play w/ architecture	communal/isolation
		Play w/ objects in places

Day 5

2010-06-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

AIB/MFA residency June 2010
9AM crit w/ Cesare Pietroiusti.

Directions discussed:

Ergonomics. The study of the body that has to do with design.
Feng shui. The relationship of arrangements in space and mental heatlh.
Unknown Places. Interventions that create new possible relations of known space. Playing with architecture/objects (body) in places.
Relational shift. Create a shift that people can have in these spaces. Creating meeting/community spaces. The communal/isolation of group psychology.

Look at the following artists:

(psychology of perception)

Gianni Colombo's 60's built environments that challenged perception of ones own body.
Fred Sandback
Vito Acconci
Annie Ratti

Consideration for research/thesis.

Explore how this kind of practice intersects performance art and architecture - which is not the same as relational practices but where there has been confusion made of this misinterpretation. Consider a position of critical analysis of what is relational? Position: The body's relation w/ architectural space.

Use of own body to test sites.

Day 1

2010-06-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 18

Day 1/in residence/June 2010/AIB MFA program

After breakfast and check in at 700 Beacon I installed my recent work from the past semester at my crit space at 601 Newbury. I was pleased to hear my advisor for this semester will be Cesare Pietroiusti. I look forward to discussing the role of authorship and the communal/intimate roles of the viewer/participant, for starters...

High noon brought us a welcome lunch with remarks by our program director Judith Barry and Administrative Director Louise Goldenberg. Immediately following was Group 1's introductions and presentations, welcome to AIB Group 1! The rest of the afternoon included previews of time based works and concluded with final graduate presentations. The flux of artists moving in and out of the program provide tremendous energy.

Highlights of this residency will include Art Talks by the following visiting artists:

Art Historian Helmut Draxler
Critic Barry Schwabsky
Artist Renee Green
Artist Annette Lemieux

After dinner, what else could be any better than a good solid hour walk across the MIT bridge and back, it's good to be back in Boston.

2 heads are better than 1

2010-06-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

2 heads are better than 1

Nathalie Quagliotto, Sucker (series) 2009

Franz Erhard Walther, Connection (Head), 1967, cotton

There is always another side to a story, 2 halves make a whole, 2 heads are better than 1, and so on. These common phrases come to mind as I consider the images above. I am interested in the extension of the contemporary art world that asks for viewer participation. I chose the 2 works above as the subject of this comparative analysis due to their geometric duality and dependence on bodily experience.

Franz Erhard Walther’s Connection (Head) is a peculiar piece in which the relationship of the viewer to the artwork depends on the experience. “Everyone has to make use of his own abilities, to experience his own possibilities” (Walther). These personal experiences are based on one’s willingness to cooperate. Through Connection, the work becomes part of life when enacted and worn by its viewer/participant. One’s experience through one’s own culture is “force shared” through this artwork. Without bodily experience the piece is an inanimate textile. As a haptic encounter, the absurdity of the forced face to face connection/relation makes life and art indistinguishable whereas the potential for a new experience is born. This experience goes beyond functional into relational therefore usage and experience are integral to the completion and understanding of this work.

The Sucker (series) by Nathalie Quagliotto similarly struck my interest as I considered work for this comparative analysis. The dual handled bright yellow lollipop in which one identifies from childhood presents a conflict for the viewer/participant to resolve from its altered state. In order to activate a solution one must engage the work. How to suck? Is this meant for one person to use with both hands or for two people to use and meet in the middle? What happens when two people connect in the middle through the usage of this cultural icon? This mutation of the sucker presents many questions whereas the iconic nature of the object offers a playful dialog in which the viewer can resolve an outcome from their experience.

The main similarity between the above works is the need for 2 participants. Without dual users, is the artwork incomplete? Is the nature of participatory work performance based? Is the need for direction integral to the optimal function of the work? If users were denied the opportunity to experience the works, they could not fulfill their intended “force share” value. These uncommon or unusual relations offer opportunities to advance engagement and cultural understanding among its participants, the intrinsic value of the artwork exists in this realm of exchange. The body remains a key component to this examination of social/cultural visual elements as experienced through play, the major common denominator.

Another similarity is the actual connection point, the space in which the 2 participants meet. Geometric shapes are used to organize the physical space. The pops are round and the textile is rectangular. Additionally, each piece has an upholstered exterior; Sucker (series) wears a plastic wrapper, Connection (Head) participants wear the work, putting it on over ones head mimics dressing. Not unlike the body, there is a skin surface for both artworks.

Conversely, the interface of the stick to the pop is analogous to the body and the cutout textile. Both require the body to physically be present to fully comprehend the work. However, this paper is being examined through use of the web which deems this analysis incomplete upon inception, albeit the need to further examine this style of work, however incomplete my participatory experience may be, remains integral to my studio practice and interest in the body and its relational experience to the space in which it occupies.

One major contrast between the two works is the formal inversion of geometric shapes. Each artwork is essentially an inversion of the other. The figure/ground is inverted from work to work. The drawing below uses shape elements, present within each artwork, in a reductive pattern to further analyze the two artworks for this paper. The geometrical distinctions that each artwork shares simultaneously mark their differences. With simple additive/subtractive elements, each work can become the other or another one altogether.

Melanie Carr, Dual Pattern Schematic, 2010

Lastly, the main difference that distinguishes these works from one another is the material from which each piece is fabricated. The tactile nature and use of cotton as seen with Walther’s piece resembles an odd towel, blanket or scarf for two. As we see with Walther’s choice to use a textile, he asks the viewer to pick it up and adapt it to one’s body. Our familiarity and relationship with textiles is commonplace and regular, from clothes, sheets, towels, carpets, upholstered furnishings, etc. The works stand opposite insofar as the readymade and handmade are polar opposites. Whereas the Sucker (series) made up from pre-fabricated materials, are recalibrated through Quagliotto’s structures and systems of play.

