Tuesday 25 March 2008
Documentary, Joseph Beuys, Interesting Artists, Park VI
"I love America and America loves me" Documentary about Joseph Beuys.
Monday 24 March 2008
Text, Larry Clark, Interesting Artists, Park IV
Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential American photographers of his generation, Larry Clark is known for both his raw and contentious photographs and his controversial films focusing on teen sexuality, violence, and drug use. Clark burst into public consciousness with his landmark book Tulsa in 1971, and has continued to use photography to explore urgent social issues pertaining to youth culture. In particular, he is interested in investigating the perils and vulnerabilities of adolescent masculinity, which he often explores from an autobiographical perspective.
Image, Larry Clark, Interesting Artists, Park IV
Larry Clark, Images from Tulsa, "1963-1971", series
Text, Gregor Schneider, Interesting Artists, Park III
Gregor Schneider
"Leonardo da Vinci carried everything in his head. He still knew everything. ... But today! Today it's no longer possible to know everything. The ties between oneself and things no longer exist ... one has to create a world of one's own in order to satisty one's hunger for knowledge, for understanding, one's need for order" But be careful. It was also Beckett who pointed out to us over and over again that this other world could not simply be equated with our world by interpretation. The other world is neither an image of this world nor is it an image of any particular thought. But how then, is this other world to be understood?
The hero of this other world, Gregor Schneider goes to absolutely remarkable lengths to reconstruct one and the same room, stone by stone - we're talking about a weight of 3 tons here - on another site. He takes the room apart. He digs, he carries, he tolls, he sweats, he is covered with dust, he is sinking in filth. He takes action; and as he takes action, he is assuring himself of his own existence.
Whether or not a room comes into being that too, is unimportant "I'm not at all interested in the room. When I put a room together the first time I wasn't even conscious of having built a room. Someone else told me that's what I'd done ... I'm interested in actions running idle," says Gregor Schneider in the second play while he's drinking coffee and eating cake. And he also admits in this speech that he considers "action a higher form than thought"
Gregor Schneider as I had been further instructed, was supposed, in the first play to have dismantled the basement of his own house, which he describes as "a dump", transported it to a museum with a rich history and rebuilt it there. Sometimes he also refers to the basement as a "bordello". But what do these names mean? They explain nothing. A damp cellar smelling of mildew is no bordello. And yet these words have an erotic coloration that transports the room into other contexts. They also have a "vulgar" undertone similar to some of Buckett's titles, such as "More Pricks than kicks".
The room that Gregor Schneider dismantles is-as has been described-a part of the house in which Gregor Schneider lives, thus it is a (part of his) home. The other room stands-as has likewise been described-in a museum. It is a work of art. One and the same room cannot, however be a home if it's a work of art, nor can it be a work of art if it's a home. But it isn't one and the same room. The one room fits in a house, the other in a museum. What a contradiction! (And not the sort that can be figured out by reasoning.) Yet, what can't be explained through reason seems meaningless and therefore puzzling. And not only that. It transgresses the boundaries of decency and quickly slips into the realm of the criminal. In Beckett, crime - vioIent death, for example - is always lurking around the next corner; sometimes it's even part of the plot. And who knows how many corpses Gregor Schneider has hidden beneath the rubble of his basement floor?
In the second play "Dining Room", as I had been told, Gregor Schneider answers, while drinking coffee and eating cake, the question as to the forms of his actions: "Yes, and constant screams, piercing. Constant screams, and the attempt to raise their expressiveness. I have known the greatest possible expression in human screams." Who is Gregor Schneider this kind of person who, after taking another sip of his coffee, obliviously continues: "Dug holes, buried myself, jumped from tree to tree and made swimming motions while doing so, since - after all - each tree is a world, and between worlds lies water" Who is Gregor Schneider? Do the plays, whose main character he is supposed to be, even exist? The plays exist But what kind of plays are they? Are they a form of art or a form of life? Despair not, one might answer this question in Beckett's manner the one form belongs to life. Rejoice not, the other form belongs to art. A contradiction not to be dissolved by reason! It can only be met through action. Which is why Gregor Schneider regards "action as a higher form than thought".
The site of Gregor Schneider's acting - the site to which everything relates - is the "totes Haus ur" ("Dead House ur"). It's supposed to be located in a small town, in Rheydt, not far from Mönchengladbach in a shabby industrial region. Gregor Schneider has been working on this house for ten years. Occasionally he invites someone in for coffee and cake; one can even spend the night in the house. If one is lucky I was lucky.
One day I received a small card with the following content: "The guestroom hasn't yet been put back together / guests can't sleep here at the moment. But there's coffee and cake. Schneider/ Rheydt."
