Assignment 3 : Due 10/15

1. Write detailed instructions of an original performance idea as considered towards engaging a live audience (you can still perform it alone in studio but it must be easily transferrable to an audience setting) as well as a performative audience (or audience engaging recorded visuals or relic).

Here are some examples (do not perform these):

CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI
Untitled
-- --

[1] GET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S PHOTO ALBUM [2] GIVE THE NEIGHBOR YOURS IN EXCHANGE [3] ENLARGE ALL THE PICTURES TO 8 X 10 [4] FRAME THEM IN SOME SIMPLE FASHION AND HANG THEM ON THE WALLS OF YOUR APARTMENT [5] YOUR NEIGHBOR SHOULD DO THE SAME WITH YOUR ALBUM

YOKO ONO
Wish Piece
--

y.o. '96 Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper. Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree. Ask your friends to do the same. Keep wishing Until the branches are covered with wishes.

JOHN BALDESSARI [ B-001A ]
How To Kill A Bug
-

Equipment: 2 wooden planks, 1" x 4" x 18," labeled A and B. 1. Place bug on end of wooden plank A. 2. Strike area where bug is located on plank A with plank B. 3. Remove remains of bug from both planks and repeat with successive bugs as necessary

LIAM GILLICK
Untitled
--

Using a pipe and a cable detector locate all the cables and metalwork hidden below the surface of chosen wall. Loosely mark their location using a light blue pencil. |

FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES [ G-003B ]
Untitled

"Untitled" Get 180 lbs. of a local wrapped candy and drop in a corner.

ULRIKE GROSSARTH [G-008A]
Exercises

Bring closets, tables, stools, chairs, sofas, shelves, other stands into an empty room set down lean, shove under, force in, tilt pile up, make fit stack up to closet height up into the door frames close doors. open doors enter into the mass of material climb, sag in, slip farther, remain lying weight, pressure, counter-pressure in the stillness of the persevering materials lean, give way, fit in disappear rest.|

SIMRYN GILL [ G-013A ]
Somewhere Between
-- -

Approach a stranger who you perceive to be somehow different to yourself. The difference between yourself and this person could be of any nature, for instance - age, class, lifestyle, politics, skin color, religion etc etc. However, the category or categories of difference that you chose, should be one(s) that deeply inform your own life. Ask someone to take a photograph of yourself with this person. Send in the photo stating the date and the place.

SHERE HITE [ H-004A ]
Untitled
--

Embrace an important friend in a full-length hug for 31 minutes. Contact should be frontal, body to body, full length, with legs, chests, pelvises and heads touching. Speak a maximum of twenty words each to each other. Do not proceed to other activities or to "sex." The room should be silent, without music. Alternately, videotape your embrace. There should not be a third party present videotaping; the camera should be set on a tripod with no operator. After, write your sensations on a large paper or blackboard. Read them out loud.

2. Perform

The following video is a student example of a performance. This documentation is weak and absolutely not a visually engaging performative event on its on. Please do not turn in the video or photography section of step 3 of the assignment with this type of aesthetic.



3. Creatively document/portray the emotional and visual essence of the performance through video, still images, sound, or a combination of media in such a way that the documentation becomes its own performative piece or artwork (visually engaging).

Challenge yourself with this portion of the assignment. Possibilities: Make an experimental short film of the performance. Shoot 8mm or 16 mm film. Record the sounds of the performance with a high quality mic from the position of the audience and/ or the performer. Use a camera as part of the performance. Shoot the event through a pinhole. Shoot the event with a large format camera.

The main idea is to reveal the nature of the performance and what occurred in a specific time and space (document- where, when, why, and how) but to also interpret and edit this documentation in such a way as to recharge the exhibition space (classroom) with a powerful new experience that acts as a performative event . This is not an easy task and may require you to have a friend document the event. The documentation is in effect a new piece of artwork that the class will critique.

Media Requirements for this step:

Photos only: 3 prints minimum size 11x14
Video Only: minimum 2 minutes
Sound Only: minimum 2 minutes
Mixed Media: Please discuss with instructor.