As this paper serves to examine the notion of duality and dependence on bodily experience, the modes of exchange that occur are integral components to the artworks completion. To ensure the completion of experience and exchange, one can purchase a lollipop from the Sucker (series), for $5 each, and work on any issues requiring conflict resolution.

In an ideal world, both works would be put to good use in a variety of venues where the artwork in the room might be anything other than the Walther or Quagliotto works discussed in this paper. The completion/usage of these artworks in test sites such as a child’s playground, the ever contentious workplace or psychologist’s office could change the very nature of problem solving as we know it; resolution by adaptive geometry.

Works Cited

Quagliotto, Nathalie. Sucker (series), Toronto, 2009. DeLeon White gallery Ontario.

Smith, Roberta. “A Time to Play, in a Flashback to the ’70s Art World.” New
York Times, 27 April 2010.

Walther, Franz Erhard. Connection (Head), New York, 1967. Peter Freeman, Inc,
New York.

Pillow Schematics

2010-05-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Schematic 1

Schematic 2

Schematic 3

These pillows allow the notion of rest to become a collective experience. Airports, bus stations and malls could have Rest Stations where the body can recharge itself.

Rest

2010-05-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Below is a maquette for Rest. The work combines formal sculptural elements and a geometrical rigor that dominated some of my earlier work. The purpose of this work is to engage the viewer/participant to use the piece as a head rest or seat.

If all notches are filled with people, the piece would become a human mandala of sorts where the socialization and communication of 8 new/old acquaintances could encourage dialog based on the position of the viewer.

Rest becomes an adaptive conversation/sleeping pit that puts the viewer in an unfamiliar position in which relationships are apt to develop from the commonality of a shared unit/space.

Top view

Side view

Profile

Side view w/ Barbie for scale

Another view w/ Barbie

Barbie chillin in Rest

One more time...

Body Plinths ii

2010-05-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last week artist Ted Efremoff visited for a critique and preview of Body Plinths. The photographs were taken as Ted and I went about arranging the Plinths in a pleasing and comfortable arrangement in which to have lunch. After lunch, the Plinths were used in other configurations for the body - as they are intended for the user to engage as as they see fit.

More Loss

2010-05-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

The photos below were taken two weeks ago. The large clothes become medium for Rolls.

Body Plinths

2010-04-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Body Plinths are made from natural fiber insulation and felt. They are meant for the viewer to adapt to the body - to sit, lay or lounge upon on. Below, a user demonstrates some of the uses.

updated BITE/CHEW COUNT TRACKER

2010-04-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Seating/Sculpture-form(al) functional

2010-04-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aerogel is an extremely efficient man-made insulator and has a very high R-value.

The R value or R-value is a measure of thermal resistance ^[1] used in the building and construction industry. Under uniform conditions it is the ratio of the temperature difference across an insulator and the heat flux (heat flow per unit area, ) through it or . The bigger the number, the better the building insulation's effectiveness^[2]. R-value is the reciprocal of U-value.

Insulation.

It is used commonly in many forms: our clothes, bedding, air, and literally, insulation that is used in walls of homes and buildings to resist heat loss. Insulation comes in many forms from large brick shapes to coils, etc.

In the experiment below, I am interested in redistributing the insulation into smaller modules to investigate other uses. The smaller herringbone modules on the floor are a first go at organizing an otherwise unseen medium that is functional in most of our daily lives.

The large upholstered brick is a package of insulation undisturbed, upholstered in gray utilitarian felt and can be used as seating. These are currently under construction as a group of 9, perhaps 16, so they may be used in a variety of ways; to sleep on, sit on, create a bench, table with stools, etc.

This image above is a result of my "making." I am interested in the variety of ways these can be of use for the body to rest. As formal sculptural elements, these can also be used and arranged while engaging the viewer as participant.

These bricks of insulation cost $8 per. The R-value of these in tact is extremely high. I am interested in this R-value as it relates to the human body; its movement, comfort and arrangement. Combining the R value and sensory elements -- through color -- or perhaps utility and redistribution, the modules become pieces in a puzzle meant for the body to adapt as necessary.

Body Notes

2010-04-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have stated at the onset of my studies that I would be tracking weight loss during this program with the goal of keeping the mind + body in unison - indistinguishable.

Since June 2009 (9 months) I have modified my consumption + activity, including counting my chewing when eating foods through the alphabet, to the extent that I have dropped 3 pant sizes. All the while I have no idea what the actual number of pounds I have lost nor do I know my weight in terms of a numerical value.

The value that I will attribute to this project is cost. With my chewing I am tracking the value per chew, see my True Value entry, to see what foods are a better value. For the weight loss, I will track how much it costs to lose weight. Every time I drop a size, I need more clothes, there is a cost increase as I decrease in size. Similarly, eating and purchasing foods that are lower calorie and diet friendly can also be expensive. To eat less costs more.

Throughout this project, I have drafted up Chew Tracker sheets and encourage anyone to participate in this endeavor - I can email you the template and perhaps eventually we can track the Chew Value of all foods A-Z.

The stills in the video above are 1st look at the body in its own environment where the body is a misfit. The body and the clothes are not indistinguishable - they are no longer a fit for one another which points to the absurd notion of excess through loss. Through this trial I intend to go through the racks and purge all garments that are too big to add them to Rolls, a floor piece that is the actual relic and artwork of this experiment. With the work of Eleanor Antin's Carving: A Traditional Sculpture, where the artist documented her weight loss over a 37 day crash diet, I am similarly documenting weight loss - though as an indistinguishable state of mind and body - where loss has an increase in cost due to the excess left behind.