So not a play after all, at least not one by Beckett... or is it? The house really does exist. Tiled three-story façade, a door a narrow wooden stairway leading to a room in which a table set in white offers up coffee and cake. Here I am met by a short man with lively eyes whom I already know from the plays. The atmosphere in the room is one of petit bourgeois Gemütlichkeit. Then the man pushes a wall aside. I enter an in-between space which allows me to see that the coffee room rotates, like a stage, on its own axis, and that the window is an illusion. It's mounted, like a mirror image, in front of the window to the outside. Another wall is raised. I squeeze myself half bent over through a hallway and enter through the inside of a wardrobe, the guestroom, which - because it had stood for some time in a museum - is not yet rebuilt in its entirety. It's neat and white, and outfitted with a bed and a bathtub.
Back through the wardrobe, up a ladder it gets even narrower as the corridors wind like tangled intestines. I drag myself around the corner The cabinet of wonders: stuffed animals, skulls, a hand, a black mirrored ball hanging from the wall, an old armoire, rolled-up carpets, a mask, horns on the armoire. And again a window that isn't really a window; it provides no view to the outside. Is there any view from this house to the exterior? The cellar. Dark, cold, damp, and smelling of mildew. The oppressive cell whose walls are lined with lead and the room with the puddle from the first play
I stand again in front of the house and think back to the play "Dining Room", of which I'd been told. In this play Gregor Schneider is said to have expressed a wish during his coffee table conversation: "I dream of taking the whole house with me and rebuilding it somewhere else. My father and mother would live with me there; the older relatives lie dead in the cellar. My brothers live upstairs, here and there there live women and men who have no other place to go. Somewhere in the corner sits a large woman who's always having babies, churning them out into the world. I'm somewhere in there, too, constantly digging everything up." What a wonderful image, Beckett would say. The one house is blessed and therefore full of life; the other house is damned and the "Dead House ur".
Noemi Smolik
Gregor Schneider represents Germany at the 49th Biennale di Venezia."
http://www.postmedia.net/01/schneider.htm
"Leonardo da Vinci carried everything in his head. He still knew everything. ... But today! Today it's no longer possible to know everything. The ties between oneself and things no longer exist ... one has to create a world of one's own in order to satisty one's hunger for knowledge, for understanding, one's need for order" But be careful. It was also Beckett who pointed out to us over and over again that this other world could not simply be equated with our world by interpretation. The other world is neither an image of this world nor is it an image of any particular thought. But how then, is this other world to be understood?
The hero of this other world, Gregor Schneider goes to absolutely remarkable lengths to reconstruct one and the same room, stone by stone - we're talking about a weight of 3 tons here - on another site. He takes the room apart. He digs, he carries, he tolls, he sweats, he is covered with dust, he is sinking in filth. He takes action; and as he takes action, he is assuring himself of his own existence.
Whether or not a room comes into being that too, is unimportant "I'm not at all interested in the room. When I put a room together the first time I wasn't even conscious of having built a room. Someone else told me that's what I'd done ... I'm interested in actions running idle," says Gregor Schneider in the second play while he's drinking coffee and eating cake. And he also admits in this speech that he considers "action a higher form than thought"
Gregor Schneider as I had been further instructed, was supposed, in the first play to have dismantled the basement of his own house, which he describes as "a dump", transported it to a museum with a rich history and rebuilt it there. Sometimes he also refers to the basement as a "bordello". But what do these names mean? They explain nothing. A damp cellar smelling of mildew is no bordello. And yet these words have an erotic coloration that transports the room into other contexts. They also have a "vulgar" undertone similar to some of Buckett's titles, such as "More Pricks than kicks".
The room that Gregor Schneider dismantles is-as has been described-a part of the house in which Gregor Schneider lives, thus it is a (part of his) home. The other room stands-as has likewise been described-in a museum. It is a work of art. One and the same room cannot, however be a home if it's a work of art, nor can it be a work of art if it's a home. But it isn't one and the same room. The one room fits in a house, the other in a museum. What a contradiction! (And not the sort that can be figured out by reasoning.) Yet, what can't be explained through reason seems meaningless and therefore puzzling. And not only that. It transgresses the boundaries of decency and quickly slips into the realm of the criminal. In Beckett, crime - vioIent death, for example - is always lurking around the next corner; sometimes it's even part of the plot. And who knows how many corpses Gregor Schneider has hidden beneath the rubble of his basement floor?
In the second play "Dining Room", as I had been told, Gregor Schneider answers, while drinking coffee and eating cake, the question as to the forms of his actions: "Yes, and constant screams, piercing. Constant screams, and the attempt to raise their expressiveness. I have known the greatest possible expression in human screams." Who is Gregor Schneider this kind of person who, after taking another sip of his coffee, obliviously continues: "Dug holes, buried myself, jumped from tree to tree and made swimming motions while doing so, since - after all - each tree is a world, and between worlds lies water" Who is Gregor Schneider? Do the plays, whose main character he is supposed to be, even exist? The plays exist But what kind of plays are they? Are they a form of art or a form of life? Despair not, one might answer this question in Beckett's manner the one form belongs to life. Rejoice not, the other form belongs to art. A contradiction not to be dissolved by reason! It can only be met through action. Which is why Gregor Schneider regards "action as a higher form than thought".