Burden


Marclay's Guitar Drag is a great example of mixing the document and the performative.


Marclay




Rist



Rist


If you combine the aesthetic quality of the two following photos you will be on the right track.



Sandy Skoglund Photograph



Sandy Skoglund Documentation of Performance



Rist



Rist


Up to and Including Her Limits 1973-76
Carolee Schneeman




Ana Mendieta

4. Collect Relics of the event with the intention of exhibiting them.

" Another way of becoming a trace is the idea of relic. Some artists use their performance material like relics. The "left overs" are shown like pieces of art themselves and they should be loaded with a kind of energy that came from the actions that were made with them (like the shattered glass that Chris Burden crawled through in his performance "Through the night softly" in 1973. It was exhibited more then once in different museums.). "


Rebecca Horn

Rebecca Horn


Up to and Including Her Limits Installation
Carolee Schneeman

4. Formally present instructions, documentation, and relic to class for critique as separate but related artworks

Quiz Next Monday 10/1

There will be an in class quiz on the content of this blog next monday. The quiz will consist of identifying images and videos to particular artists. I will project images and video and you will have to match them to a list of artists names. The quiz will cover all of the content posted on this blog up until and including the night before the quiz. If you have been reading, it should be a breeze.

Assignment 3: Due October 2

Part 1: The Question

The first challenge of this assignment is to formulate a question that will be presented to the class. The question must be political in nature. Yes, I said political in nature. This definition may help:

I. involving or characteristic of politics or parties or politicians; "calling a meeting is a political act in itself"- Daniel Goleman; "political pressure"; "a political machine"; "political office"; "political policy"

II. of or relating to your views about social relationships involving authority or power; "political opinions"

III. of or relating to the profession of governing; "political career"



In order to help you develop a question, your question can be situated/contextualized within one of the themes artists often explore (this list is generated from the PBS Art 21 series).

Examine the politics of these themes.

place - question commonly held assumptions about land, home, and national identity

spirituality - question commonly held assumptions about faith, belief, meditation, and religious symbols

identity - question commonly held assumptions about stereotypes, self-awareness, portaiture, and what it means to be an artist

consumption - question commonly held assumptions about commerce, mass media, and consumer society

loss & desire - question issues such as war and peace; the loss of community and the desire for connection; and the age-old human longing for perfection

power - challenge authority, oppression, and control

memory - topics such as the veracity of history, the nature of interpretation, subjective versus objective truth, and the ways in which objects and images from the past embody cultural memory

romance - the role of emotion, regret, fantasy and nostalgia

protest - work to picture war, express outrage, and empathize with the suffering of others

ecology - pose questions about the relationships between nature and culture

paradox - address and respond to contradiction, conflict and ambiguity, and examine the relationship between mystery and meaning in art

Please be prepared to state your questions. Consider your question as an artwork in of itself. What question can you devise that will truly engage an audience?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Part 2: The Body as Material

Your artwork must be directed towards posing the question to the audience or attempting to answer it -- provide a solution. The only catch is that you must use the human body as an integral element of the piece. This is open to your interpretation but consider the fact you will be challenged to express how your work uses the body as material to uniquely pose your question.

This work can manifest itself as a photograph (single image or series), a video, an audio piece, a live performance that is documented in class, or a combination of these things.

Please use some of the blog entries as motivators but also feel free to formulate your own interpretation of how to use the body as material. Do not perform any action that could cause you or others severe physical harm.

________________________________________________________________

Helpful Postmodern Techniques of Questioning

I thought these postmodern techniques, terms, genres and ideas may help some of you generate a piece.


Alterity

* Alterity is a philosophical principle of exchanging one's own perspective for that of the "other".

* A lack of personal identity.



Aporia

* An aporia is a philosophical puzzle, paradox, or impasse often used in conjunction with 'deconstruction'.

* A state of wonder and awe due to contemplating the mysteries of life and the universe.



Bricolage

* Bricolage is a processes by which traditional objects or language are given a new, often subversive, meaning and context.