The Value of Sharing

2010-04-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

The Value of Sharing

In this paper, I will argue that the value of sharing experiences between the artist and viewer elevates the viewer’s importance above the critic and institution of art. Experiences can be a conversation, a touch, a meal, or something that we equate to daily life. In How to Do Things with Art, Dorothea von Hantelmann’s remarks, “sculpture has always been marked by its aspiration to transcend its own material objecthood, an aspiration that is continued in modernity with the attempt to negate the commodity status of the artwork, which was seen to relate to its physical materiality” (138). Sculpture extends to these experiences as we now live in a time where life and art coexist. The world of art becomes less about the institution and exhibition, but more about the practice of art through shared experience.

Accepting this view of art, the artist’s role becomes that of a catalyst enticing the viewers’ active participation and through that participation making a work of art. The “artist catalyst” offers ways of viewing that merge life experiences. As artists fully engage the five senses that reflect life: touch, smell, sight, sound and taste, one’s understanding of art is further enhanced as elements that run parallel to daily living. Due to this melding of worlds, art engages the viewer on a whole other level, the viewer is finally let in. The maker and the viewer are united and value is beyond monetary, sharing experiences are priceless.

If one asserts that a working definition of value is a shared experience, one must answer the question is artwork virtually meaningless until experienced by the viewer? Similarly, a restaurant cannot exist without the hungry or a car without a driver, it would all be pointless. Today, works of art invite the viewer to share in an experience. Art can travel through life, on a wanderlust through its cast, in a mutually beneficial relationship as the artists cultural work contributes to the ideals of space and time within the context of society.

Ernesto Neto, Navedenga

Firstly, I would like to discuss the work of brazilian artist Ernesto Neto. The viewer is enveloped into a biomorphic world, as seen in Navedenga. Neto’s work serves as an example of viewer engagement and participation that includes one’s senses; touch, sight and sometimes smell. This practice opens up a larger dialog for viewers to engage and contrasts with the viewing standards of the not so distant past. Interaction was not commonplace outside of cabaret theatre or the sports arena. Today, artists can freely make work to be used. In the case of Neto, the intention is a pleasurable, almost sensual, experience where one can explore the relationship of space through bodily experience. One does not need insider knowledge in order to take meaning and pleasure from such work.

Visitors experience a heightened sense of their environment while inside of the translucent installation. The forms are altered as visitors step on the fabric, extending the form to meet the floor, and push out on the walls as a way of maintaining balance. By inviting viewers into a world where the relationship between cause and effect is immediate and magnified, perhaps, as critic Dan Cameron posed, the artist is asking us to ponder the ramification our actions are having on our environment. (Zuckerman Jacobson, Wattis)

At the same time, some of these experiences such as dining, dieting, sleeping, dressing and viewing -- are all experiences shared by culture at large and themes explored by artists today. In my own studio practices, I look to enhance the usefulness of commodities, if dinner plate chargers and table linens are useful, why stop there? Specifically, the Napkin Mit and Silverware Cozies that I introduced to the dinner table are in fact commodities that are based on the shared experiences of a daily ritual, dining.

Silverware Cozies

Napkin Mit

Overall, one’s senses give the viewer the ability to connect with the world. One’s knowledge of the world comes by way of our senses. The combination of the visual and the sensual leads me to point to the work of Lygia Clark.

Clark's hoods, masks, goggles, gloves, suits and other relational objects made of cheap materials provide viewers with experiences that sometimes constrain and sometimes enhance the various senses to activate new connections between them. Clark's gloves, for instance, are made of various materials, sizes and textures. The gloves aim at a rediscovery of touch. Participants use the many combinations of gloves and balls of different sizes, textures and weights, and then hold the balls again with their bare hands (Osthoff).

I share Clark’s interest in geometry and find the trajectory of her work informative. Similarly, my early works are based on rigorous repetitive geometrical forms. Clark’s early work, based on “Concrete Art's emphasis on non-representational space and rigorous explorations of line, plane, color and structure” laid the groundwork for later works that included relational objects, such as Sensorial Gloves (Osthoff).

Lygia Clark's Sensorial Gloves, 1968

Upon considering these common experiences that are shared among us all, our experiences can diverge and become more specific based on one’s culture. These common bonds are great portholes in which knowledge can be shared through experience. The notion of sharing, be it knowledge, thoughts, ideas or experiences, tends to act as a stimulant for more thought, like a happy but contagious virus. As in the case of my experience with the SWAP SHOP, where art exists based on exchange, the value is that everybody has access, the experience becomes more interesting as a more diverse crowd becomes engaged. The notion of (knowledge) based on sharing comes through in Irit Rogoff’s essay FREE,

Not in the sense of formally inherited, archived, and transmitted knowledges but in the sense that ambition “knows” and curiosity “knows” and poverty “knows”—they are modes of knowing the world and their inclusion or their recognition as events of knowledge within the sites of education make up not the context of what goes on in the classroom or in the space of cultural gathering, but the content (10).

If we allow Rogoff’s assertion that knowing comes from “other” sources, then sharing also becomes knowing. The value placed on the viewers experience becomes integral, the artist depends on the viewer and vice versa. Our senses give us knowledge of the world through our shared experiences and through the work of the “artist catalyst” sharing becomes a gateway to knowledge - where the relationship between the viewer and artist reaches new heights in the exchange of a lifetime, this is the value of sharing.