The site of Gregor Schneider's acting - the site to which everything relates - is the "totes Haus ur" ("Dead House ur"). It's supposed to be located in a small town, in Rheydt, not far from Mönchengladbach in a shabby industrial region. Gregor Schneider has been working on this house for ten years. Occasionally he invites someone in for coffee and cake; one can even spend the night in the house. If one is lucky I was lucky.
One day I received a small card with the following content: "The guestroom hasn't yet been put back together / guests can't sleep here at the moment. But there's coffee and cake. Schneider/ Rheydt."
So not a play after all, at least not one by Beckett... or is it? The house really does exist. Tiled three-story façade, a door a narrow wooden stairway leading to a room in which a table set in white offers up coffee and cake. Here I am met by a short man with lively eyes whom I already know from the plays. The atmosphere in the room is one of petit bourgeois Gemütlichkeit. Then the man pushes a wall aside. I enter an in-between space which allows me to see that the coffee room rotates, like a stage, on its own axis, and that the window is an illusion. It's mounted, like a mirror image, in front of the window to the outside. Another wall is raised. I squeeze myself half bent over through a hallway and enter through the inside of a wardrobe, the guestroom, which - because it had stood for some time in a museum - is not yet rebuilt in its entirety. It's neat and white, and outfitted with a bed and a bathtub.
Back through the wardrobe, up a ladder it gets even narrower as the corridors wind like tangled intestines. I drag myself around the corner The cabinet of wonders: stuffed animals, skulls, a hand, a black mirrored ball hanging from the wall, an old armoire, rolled-up carpets, a mask, horns on the armoire. And again a window that isn't really a window; it provides no view to the outside. Is there any view from this house to the exterior? The cellar. Dark, cold, damp, and smelling of mildew. The oppressive cell whose walls are lined with lead and the room with the puddle from the first play
I stand again in front of the house and think back to the play "Dining Room", of which I'd been told. In this play Gregor Schneider is said to have expressed a wish during his coffee table conversation: "I dream of taking the whole house with me and rebuilding it somewhere else. My father and mother would live with me there; the older relatives lie dead in the cellar. My brothers live upstairs, here and there there live women and men who have no other place to go. Somewhere in the corner sits a large woman who's always having babies, churning them out into the world. I'm somewhere in there, too, constantly digging everything up." What a wonderful image, Beckett would say. The one house is blessed and therefore full of life; the other house is damned and the "Dead House ur".
Noemi Smolik
Gregor Schneider represents Germany at the 49th Biennale di Venezia."
http://www.postmedia.net/01/schneider.htm
Sunday 23 March 2008
Mike Nelson, Interesting Artists, Park II
Using a jumble of apparently discarded everyday materials, such as timber, furniture, magazines and clothing, Nelson constructs large-scale, highly architectural, site-specific installations that often arise from a period of living and working in a particular location. In them he fuses literary, filmic, socio-political and cultural references, both associated with and imposed upon the site, to create haunting environments which evoke strange and disturbing narratives - a place that people have vanished from like the Mary Celeste, or where a crime has been commited, where something awful has happened or is about to happen. Nelson's arrangement of his materials is never arbitrary, but carefully crafted and organised, in an idiosyncratic way, to create his new fictions.
Nelson's pieces often suggest journeys to alien worlds. Taylor 1994, comprising a large makeshift raft with that name, makes reference to the marooned astronaut in the cult film Planet of the Apes, while Agent Dixon at the Red Star Hotel 1995, presents a ramshackle, Turkish space shuttle, its cabin complete with hammock, cooking pots and crash helmets. Such installations draw the viewer into their fictional, at first glance baffling scenarios, which, having no fixed point or answer; therefore depend upon the spectator creating their own reading of Nelson's visual symbols and clues. As David Burrows has observed, viewing Nelson's exhibitions becomes 'an act of storytelling, Nelson's fictional index transforms the everyday object by taking the visitor to another place'.
Tales of transition, alienation and otherness also lie at the heart of many of Nelson's installations. The Coral Reef 2000, for example, lures the viewer through a labyrinth of shabby interconnected rooms, abandoned, inhospitable spaces in which disquiet and disorientation is evoked. These spaces all have the character of generic waiting or reception rooms, but particular identities become apparent through different ethnic and cultural decors and details, an empty sleeping bag, an Islamic calendar, a wall hanging of JFK, a smashed chair. Individual characteristics and cultural histories unfold and narratives accumulate by association. As in much of his work, Nelson here creates situations that attempt to raise questions about individual and cultural standpoints by presenting the viewer with an ambiguous range of readings from the overlapping narratives diffused throughout his network of objects.
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerprize/2001/Nelson.htm
Nelson's pieces often suggest journeys to alien worlds. Taylor 1994, comprising a large makeshift raft with that name, makes reference to the marooned astronaut in the cult film Planet of the Apes, while Agent Dixon at the Red Star Hotel 1995, presents a ramshackle, Turkish space shuttle, its cabin complete with hammock, cooking pots and crash helmets. Such installations draw the viewer into their fictional, at first glance baffling scenarios, which, having no fixed point or answer; therefore depend upon the spectator creating their own reading of Nelson's visual symbols and clues. As David Burrows has observed, viewing Nelson's exhibitions becomes 'an act of storytelling, Nelson's fictional index transforms the everyday object by taking the visitor to another place'.