* Art technique where works are constructed from various available materials ("found items" or mass-produced "junk").



Catharsis

* A form of emotional cleansing, first described by Aristotle, which occurs simply from the passive act of viewing a tragedy.

* A postmodern analogy is that the media's focus on violence is the method by which society cleanses its collective psyche.



Commodification

* Term used in Marxist economics when economic value is assigned to something not traditionally considered a commodity.

* Examples of commodification include: ideas, culture, identity, and even the human body.



Constructivism

* Term attributed to Jean Piaget, who described how knowledge is assimilated and internalized during the process of learning.

* Postmods contend that the process of matching internal models to the real world is inherently colored by the bias of the observer.



Cybernetics

* Cybernetics is a process by which a biological organism enhances its abilities by the integration of technology.

* So called "cyborgs" are a common feature of science fiction (Popular examples include: Robocop and the Borg).

* In postmodernism, much philosophical weight is given to this merging (and interdependence) of man and technology.

* Many consider there to be similar impact due to reliance on everyday items like glasses or hearing aids.




Dadaism

* Dadaism was a cultural movement which attempted to reject and destroy the prevailing standards in art through anti-art.

* It was a reaction to the horrors of World War I, which its followers believed was due to the reason and logic of the modernists.

* Dada strove to have no meaning and its works are often described as random or without organization.

* Ironically, Dada became an influential movement in modern art (examples include Duchamp's "readymades" found objects)



Deconstruction

* Deconstruction is a term coined by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida for a process of critiquing literature and language.

* It analyzes the built in bias of language and questions its ability to represent reality.

* Critics see deconstruction as oversimplified and "sloppy" intellectual approach to attacking modernism.



Dystopia

* Dystopias are societies usually characterized by decay and/or oppressive governments.

* Relevant authors include Kurt Vonnegut and William Gibson



Flattening of Affect

* Flattening of affect is a scientific term describing a person's detachment and lack of emotional reactivity.

* Used in the postmodern literature to describe technology's dehumanizing impact.

* A key example is the move 2001, where the main characters lose their humanity whereas the computer HAL gains "his".



Hyperreality

* Hyperreality is a symptom of postmodern culture where a person loses their ability to distinguish reality from fantasy.

* The hyperreal world is often thought of as an idealized enhancement of reality, much preferable to the real life equivalent.

* Present day examples could include reality television, pornagraphy, or multi-player online games.



Kitsch

* Kitsch was originally a German term used to categorize art that is considered an inferior copy of an existing style.

* Art (often commercially mass-produced) that is done in bad taste or tries to be overly campy or sentimental.

* From Baudrillard: "one of that great army of 'trashy' objects, made of plaster of Paris or some such imitation material".



Modernism

* Modernism is associated with the period of the mid 20th century.

* It is associated with constant change in the pursuit of progress, achievable through rationality and logic.

* In contrast, Postmodernism takes a less optimistic view where constant change becomes the status quo and progress obsolete.



Panopticon

* Panopticon is derived from the Greek opticon (see) and pan (all).

* A type of prison designed to allow the guards to observe all prisoners without their knowledge.

* The goal is to convey a feeling of "invisible omniscience" over the minds of the prisoners.

* The panopticon is a symbol in many dystopian novels, most notably George Orwell's 1984


Pastiche

* Pastiche is a tongue-in-cheek imitation or tribute used in literature, art, music, movies, etc.

* Performed with respect to, or in homage to, other works (as opposed to parody which is done in ridicule or sarcasm).

* A popular example is the cartoon The Simpsons, known for its pop culture references and recycled plots.



Punctuated Equilibrium

* A theory in evolutionary biology by which otherwise slow evolutionary change happens during sporadic periods of great change.

* Postmodernism analogy of technological or cultural change, often used in conjunction with "tipping point" or "singularity".



Simulacra

* A simulacra is a copy of a copy, so far removed from its original, that it can stand on its own and even replace the original.

* Term defined by Jean Baudrillard in "The Precession of Simulacra" from Simulacra and Simulation
"It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.... substituting the signs of the real for the real".
Examples included Disneyland, psychosomatic illness, and the Watergate scandal.