Works Cited

Osthoff, Simone. “Lygia Clark and Helio Oiticica: A Legacy of Interactivity and Participation for a Telematic Future.” Leonardo on-line. 23 Nov 2004.

Rogoff, Irit. “FREE.” e-flux. 14 (2010): 40 pars. .

von Hantelmann, Dorothea. How to Do Things with Art. Zurich: JRP|Ringier, 2010. 138.

Zuckerman Jacobson, Heidi & Wattis, Phyllis. “Ernesto Neto / MATRIX 190.”

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive. 18 Feb 2001.

SS/week 1

2010-04-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

The SWAP SHOP downtown has officially been open for a week. Tons to process from the project. Notes are below.

Week 1:

increased traffic in downtown site (adjacent to the Visitors Center + Arts Alliance)
some swappers come in regularly to check out new merchandise or drop off
swapper looking to trade labor for goods (computer)
swapper irate because she was elbowed out of looking while other swapper was hogging the goods
swapper looking to mount a SS in Wethersfield
best swap: a IOU for a homemade chocolate cake for ? (can't remember)
turnover of items frequent
the most fascinating things are given and thus taken
most fascinating item involved in a swap: turkey fryer. Do not have record of what was taken
most curious item involved in a swap: a locket w/ a photo of a baby. This came in a tin of costume jewelry and was swapped for 2 large drawing pads
1st of its type: ladies one piece swim suit
most items of decent to good condition
swappers are committed: 2 visitors had purses them from previous inaugural purse swap
most interesting scenario: police visited this week and told the staff from the Downtown District + Arts Alliance for me to call them (senior detective left card behind) and to fill out "Pawn Broker" license with has a $50 + $10 fee

Question for the week: Is Free ever really Free?

Chew Value

2010-03-30T07:20:00.001-07:00

Though I've been tracking, chewing, monitoring and spending - I have yet to devise a proper tracker. The tracker below was a basic template off of Numbers that I modified for my needs. I spent the morning on the tracker while logging my 1st food, a bagel. I still need to include the cream cheese (and cracked pepper ?) but this format will allow me to centralize all my data as I continue with this project.

Additionally, it took me a very long time to eat a half a bagel this morning due to the obsessive nature of chew tracking.

Opening Day at SWAP SHOP downtown

2010-03-24T17:45:00.001-07:00

Today was opening day at SWAP SHOP. Everything was color coded and ready to go. Visitors that give merchandise to the swap are asked to place it within the installation as participants of the project, hammer, nails and pins supplied. This is a true give and take. Overall, there were approximately a dozen visitors thru with many questions.

Visitors asked the following:

Visitor 1: I have a brown Wilson's leather jacket that I bought from the mall and it's in good condition, what can I get?

MC: There is no shopkeeper - I am here merely to facilitate - therefore the exchange is determined by the participants. There is no "monetary" value for exchange nor is this is not true barter. If you deem half the inventory as adequate or choose to select based on calculations you made, than so be it, that shall be your assertion of value. This is truly a "free" exercise and I am interesting in the decisions we all make to determine value.

Visitor 1: If I take this foot spa home and it doesn't work, what do I do?

MC: Bring it back.

Visitor 2: Can you swap for something other than goods?

MC: What are you thinking? I am willing to facilitate.

Visitor 2: I am retired and I need something to do with my time, I will swap labor for goods.

MC: Okay. What are you looking for:

Visitor 2: A computer.

In another encounter there was a local business man, a lawyer, who swapped out a tin of costume jewelry for 2 large drawing pads. This inquiry and assessment of value by visitors was fluid was based on two things, need and desire.

Mostly, visitors want answers, regarding value, they want to know specifics. I may decide to change swap rules weekly in order to keep the answers from being the same - having a new meter.

SWAP SHOP visitor on opening day

Inedibles at DCCA

2010-03-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

This week I headed to Delaware to install work at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts in Wilmington. The piece below is part of the exhibition, SPECTRUM, opens next week.

Inedibles are handmade fake candy and cookies that I make to help keep me on my diet. In the studio, I mimic the act of baking with inedible ingredients to make fanciful tempting treats using cookie cutters and candy molds to make perfect fakes that cannot be eaten. These treats express self inflicted restraint and control while invoking strong desire through visual glee.

These treats allow the viewer to taste with the eyes only.

SWAP SHOP downtown

2010-03-10T14:21:00.001-08:00

Good news!

I secured a retail store front to present SWAP SHOP downtown, in New Britain, CT. I have use of the space until a tenant takes a lease, possibly through July 1 -- so I will hosting events and offering the public a viable swap meet where there shall be no limit to what can be exchanged.

In addition to having some commodities to encourage swapping, I will set up a couple of chairs for anyone interested in non-commodity based exchange; thoughts, suggestions, favors, ideas, etc.

The SWAP SHOP is a public participatory project exploring the means and ways culture uses exchange.

The vacant storefront where SWAP SHOP downtown will launch, courtesy of the New Britain Downtown District.

The storefront window with flyers.

Inside view of the storefront while setting up some items to be available for swap.

Foreign/Domestic

2010-03-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

The poster below was prepared for a meeting with local veterans to discuss working together in a collaborative scrapbooking project. The VA staff has been truly helpful in discussions about the parameters of this project and receptive in the project as a whole -- many thanks.

I will track the progress of this project as it unfolds over time. I have my first meeting tomorrow with some veterans to introduce the concept and generate interest. I am hopeful that this will take on a life of its own and become a true reflective accounting of the time and experience of service men and women.

The dichotomy of Foreign/Domestic serve as basic parameters to begin a conversation with US veterans. This account is their account, neither mine nor the media's. The results of this project could unfold in a plethora of ways; handmade, digital, bound or printed books or any other media so needed to communicate. Ideally, the success of the project will begin with an introduction - depend upon participation and collaboration - and eventually will result in production.