Tales of transition, alienation and otherness also lie at the heart of many of Nelson's installations. The Coral Reef 2000, for example, lures the viewer through a labyrinth of shabby interconnected rooms, abandoned, inhospitable spaces in which disquiet and disorientation is evoked. These spaces all have the character of generic waiting or reception rooms, but particular identities become apparent through different ethnic and cultural decors and details, an empty sleeping bag, an Islamic calendar, a wall hanging of JFK, a smashed chair. Individual characteristics and cultural histories unfold and narratives accumulate by association. As in much of his work, Nelson here creates situations that attempt to raise questions about individual and cultural standpoints by presenting the viewer with an ambiguous range of readings from the overlapping narratives diffused throughout his network of objects.
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerprize/2001/Nelson.htm
Image, Mike Nelson, Interesting Artists, Park II
The Cosmic Legend of the Uroboros Serpent 2001
Mixed media installation, dimensions variable
Mixed media installation, dimensions variable
Roman Signer, (Interesting Artists), Part I
The use to everyday objects, set up to react against each others surroundings is very important to the work of Roman Signer. His interaction and performance approach to these objects is also apparent.
"Signer's moving everyday objects and motorized vehicles are regarded as a representative of an expanded concept of sculpture and work and has meanwhile become a role model for a younger generation of artists. His dynamic, sensitive and even mad sculptures that develop in the fourth dimension – of time – are by no means relics of performances, but rather precisely choreographed. The essence of the event determines the form, and even processes that only last a few moments become action or time sculptures." www.orbit.zkm.de
"The compelling strength of Signer's art lies in its complete obedience to the circumstances and structural rules laid down for his actions. Signer calls the slight modifications of a given state 'poetic events.' Poetic in the literal sense of poiesis, man-made creation, and not in its vaguely profound and emotional sense. The radical, factual simplicity of Signer's actions is the very source of their fascinating energy."» ~ Marie Louise Leinhard.
"Signer's moving everyday objects and motorized vehicles are regarded as a representative of an expanded concept of sculpture and work and has meanwhile become a role model for a younger generation of artists. His dynamic, sensitive and even mad sculptures that develop in the fourth dimension – of time – are by no means relics of performances, but rather precisely choreographed. The essence of the event determines the form, and even processes that only last a few moments become action or time sculptures." www.orbit.zkm.de
"The compelling strength of Signer's art lies in its complete obedience to the circumstances and structural rules laid down for his actions. Signer calls the slight modifications of a given state 'poetic events.' Poetic in the literal sense of poiesis, man-made creation, and not in its vaguely profound and emotional sense. The radical, factual simplicity of Signer's actions is the very source of their fascinating energy."» ~ Marie Louise Leinhard.
Saturday 22 March 2008
Video Mash ups
Below a look at video mash ups. As Helen Ochyra writes,
"The explosion of video editing software has given rise to the huge (but illegal, copyright-wise) phenomenon of "video mash ups". This is where people with rather too much time on there hands take footage from well known film, subject it to some rigorous editing based around an entirely different plot, perhaps add new titles sequences, then post the spoof clip online with, usually, some hilarious results".
Some have been selected from Youtube and brought together here on Con-Doc.
"The explosion of video editing software has given rise to the huge (but illegal, copyright-wise) phenomenon of "video mash ups". This is where people with rather too much time on there hands take footage from well known film, subject it to some rigorous editing based around an entirely different plot, perhaps add new titles sequences, then post the spoof clip online with, usually, some hilarious results".
Some have been selected from Youtube and brought together here on Con-Doc.
Friday 21 March 2008
Current Work, Direction of Practice, Human Figure, Removal of Personality, Performance, Forgetting Cameras, Collaboration
Current work
Currently I am making a series of performances. Each contain ideas that relate to dreams and thoughts that come into ones mind when sleeping or daydreaming. I have also given my self a structure and frame to evolve these works within a high productivity rate. Previously I have collaborated a lot with individuals and peers from the course and also was encouraged to work in a very collaborative way while undertaking the European Exchange Academy. During this time I experimented a lot in a performance, sculptural and installation context.
During the second year I made one piece in particular called "I'm fed up. The concept for which was a basic play on words where by I was hung upside down and fed by "Danny McGuiness", as we talked about the experience and appearance of the activity. Looking back on this work I see that I am critical of its appearance but at the same time that began my interest in quick simple collaborations.
This year through a lot of conversation with Danny, we have come to realize that we can share and collaborate and by doing so have made three films/performances together. By doing so I feel that the work we are making has a more interesting edge and a certain amount of unknown. I have featured in films that the concept for which was originally thought up by me whereas some of the concepts where originally his. With out the active position of both Danny and me they could not work.