* Another example is the cartoon Betty Boop, who has now become an icon for the long forgotten actresses she was based on.


Semiotics

* Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, and how meaning is constructed and understood.

* Linguist Ferdinand de Saussure proposed the deferentiation between the spoken word (signifier) and mental concept (signified).

Next Assignment / Next Week

Hello All,

I want to clarify your assignment for next week. The goal is not to exactly replicate your work but to use it as a a conceptual and performative springboard for the next piece you present to class.

Ask yourself the following questions and improve upon what you present to the class. What aspects of either of your pieces were successes and/or failures...why? What themes did your work explore--- can you push these themes farther? What political or cultural questions or answers did your work explore? What emotion defines the work? What reactions do you want the audience to have after viewing the piece? How does your work rate in the following categories: Technical Proficiency , Visual/ Formal Control, Conceptual Content, and Entertainment Value. were you in control of all of these categories. Can you use new media, materials, or actions to push the concept further?

Consider the emotional, conceptual, and visual intensity of your work for next class. This is a challenge to spend one week creating your best work to present in a performance class that considers critique the equivalent of audience connection and performer control.

Some other things to consider:

Ask or answer a question with the work -- expect nothing less than an engaged audience after showing. Remember all work is political. Be in control of as many creative and technical aspects of the work as possible. Define a successful audience response. Have purpose and intention. Do not be afraid to fail -- the strongest pieces risk the most and expose the artist. Create work that you are eager to show.

Next week we will be rating the work and discussing what presented to the class (audience) is most successful and why.In most classes it does not truly matter what classmates think or how they respond --- in this class it is everything.

See you next week. Please put in the work --- I have high expectations. No excuses -- If you need help, email me or stop by my office.

Paul

Self Portrait Assignments-Due 9/10

We do not have class next Monday. Here is a summary of the assignments I gave at the end of class. Pay attention to the details and make the best work you can. You have 11 days --


Self Portrait Assignment 1

Select a mainstream media video or image from the internet and attempt to duplicate it using yourself as a stand in for one or more of the main subjects. To the best of your creative ability attempt to duplicate all the aesthetic / stylistic qualities of the original video/ image ( e.g. pixelated, B/W, environment/background , costumes, gestures, camera angle, objects etc.). You will present the original video/image in class along with your new work.

Consider the social, political, and performative implications of the image you choose carefully. Choose an image that enables you to reveal or highlight something unique about your identity or allows your introduction into the work to charge the audience with new questions that possibly subvert the original work or completely transform its meaning.

Present to class a web quality image or video on a jump drive to be transferred to instructor's mac laptop . Also submit to instructor another higher quality version on CD (print / projection quality) .

Self Portrait Assignment 2

Create an image/video entitled "Self Portrait After Ten Minutes". You have full creative license. The only stipulation is that the image/ video has an obvious performative value or resonance. You are attempting to engage your audience by making them consciously aware of the visual repetition of a preceding act or acts.

Consider this idea when you create this work:

"The most provocative performances for the camera are those that engage the spectator on a conceptual level to participate either physically or psychologically in the action. On these occasions, the communicative exchange at the heart of all performance is set in motion, and the social implications of the performance are understood."
Diana Nemiroff

Present to class a web quality image or video on a jump drive to be transferred to instructor's mac laptop . Also submit to instructor another higher quality version on CD (print / projection quality) .


Self Portrait Assignment 3 --- please see assignment correction in last sentence

From the perspective of the self as photographer/filmmaker, write a detailed description of the moment of creating a fictional self portrait video/image (end this description with the word "Click" symbolic shutter.

Write an additional detailed description of the resulting self portrait video/image that was created by the "click".

You will be performing (reading or reciting) this self portrait in class. You have free reign to use any props, costume, or A/V effects that you deem necessary. Challenge yourself to engage the class as an audience. Focus on affecting the audience emotionally. Remember this does "not" have to be an actual photo/video you have made or possibly will ever make