Foreign/Domestic

a collaboration of veterans scrapbooking military experiences

The popularity of scrapbooking has surged to huge proportions, having successfully identified a massive marketplace. Scrapbooking is largely associated with rites of passage such as births, weddings, travel - all lighthearted events that are marked for posterity. Martha Stewart has a line of attractive scrapbooking materials that would only suit the blissful domestic scrapbooker. Foreign/Domestic wishes to deal with potentially uneasy areas such as a veterans military or wartime experience, transitioning to civilian life or any other areas of service related experiences that should be similarly remembered. The authenticity of this collaborative project is based upon participation, allowing art to embody a greater social function. Interested: 860.830.6949, melcarrstudio@comcast.net

Participation as Medium

2010-03-03T06:26:00.001-08:00

March 1, 2010

Participation as Medium

Over the past six months, I found myself making pieces that are wearable, usable or based upon an experience. This path of exploration comes out of a desire to have a different relationship with the viewer, one that includes active participation as opposed to passive viewing. Once artwork becomes participatory, there is less need for a strict institutional space, gallery or museum. Once this space is removed from the equation, an artist is allowed more artistic freedom. Artwork can be nomadic, assembled in a variety of spaces, where there is no institutional norm as it mirrors and exists in daily life. The making of artwork outside of the traditional framework allows the artists work to have a social function greater than narrative alone. The participation between the artist and audience crosses many disciplines where “emphasis is on collaboration, and the collective dimension of social experience” (Bishop 10).

While engaging the viewer to wear, lay upon, use or participate, I understood more on this topic through the terms set forth by Nicolas Bourriaud’s “Relational Aesthetics.” Today, the artist can move beyond existing boundaries, creating and tracking events that do not culminate in a tangible singular artwork alone, but an experience. Artists, like Andrea Zittel’s entire practice A-Z and Specials by Lisa Sigal and Paul Ramirez Jonas become agents of cross-cultural investigative living where participation and interaction become integral to the work. Artists use collaboration with the audience to blur the preconceived institutional boundaries of known systems. In particular, Bourriaud likens the contemporary artist to a DJ, “using art history as a toolbox” which allows the artist unlimited source material (1). On a recent trip to the New Museum in New York a docent described Urs Fischer as a choreographer - both of these descriptions point to the expanded role of the artist in society, reusing existing pieces where “the artist works like a social worker” (1). As the narrative of certain works grow through research, personal experience, tracking and globalization, art making includes participation as medium.

In particular, the adaptive nature of Franz West’s participatory works break the static barrier between the institution and the viewer, inviting audience participation, which in turn becomes a key ingredient to the work. West says “his work needs to be held, adapted and moved against the human body” (Brown). West’s work of adaptives (small sculptures) uses viewer participation; perhaps this is necessary to complete the works. Having one’s work handled, worn or sat in involves the audience in the production of art making where they become part of the trace. Additionally, one’s presence in a participatory piece makes them a living relic, functioning through contact with the artwork.

Reacting to the passivity of simply viewing art at an exhibition, Franz West entrusted the visitors with these snow white, mostly organic forms made of plaster, papiermâché or metal so as to encourage a new, active relationship between viewer and artwork. This new, interactive approach left a lasting mark on the younger generations and new tendencies in the nineties, such as "Design Art" and "Relational Aesthetics". ( König, Baudin).

Similarly, when we examine the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, audience participation is also a factor. Upon my first encounter with his work many years ago, Untitled (Death by Gun), at MoMA, I noticed visitors taking a print, or relic, from a huge stack on the floor, I followed suit. The artist relied on the viewer to further a conversation by being part of the distribution network by “appropriating imagery from Time magazine,” the work gets redistributed again through audience participation (Wye). At the time, I remember thinking how this approach to making art was radical. Gonzalez-Torres used the audience to set the stage, artwork became nomadic.

As mementos, Gonzalez-Torres’ works move and travel, time is marked as forever replenishable. The artists work is allowed to live through the active lives of its participants which stands in contrast to an artwork in a collection of a stagnant institutional space where ones exchange is a gaze. Interestingly, with participatory works, Claire Bishop examines the role of “The Viewer as Producer” which references the many ways artists are engaging in relational experiences (10-17).

Another form of participatory work I embarked upon recently was the establishment of a Swap Shop. The concept is about the exchange of goods from one to another in a social environment. The public participated and swapped; purses with contents. There was no entry fee, no need for cash, just swappable goods. In an economy with a listed unemployment rate of approximately 10%, the Swap Shop offers an alternative; barter based commerce. Participants became producers of the fully indulgent home based shopping event as they became part of a larger exchange. Items swapped included trace elements such as: purses, stamps, ID badges, bank account information, feminine products, etc.

Swap Shop will take place again this spring. Imagine if these shops popped up across the country? This shop would allow participants to set the market by their willingness to contribute in an exchange of goods. The “swap” becomes the market price; one item equals one item, etc. The next phase of this project will include seeking out space where the concept of the Swap Shop can grow to include a plethora of items that are exchangeable . The Swap Shop becomes social sculpture with restorative power for human connectedness regardless of means. For instance, Joseph Beuys’ fervent integration of art and politics as noted in his 1985 statement:

CAPITAL is at present the work sustaining ability. Money is not an economic value though. The two genuine economic values involve the connection between ability (creativity) and product. That explains the formula presenting the expanded concept of art: ART=CAPITAL. (qtd. in www.walkerart.org).