Direction of practice
The Direction of my practice has taken a structure based around the creation of space/sets that create a frame for performances or actions to take place. In the same way the "Joseph Beuys", locked him self inside a room with a coyote and then exhibited the objects left behind as sculptures. I have taken a space and evolved it as a place where performances and ideas can be created. The by-product of this leaves objects and materials that are then recycled into the next Idea or work. The nature of this came from thought about how when we dream. It has been estimated that on average we dream two hours every night and this totals at six years of our life. But we can�t remember these six years and only really remember sections of certain dreams. These performances take this theme and so everything contained in the space has a story or connections with what has happened before or what will happen next.
Human Figure
During my Exchange in Germany I created the most daring and audience involving performance piece that I have ever made. "The work involved a fake wall", "built to hide a chamber without any light. There was actually another chamber behind this one, which allowed me to go through and lie down above a body shaped hole in the ceiling. Before the Exhibition started the performance began whereby I would take all my clothes off and lie above the chamber naked and chest down. From my neck to my knees where touchable. The work encouraged the viewer�s curiosity to enter on their hands and knees to the chamber. Unable to see they would explore the chamber. Most reached to find the roof, but on contact with a human body reaction where mixed. Screams and Embarrassment where common but also feeling of intimacy and humor and amazement with how the heat and feeling of a human body was heightened by the pitch black darkness of the chamber.� This piece involved the human body as the key component to the work. My body, a natural thing, was subverted by primal fear of the dark into something that created a sense of fear and embarrassment and also arousal. For me this was break through as I found I was able to use my body as a tool or sculpture to communicate an idea without language and communication.
Removal of personality
This removal of personality is also apparent in recent films and performances as a way of distinguishing between me and the aspects of my personality. I think it also allows the viewer to position them selves in the same position as the personality in the film. This means that they can identify with the action that is taken place in there own dreams.
Performance
More Recently the performances made have been able to move and communicate this in other ways. I have been able to remove my self for the brief time and get into a state of mind
Forgetting cameras
This allows you to forget the cameras and really get into what you are doing. This creates more of an impact as the audience or viewer can sense that what they are seeing is genuine.
Collaboration
Whenever collaborating there is always the question of owner ship that enters people�s thoughts. While talking to the visiting artist, "William Hunt", he said that it was important at this stage to allow collaboration with out the issue of ownership getting in the way. Combining the ideas of two artists is always going to create something different because it is a democratic method rather than decisions made by an individual. Choices that are made are taken up in an externally discussed method rather that an internal thought.
The feeling created by collaboration
The feelings that where created during collaboration where far more unplanned than when working by ones self. For example, when you have an idea and you write that idea by your self you have a control other what will happen. But when you collaborate and create an environment in which to perform you cant script what will happen and you cant control how the other person will react. This to me is where the important aspect of how the issue of the unknown is created. When make "Paint Brush Head Man", one thing we discussed after was that it was more interesting to have Eoghan as an audience there. We discussed how Danny and I, where acting a certain way, which outside of that space would be bizarre. However There where two of us acting a certain way and one acting another. The question arose, who was the one acting the strangest and in my view it was the observer.
Currently I am making a series of performances. Each contain ideas that relate to dreams and thoughts that come into ones mind when sleeping or daydreaming. I have also given my self a structure and frame to evolve these works within a high productivity rate. Previously I have collaborated a lot with individuals and peers from the course and also was encouraged to work in a very collaborative way while undertaking the European Exchange Academy. During this time I experimented a lot in a performance, sculptural and installation context.
During the second year I made one piece in particular called "I'm fed up. The concept for which was a basic play on words where by I was hung upside down and fed by "Danny McGuiness", as we talked about the experience and appearance of the activity. Looking back on this work I see that I am critical of its appearance but at the same time that began my interest in quick simple collaborations.
This year through a lot of conversation with Danny, we have come to realize that we can share and collaborate and by doing so have made three films/performances together. By doing so I feel that the work we are making has a more interesting edge and a certain amount of unknown. I have featured in films that the concept for which was originally thought up by me whereas some of the concepts where originally his. With out the active position of both Danny and me they could not work.
Direction of practice
The Direction of my practice has taken a structure based around the creation of space/sets that create a frame for performances or actions to take place. In the same way the "Joseph Beuys", locked him self inside a room with a coyote and then exhibited the objects left behind as sculptures. I have taken a space and evolved it as a place where performances and ideas can be created. The by-product of this leaves objects and materials that are then recycled into the next Idea or work. The nature of this came from thought about how when we dream. It has been estimated that on average we dream two hours every night and this totals at six years of our life. But we can�t remember these six years and only really remember sections of certain dreams. These performances take this theme and so everything contained in the space has a story or connections with what has happened before or what will happen next.