In conclusion, this project could not exist without public participation where one’s willingness to partake in an alternative system spur’s the creativity of its makers and viewers, where viewers become producers of an experience, and life and art are finely integrated among all. Participation as a medium allows the artist greater freedom to investigate, track and operate as agents in the world where art is used as an exploratory method to examine the places in between the known systems of society. As art becomes an experience and boundaries between visual art and daily life become blurred, we must consider Bourriaud’s claim that “contemporary art resembles a period of time that has to be experienced, or the opening of a dialogue that never ends,” then participation as an art form is the ultimate response against institutional boundaries (160).

Works Cited

Beuys, Joseph. “Political Activism.” Art=Capital, 1985. Qtd in walkerart.org.

Bishop, Claire. “Viewers as Producers.” Participation. Ed. Claire Bishop. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2006.

Bourriaud, Nicolas. “Altermodernity.” Spike Art Quarterly 11 (2007): 2 pars.

Bourriaud, Nicolas. “Relational Aesthetics.” Participation. Ed. Claire Bishop. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006. 160.

Bourriaud, Nicolas. “Today’s Art Practise” - 21.09.2001. Virtual Museum. (2001): 1 pars.

Brown, Becky. “Franz West: Paßstück.” Artcritical.com Mar. 2008.

König, Kasper & Baudin, Katia. “Franz West.” Artnews.org 12 Dec 2009.

Wye. Deborah. Artists and Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2004.

Chew Count: following cadence for controlled eating

2010-02-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

In this video, I applied military cadence with eating a snack. The overlap of these two structures are intended to guide snackers more responsibly by applying a measured system of counting ones chews. The purpose of calling cadence while snacking is to eliminate over eating and fast eating, ultimately reducing intake.

According to the University of Cincinnatti's Net Wellness Consumer Health Information's website, www.netwellness.org, the suggested chew count for the following are:

small amount of food/fork full of peas: 5-10 chews
large amount of food/bite of steak: 20-30 chews

I found that a bite of a Granny Smith apple averaged 35-39 chews and a half of a cashew averaged 10-12 chews.

Snacking to cadence forces one to pay careful attention to the details of ones' eating habits.

e-flux, New York zeigt Martha Rosler "If You Lived Here Still..." in New York - Ausstellungen in kunstaspekte

2010-02-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

e-flux, New York zeigt Martha Rosler "If You Lived Here Still..." in New York - Ausstellungen in kunstaspekte

R-3.0 Comforter, maquette

2010-02-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

R-3.0 Comforter, maquette
insulation, remnant, plastic, thread

R-3.0 Comforter
in progress

The above piece is a maquette for an actual comforter. As I continue to explore wearable or usable items, I am investigating the use of insulation as material for bedding, perhaps clothing with an R-value (resistance to heat transference), intended to further insulate the body, not just general space, e.g. home, office, architectural space.

I used heavy duty plastic to cover the overall piece; allowing the aesthetic properties of the material to show. The maquette uses 2 types of insulation; LD/LR-V Cellulose Formula (Low Dust/Lifetime-R-Value Technology) and pink fiberglass insulation.

The simple square in a square pattern hearkens back to the quilting tradition -- also use of scraps, this insulation is leftover insulation from our persistence at insulating our live/work structure, originally non insulated.

With proper craft this R-3.0 Blanket can be a functional piece that can become part of everyday life.

Notes on decoration

2010-02-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

US Navy uniform sample; great example of decoration

Resurfaced floor boards with colored toothpicks

Filled cracks in floorboards; existing hardwood floor, toothpicks

The purpose of the resurfacing images is to explore the areas of in between places; cracks from separation or the width of a floor board. These are prime areas to resurface and fill the voids of these otherwise banal, forgotten, quiet spaces. The subtlety of thin colored lines from toothpicks mark territory using ornamentation which reminds me of the decoration on a military service members uniform, color being arbitrary for the floor pieces.

Adolf Loos argues in his 1908 Ornament and crime that "we have art, which has taken the place of ornament." What if we consider that ornament has been absorbed into art, art has been absorbed into culture, therefore, now we have culture, which has taken the place of art?

Does the artist have to leave a mark at all?

Residency summary: a bounty of ideas

2010-02-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Floor piece (being packed upon closing of residency), suitcase, 2010

The summary below is a recap of my time spent at the last residency, an intensive 10 day period at the Art Institute of Boston in Janurary. Students are required to summarize the experience from each residency in an effort to further reflect on and synthesize the thoughts and ideas that evolved in critiques, discussions, critical theory, artist talks and seminars with faculty, guest artists and fellow students.

Residency Summary
Reference key (who said what):
Jan Avgikos (JA)
Judith Barry (JB)
Melanie Carr (MC)
Reed Easley (RE)
Cynthia Hauk (CH)
Rita McBride (RM)
Michael Newman (MN)
Constanza Ruhm (CR)
Oliver Wasow (OW)
Deb Todd Wheeler (DTW)
Rachel Woodburn (RW)

Artists to look at:
Andy Yoder (DTW)
Samantha Fields (DTW)
Susan Collis (DTW)
Elaine Bradford (DTW)
Sheila Gallagher (DTW)
Isabel Riley (DTW)
Randal Thurston (DTW)
Oskar Schlemmer (CR)
Sylvie Fleury (CR)
Regina Moeller, intersection of fashion + art (CR)
Roberta Lima (CR)
Carolee Schneemann (CR)
Joan Jonas (CR)
Filmmaker Harun Farocki (creator of shopping mall) (Schopfer Der Einkaufswelt, Videograms of a Revolution, Ich Glaubte (CR)
Neil Gershenfeld, MIT lab (DTW)
Heather Szatmary documenting diet (RE)
Lisa Kellner (CH)
Heather Benning (CH)
Barbara Bloom (CH)
Triiibe.com (CH)
Ranjani Shettar (RE)
Cat Chow (RE)
Franz Erhard Walther (JB)
Franz West’s participatory works (JB)
Zoe Leonard, documents pieces of neighborhood (JB)
Gabriel Orozco, uses found mat’s in a post post way, pieces on oranges (JB)
Erwin Wurm + Lee Walton, funny public pranksters, not relational (JB)
Coco Fusco, performance + military person, very strong work, at New School (JB)
Brazillian performance artists Ernesto Neto, Jacqueline Leiner, obsessiveness (JB)
Andrea Zittel, simple + utilitarian (JA)
Harmony Hamond 70’s artist (JA)
Allan Kaprow, Yard, piece in NY (JA)
Franz Erhard Walther (!) (JA)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (JA)
Tino Sehgal, no traces, no pictures (MN)
Michael Landy, Breakdown (MN)

Research:
MIT: Non object/research based systems, reusing avail data (garbage, phone data) (DTW)
Russian Constructivism, female artists in particular (CR)
3rd Berlin Biennial 2004 (CR)
MIT: History of fashion of eastern Germany (CR)
Theaters of Berlin (CR)
Bert Neumann: stage + costume designer (CR)
Uniforms, look at Italy, Alpine Mt. guys w/ crazy feathers, why haven’t uniforms been updated since the 50’s, what is it, survivalist style? (RM)
Schoolgirls, how they play and document their choice and oppose with preteens and see if they play with interchangeable garments (RW)
Jean Baudrillard (RE)
Michel Foucault, Of other spaces Heterotopia (RE)
Post WWII work: look at Relational aesthetics people, Liam Gillick (JB)
Guggenheim show: Anywhere But Here (JB)
Recent contemporary Brazilian art (beauty crafter out of garbage, look up artist) (JB)
Show at National Academy, Abstraction in the 70’s (David Reed and Katy Siegel) (JA)
Helen Molesworth, Hauser & Wirth Project, NY (JA)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, lights, curtain, informalities, aestheticism, license to do things (JA)
Artangel UK (MN)
MIT mass customization, Maiden (DTW)

Read/Write:
Work Ethic, Helen Molesworth (DTW)
Roman de Salvo: Fun Follows Function, Sally Yard (DTW)
Crafty, Mass College of Art, 2006 (DTW)
Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft, Laurie Britton Newell, Victoria + Albert Museum (DTW)
Imitation of Life, stage designers (CR)
Regina Magazine (CR)
Text by Katherine Opie (CR)
Book on emotions, Edwin Rayner (CR)
Michel Foucault: Madness in Society, Control + Punishment (CR)
The Hand by Frank Wilson (DTW)
Robert Smithson’s interviews (RM)
Superheroes and the Dollhouse (RW)
The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard (CH)
Read about the home + domestic issues (CH)
Tara Donovan’s interviews + reviews (CH)
Write about “make believe” (RE)
Phaidon Series, themes: discarded materials, found materials, good ref’s (JB)
Elanor Anton feminist stuff, losing weight in the 70’s (JB)
Phaidon book, Body and Body Art, Themes and Movements (JB)
Search Angry Women (JB)
Themes + movement series in Phaidon Body Art Series Books (JB)
Mallarmé, poetry becomes visual + spacial (MN)
WACK! show catalog (CR)

Watch:
Ice Storm

Themes Discussed:
Working with labor + industry. Investigating systems. (DTW)
How does idea form process and process form idea? (DTW)
Resolving inefficiency with efficient systems. (DTW)
Take the impulse to systemize anything, grow my list of input. (DTW)
Touch + material. (RE)
Tradition of hook rugs and rag rugs, research history, how they’re made, outsourced activity, old clothes, chromatic things + ways of organization. (JA)
Textiles + body, nomadic quality to work, realizing alternative economic systems, culture of exchange qualities, distribution network, notions of exchange, value/economy, women’s work (JA)
Bedding + scrap-booking (mormon origins) (MC/DTW)

Considerations:
What is a perfect world? What is a metaphor for making? eg. Elaine Bradford’s tree cozies. (DTW)
Rules that concern the body, rules that concern social systems, women as part of the military, looking at the body differently (exercised), talk to women in the military, repetition as part of my structure, use + reference my structures ilo me. (CR)
Why are we making more stuff. (CR)
Ideas of distortion and identity, sense of self as distorted, is there something I can do to let the participant to feel what I feel, use mirrors, show size relationships, give the viewer the sense of distortion, approach identity from media’s point of view, sociology and psychology. (RW)
Trade shows and handmade goods. (CH)
Craft work and found materials-materials and concept should always come together. (RE)
Japanese culture analog to military precision, aesthetics + tea ceremony. (JA)

Criticism:
Radicalize what I do. (CR)
Don’t use female conventions. (CR)
For Swap Shop: change structure, example take men in military, train them to strip dance. (CR)
Don’t use own life as reference to make art. (CR)
Take 1st thing that comes to mind + throw away. (CR)
Stay away from feminism - too dogmatic, early stuff ok, Gender Trouble, Judith Butler. (RM)
Don’t generalize. (RE)
Problem w/ participatory work, may not be compelling enough to engage viewer. (JB)