Human Figure
During my Exchange in Germany I created the most daring and audience involving performance piece that I have ever made. "The work involved a fake wall", "built to hide a chamber without any light. There was actually another chamber behind this one, which allowed me to go through and lie down above a body shaped hole in the ceiling. Before the Exhibition started the performance began whereby I would take all my clothes off and lie above the chamber naked and chest down. From my neck to my knees where touchable. The work encouraged the viewer�s curiosity to enter on their hands and knees to the chamber. Unable to see they would explore the chamber. Most reached to find the roof, but on contact with a human body reaction where mixed. Screams and Embarrassment where common but also feeling of intimacy and humor and amazement with how the heat and feeling of a human body was heightened by the pitch black darkness of the chamber.� This piece involved the human body as the key component to the work. My body, a natural thing, was subverted by primal fear of the dark into something that created a sense of fear and embarrassment and also arousal. For me this was break through as I found I was able to use my body as a tool or sculpture to communicate an idea without language and communication.
Removal of personality
This removal of personality is also apparent in recent films and performances as a way of distinguishing between me and the aspects of my personality. I think it also allows the viewer to position them selves in the same position as the personality in the film. This means that they can identify with the action that is taken place in there own dreams.
Performance
More Recently the performances made have been able to move and communicate this in other ways. I have been able to remove my self for the brief time and get into a state of mind
Forgetting cameras
This allows you to forget the cameras and really get into what you are doing. This creates more of an impact as the audience or viewer can sense that what they are seeing is genuine.
Collaboration
Whenever collaborating there is always the question of owner ship that enters people�s thoughts. While talking to the visiting artist, "William Hunt", he said that it was important at this stage to allow collaboration with out the issue of ownership getting in the way. Combining the ideas of two artists is always going to create something different because it is a democratic method rather than decisions made by an individual. Choices that are made are taken up in an externally discussed method rather that an internal thought.
The feeling created by collaboration
The feelings that where created during collaboration where far more unplanned than when working by ones self. For example, when you have an idea and you write that idea by your self you have a control other what will happen. But when you collaborate and create an environment in which to perform you cant script what will happen and you cant control how the other person will react. This to me is where the important aspect of how the issue of the unknown is created. When make "Paint Brush Head Man", one thing we discussed after was that it was more interesting to have Eoghan as an audience there. We discussed how Danny and I, where acting a certain way, which outside of that space would be bizarre. However There where two of us acting a certain way and one acting another. The question arose, who was the one acting the strangest and in my view it was the observer.
Tent Film
Tent Film
The first piece I made in the series is untitled but referred to as "Tent film" At the time when this was created I was very lost if I'm honest. I hadn't been able to find my feet after coming home from Germany and this was digging at me. I was in a very low place, unable to be productive and to find the confidence that I had found on the Exchange. I started at what interested me in other hobbies and roles of life outside of art. I was scared before to experiment with these and in some way saw life and art as separate. Although I also thought I knew that it wasn�t separate.
I experimented with bringing my outdoor pursuit life into the studio and began to work with maps and photos taken with torches and films around the theme of urban and country driving.
After deciding I wasn't happy with the detachment of my self as a figure in the work I assembled a tent in my studio. I created an environment with sound and smell that mimicked my experience of camping with my friends talking on a recording I made during a trip. Around the tent I placed leaves and assembled cameras inside the tent. At this point I was aware that I was allowing my actions to evolve naturally. Making small changes that them caused effect on what happened next. I made one film where I climbing into the space and doing what felt natural inside this environment. I started to look at Mike Nelsons work with instillation and several of Roman Signers films involving tents and the natural environment. I became more interested in the working inside the studio rather than out side. So decided to evolve the room into the next work I would make and somehow reference the actions made before with the tent film.
The first piece I made in the series is untitled but referred to as "Tent film" At the time when this was created I was very lost if I'm honest. I hadn't been able to find my feet after coming home from Germany and this was digging at me. I was in a very low place, unable to be productive and to find the confidence that I had found on the Exchange. I started at what interested me in other hobbies and roles of life outside of art. I was scared before to experiment with these and in some way saw life and art as separate. Although I also thought I knew that it wasn�t separate.
I experimented with bringing my outdoor pursuit life into the studio and began to work with maps and photos taken with torches and films around the theme of urban and country driving.
After deciding I wasn't happy with the detachment of my self as a figure in the work I assembled a tent in my studio. I created an environment with sound and smell that mimicked my experience of camping with my friends talking on a recording I made during a trip. Around the tent I placed leaves and assembled cameras inside the tent. At this point I was aware that I was allowing my actions to evolve naturally. Making small changes that them caused effect on what happened next. I made one film where I climbing into the space and doing what felt natural inside this environment. I started to look at Mike Nelsons work with instillation and several of Roman Signers films involving tents and the natural environment. I became more interested in the working inside the studio rather than out side. So decided to evolve the room into the next work I would make and somehow reference the actions made before with the tent film.
Bleep test
Bleep test
As I was working on "Tent Film" I had the simple Idea of doing a Bleep test with the space in which to run decreased ten times so that the runner was only traveling two meters instead of twenty. A bleep test "involves running continuously between two points that are 20 m apart. These runs are synchronized with a pre-recorded audiotape or CD, which plays beeps at set intervals. As the test proceeds, the interval between each successive beep reduces, forcing the athlete to increase velocity over the course of the test, until it is impossible to keep in sync with the recording". However this method of fitness was then made extremely easy to do. This obviously makes the activity of exercise ridiculous as it means that the runner would always finish. This allowed the framework to make a performance and film the results but left the element of the unknown.