Critical Theory II (MN)
Technology is crucial to the discussion of index and trace. Nostalgia for trace due to culture, today trace is disappearing.
Comprehensive discussion on mark, trace, index, indexical image, shadow, relics, etc.
1789 French Revolution: idea that one could rationally find a state or community, to start again; divine right of authority has passed, 1st time humans could find own destiny as opposed to preordained. What makes work of art great is originality, Kant. Genius is the artist who is original, great perfection.
The idea of the “thing” is best defined by the way the “thing” is differentiated by other things, marking of the absence.
Butades-trace to representation (we see the shift)
Fauvism abstracts the canvas based on color ilo representation, shift to abstraction.
In 1970’s we see the indexical in art, the turn to the index involves a critique on autonomy w/o going to representation.
1970’s was time post modernism was talked about (Krauss)
What is trash, can we ever really discard?
Photography has to do with remembrance
John Cage’s piano piece-the work is the noise that one hears during the 4:33 that one is not playing the piano.
Does the artist have to leave a mark or is intent enough? (MC)
The artist as choreographer, not really making marks at all, how does this fit in? (MC)

Elective Seminar: Found Image (OW)
Democratization of art/outsider art -- is all art outsider art?
Photography - less about looking thru the viewfinder + capturing the moment but about being able to choose an image from the massive amount of information available
Interesting exercise done in seminar: search for images that interest us as an artist but are not things that look like our artwork but are that express what we’re trying to do in our art - as pictorial essay.
Provided an excellent reading list + list of artists.
The use of web in seminar pertinent to topic and culture.
Good exposure to sites.

National Health Care ID Card

2010-02-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

National Heath Care ID Card, photoshop image, 2010

egalitarian
affordable
a form of exchange

Day 9 at residency/Utopia

2010-01-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

As i close in on my 2nd residency at AIB I have much to process. When I get back home I am not going to rush into my studio. I will take a little time to organize my thoughts, read and clarify my intentions.

I am currently reading Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia and started Participation Ed. by Claire Bishop. The essay "What is a Station?//2003 Molly Nesbit, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Rirkrit Tiravanija is of particular interest. For this residency, I made artworks that can be slept on or worn. I am interested in the concept where the art world engages active participation where ideas can flow due to the conversations of many, utopia, maybe? In the essay, I find it compelling to consider the notion that artwork produces "an activity rather more complex than pure exhibition" as this thought runs parallel and mirrors how many of us live. Our access to information is wide open, we can consider other modes of thought to stream into our practices.

This past semester I hosted 2 events, made interchangeable dresses that mask the female body and a floor piece of old clothes to lay upon -- a leap on my part from 6 months ago and worth continuing an investigation on how participation factors into a work of art.

Food for my intake mode: overlapping social structures into participatory events, i.e. fashion and military, what would this produce? Is it mine to make or a conversation for many?

Man Dress discovery while at AIB Jan '10 residency

2010-01-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

Due to the poor economic climate, many of us in Group 2 at AIB decided to buy some beverages and stay in after a hearty day...that is in at 601 Newbury and bond.

During this bonding session, we started out in Melissa Chandon's studio and discussed her work. We then moved on to my space where low and behold the interchangeable dresses that I made for this residency where all the rage for the men. The man dress was born. I'm not talking about a man wearing a women's dress -- I mean a man dress, a dress intentionally made for a man. Instead of addressing the shape and form of women, birthing hips and all, I can now consider the dress pattern as a V ilo of an A, with a zipper fly, the whole 9. Thanks for the inspiration guys, you looked amazing!

My crit space, 601 Newbury, 1st floor

Dress shown in sections. Panels are interchangeable and meant to be worn.

Michael PFleghaar doing a fine job modeling the interchangeable dress in basic black. Next time i'll be sure to bring a boat load of accessories.

James Cox with a bottom section in mustard yellow.

Marat Paransky with myself. Marat in Pink, grey and mustard yellow.

One last hurrah!

SWAP SHOP Presentation

2010-01-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Final meeting with mentor

2009-12-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

On December 16th I had my final meeting with Jean Shin. Over the semester, Jean's insight and criticism has been invaluable. My last meeting, was the most productive -- by way of strong criticism, I understood the importance of exceptional and clear presentation of my work. It is how most work lives on and is viewed. In a nutshell, I learned that I need to bring it up a notch, everything from here on.

Bottom Line: Document, Document, Document. Document well.

I took the following notes during my meeting. I've got a good amount of work to do to get my work ready for the January residency.

Notes from meeting:

Glitter Purse: drink cooler = b rated item, mundane

*needs to be seen in the real world, context (picnic, game, wherever)

-as LUNCHBOX cannot open – can’t eat can only oogle, about desire

-Get coolers and decorate them and send them out into the real world. Glam up B Life.

Swap Shop: is about curiosity, photo shoot content in left over purses

Shoot in this order:

1) images of content

2) Purses

3) Boutique

4) Installation

Make a binder with all documentation, chits, etc of the project, ready to go. Most successful project.

*Use the SS to roll clothes to make a larger piece, document.
*Have piece take over architecture-sit on floor/comfort

Purge:

Make circle fill entire room where the circle disappears, use walls?, etc.

*Have piece take over architecture-sit on floor/comfort.

Otherwise, seen it a 1000 times.

Flowers: Show straws

-Straw becomes as important as the flowers

-Play with installation of objects

-what happens if I extend the straw so that the piece cannot be held up and out, but flops

or bends?

-need much better documentation of image. unacceptable as is.

*******General good advice and good practices*******

-For Artist Statement, write project statements and pull out and/or weave together from this.

-Don’t be redundant with images. Get good details shots, prints.

-Immediately – get in to practice of good, exceptional documentation. This is how most projects will be seen by most everyone. This is the lasting impression, make it a good one.

-Have beautiful images

-Document SS and all of it – do it well.

Look at Shinique Smith

Suggested read: Jackie Battenfield. The Artists Guide.