I discussed this idea with Danny and he liking the subject matter of the absurd and surreal so we began to discuss the subject of collaboration. We talked about the idea of filming from multiple directions and the sinking the footage up. This was a technique adopted in Germany to record the visuals and sound from different sources. This was achieved by the use of a clapperboard, to find where the clap was on the audio and on the visuals and then sink. We used it to find the clap on all the separate angels and then sink it that way. The idea started to evolve in to mimicking the way that when we dream it is sometimes possible to see from multiple positions or perspectives. Where as when we are awake we can only see though one position, our eyes. I have always been fascinated with the idea that you could see through the eyes of someone, somewhere.
After the performance, I began to think that the costumes and props as well as the theme could be related to dreaming. In a literal sense we some time say "I have been running through my mind all night". Costumes and props that where used began to represent different thing, some were thought through and intentional but some where also discussed after and found when viewing the footage. I was interested in the sculptural nature of these objects that then began to tell a story of how they became involved. They also began to relate to different ideas and also how they related to the objects around them. In the same was as the movement of DADA used found objects and transformed them into sculptures, I began to adopt this method. I started looking at questions of gallery context and how when an object is placed in a white room or a space defined for art, it becomes art.
As I was working on "Tent Film" I had the simple Idea of doing a Bleep test with the space in which to run decreased ten times so that the runner was only traveling two meters instead of twenty. A bleep test "involves running continuously between two points that are 20 m apart. These runs are synchronized with a pre-recorded audiotape or CD, which plays beeps at set intervals. As the test proceeds, the interval between each successive beep reduces, forcing the athlete to increase velocity over the course of the test, until it is impossible to keep in sync with the recording". However this method of fitness was then made extremely easy to do. This obviously makes the activity of exercise ridiculous as it means that the runner would always finish. This allowed the framework to make a performance and film the results but left the element of the unknown.
I discussed this idea with Danny and he liking the subject matter of the absurd and surreal so we began to discuss the subject of collaboration. We talked about the idea of filming from multiple directions and the sinking the footage up. This was a technique adopted in Germany to record the visuals and sound from different sources. This was achieved by the use of a clapperboard, to find where the clap was on the audio and on the visuals and then sink. We used it to find the clap on all the separate angels and then sink it that way. The idea started to evolve in to mimicking the way that when we dream it is sometimes possible to see from multiple positions or perspectives. Where as when we are awake we can only see though one position, our eyes. I have always been fascinated with the idea that you could see through the eyes of someone, somewhere.
After the performance, I began to think that the costumes and props as well as the theme could be related to dreaming. In a literal sense we some time say "I have been running through my mind all night". Costumes and props that where used began to represent different thing, some were thought through and intentional but some where also discussed after and found when viewing the footage. I was interested in the sculptural nature of these objects that then began to tell a story of how they became involved. They also began to relate to different ideas and also how they related to the objects around them. In the same was as the movement of DADA used found objects and transformed them into sculptures, I began to adopt this method. I started looking at questions of gallery context and how when an object is placed in a white room or a space defined for art, it becomes art.
Paul McCarthy
You are able to watch some of Paul McCarthy's Films Here
http://www.ubu.com/film/mccarthy.html
http://www.ubu.com/film/mccarthy.html
Fish Tank Txt
Fish Tank
From this point I started looking for a space to evolve and use this idea of "white cube" and production space. I also began to make dreams into performances. I had, had a dream at this time about a character with a fish tank. There where two fish and he was acting as if they where puppets and was unaware that they where dead. He was pushing these fish around the tank and trying to wake them up. I went back to the room where the "Tent Film" was and decided to remove the tent and paint the walls white to create "white cube". After the tent had gone there where was only the leaves left and I decided that these would stay and used in the next film. " Fish Tank" was filmed using four angles and involved a recreation the story above. However during that dream I could see through the point of view of the character in the dream. I decided to go with my instinct and use a white boiler suit and mask. I liked the idea that the viewer would be unaware of the identity of the character and would question it was me doing this act or not. It added a certain amount of anonymous to the person in the same way as I unaware when dreaming. I also thought about the images I had seen in "Gordon Burns" book "A day at work, interviews with Damien Hurst". They�re where photographs of technicians lowering a shark in to a tank of formaldehyde for the work called
"The Physical Impossibility of Death in the mind of someone living, 1991".
I thought about this image a lot and thought it was a very strong one. I liked the idea that the film I had made could somehow mimic this activity but on a much cheaper budget. It acted like an absurd joke on the way art is sometimes produced and reflected the image I had seen in this book.
On reflection of this film I found my response and the response of others to be an initial amount of intrigue but was too long to captivate and hold the viewer. I started to think about cutting and mixing the different audio and visuals and treating each performance as a scene rather than an individual film. In the same way as when I dream I drift in and out of different stories, this could also happen.
From this point I started looking for a space to evolve and use this idea of "white cube" and production space. I also began to make dreams into performances. I had, had a dream at this time about a character with a fish tank. There where two fish and he was acting as if they where puppets and was unaware that they where dead. He was pushing these fish around the tank and trying to wake them up. I went back to the room where the "Tent Film" was and decided to remove the tent and paint the walls white to create "white cube". After the tent had gone there where was only the leaves left and I decided that these would stay and used in the next film. " Fish Tank" was filmed using four angles and involved a recreation the story above. However during that dream I could see through the point of view of the character in the dream. I decided to go with my instinct and use a white boiler suit and mask. I liked the idea that the viewer would be unaware of the identity of the character and would question it was me doing this act or not. It added a certain amount of anonymous to the person in the same way as I unaware when dreaming. I also thought about the images I had seen in "Gordon Burns" book "A day at work, interviews with Damien Hurst". They�re where photographs of technicians lowering a shark in to a tank of formaldehyde for the work called
"The Physical Impossibility of Death in the mind of someone living, 1991".
I thought about this image a lot and thought it was a very strong one. I liked the idea that the film I had made could somehow mimic this activity but on a much cheaper budget. It acted like an absurd joke on the way art is sometimes produced and reflected the image I had seen in this book.
On reflection of this film I found my response and the response of others to be an initial amount of intrigue but was too long to captivate and hold the viewer. I started to think about cutting and mixing the different audio and visuals and treating each performance as a scene rather than an individual film. In the same way as when I dream I drift in and out of different stories, this could also happen.
PaintBrushHeadMan
Paint Brush Head Man
After "Fish Tank" I moved on to a new Idea of "The Driller". However I began to question what the costume for this piece would be. I could not figure out what I wanted to portray to the viewer though what the person in the film was dressed in. It came back to the idea that each object, prop and costume took on a meaning through what it was connected to and surrounded by and also the activity that as taking place.
Danny had approached me with a new concept. His I idea was to use me as a paintbrush and he would be a painter. We discussed about the idea of nonsense an absurdity. The Dadaists said " It's not Dada that is non-sense but the essence of our age that is nonsense". So approaching this theme we began to build up a space. Buying materials, paint and costumes together we gathered the essence of how this performance would be created, however we left most of it to the unknown. There was a start where by I would be upside down but there was nothing from then on. The costumes and props began to form relation ships with what I had been working with. The colors where blue, white, black and all of those mixed together. Danny wore quite a feminine outfit with the colors green and red. I was wearing a very masculine outfit of a vest and track bottoms and a pair of Boots from the foundry. These costume started to contrast the activity and create dominant roles in what normally would be the opposite.
We had placed plastic sheets on the floor and had painted several white boards to represent canvases. Unable to see I was only able to see I was restricted to the edge of the boards. I thought afterward that this is quite representative of the traditional notion and constant argument revolutionized by "Jackson Pollock� of "The Edge". The idea that a painter is restricted to the edge a canvas.
During the piece we both agreed that we got our selves into a state of mind that we where able to forget about the cameras and "Eoghan" who had been invited as an audience to see how the piece would work live. Time was forgotten and nonsensical communication adopted.
"Paint Brush Head man had referenced the three buckets used in room that I had been developing "The Driller". I decide that I could allow the costume for the next piece, to be created by the "Paint Brush Head man" and be used in "The Drill".
After "Fish Tank" I moved on to a new Idea of "The Driller". However I began to question what the costume for this piece would be. I could not figure out what I wanted to portray to the viewer though what the person in the film was dressed in. It came back to the idea that each object, prop and costume took on a meaning through what it was connected to and surrounded by and also the activity that as taking place.
Danny had approached me with a new concept. His I idea was to use me as a paintbrush and he would be a painter. We discussed about the idea of nonsense an absurdity. The Dadaists said " It's not Dada that is non-sense but the essence of our age that is nonsense". So approaching this theme we began to build up a space. Buying materials, paint and costumes together we gathered the essence of how this performance would be created, however we left most of it to the unknown. There was a start where by I would be upside down but there was nothing from then on. The costumes and props began to form relation ships with what I had been working with. The colors where blue, white, black and all of those mixed together. Danny wore quite a feminine outfit with the colors green and red. I was wearing a very masculine outfit of a vest and track bottoms and a pair of Boots from the foundry. These costume started to contrast the activity and create dominant roles in what normally would be the opposite.
We had placed plastic sheets on the floor and had painted several white boards to represent canvases. Unable to see I was only able to see I was restricted to the edge of the boards. I thought afterward that this is quite representative of the traditional notion and constant argument revolutionized by "Jackson Pollock� of "The Edge". The idea that a painter is restricted to the edge a canvas.
During the piece we both agreed that we got our selves into a state of mind that we where able to forget about the cameras and "Eoghan" who had been invited as an audience to see how the piece would work live. Time was forgotten and nonsensical communication adopted.
"Paint Brush Head man had referenced the three buckets used in room that I had been developing "The Driller". I decide that I could allow the costume for the next piece, to be created by the "Paint Brush Head man" and be used in "The Drill".
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