BUTTONS

Skater’s Waltz

Growing up, my older brother loved to skateboard which also brought me into the interest of skateboarding. I remember having and collecting all these skateboard magazines and just flipping the pages looking at how interesting the body changes its form while skateboarding whether it is for balance or just muscle memory. I’ve always looked at these photos as if they were of contemporary dancers. This is why I removed the skateboards from each photo and chose only photos that fit enough of these unique positions while cutting out the boards. I knew as soon as this project was given that I wanted to incorporate these magazines that I’ve had since high school. The layout of these buttons reminds me of frames in an animation and I think if I wanted to continue this project I could find many more of these interesting positions and put them together into almost a stop motion type video. I also chose to use photographs with simple backgrounds or backgrounds that contrast enough to show the figure. I had seen many silly unique positions within each magazine but many had very busy backgrounds with a variety of colours and patterns. I wanted it to be obvious and clear that the figures of these skaters are the focal point and I wanted to make sure the figures didn’t just blend into their backgrounds.

CONCEPTUAL PORTRAIT

Unapproved Self Portrait

I definitely struggled a ton with this project because I couldn’t figure out an idea that I was really passionate about. I finally landed on the idea of tattoos. My parents are both Christian and Asian, so growing up, they have always been culturally and religiously strict about topics like tattoos, piercings, even make-up. This “Unapproved” self portrait of mine is sort of a rebellious self portrait. This is how I think I would be like if my parents weren’t so strict about tattoos, obviously a little exaggerated. Tattoos have also always been of great interest to me. I remember in elementary and high school, I would always get bored in class and draw on myself with pen or marker. Coming home to my parents, they often became angry with me and told me to wash it all off immediately. This was definitely the first sign that if I were to ever become a tattoo artist, they would be extremely against it. In another life, another universe, I think I would definitely pursue the career of a tattoo artist, but probably not in this one. I drew the two crosses on my face to symbolize this surface “Christian” personality that is usually seen from my parents’ perspective, without the giant face tattoos of course. From afar, the poster definitely looks a little intimidating and scary, but up close you can see that some of the tattoos are just silly little doodles. I wanted to incorporate these edgier tattoo designs with the more goofy designs because the edgy ones would definitely make my parents angry, but if I had permanently tattooed the sillier ones on my body with no meaning whatsoever behind them, they would be fuming. There are also a lot of little hints to religion and Christianity such as the way my body is positioned very vulnerable almost like a crucifixion and seems to be almost like levitating, as well as the small crosses scattered around my body. I also intentionally kept my hands vacant of tattoos to symbolize clean hands because part of why my parents hate tattoos so much is because of the stereotypes of the people who usually have lots of tattoos being that they are dangerous, promiscuous, and criminals. I wanted my clean hands to show that I could have millions of tattoos and still be a kind, caring, and gentle person. I used eyeliner for the tattoos on my body, not only because it was definitely easier and safer than using Sharpie or other kinds of markers, but it also brings another element of myself into the portrait. As I mentioned before, my parents were pretty strict about make-up growing up, eyeliner included. High school was when most of the girls around me started wearing and experimenting with make-up. The only make-up I tried in high school was eyeliner and my parents were very unapproving of the idea. But I kept pushing it and eventually they gave up and got used to it. Now, eyeliner is the only makeup I wear and to me it symbolizes approval and confidence in this portrait. I decided not to put the eyeliner on my eyelids normally because I wanted the tattoos to sort of be “replacing” it. What’s the difference between some black lines on my eyelids and some black lines all over my body?

AUDIO ART

Typing Game

For this project, I created a piece of audio art of the sounds of my keyboard when I am playing a video game. Without the knowledge that I am playing a video game during this recording, the audience can interpret this in many different ways. Perhaps, a dramatic email that is being written in this audio, or an intense homework session with only a couple hours left to submit. I have always been fond of the customizability of mechanical keyboards and how everyone who builds their own or even just buys a pre-built keyboard has a different kind of keyboard that sounds different and is used for different things. Personally, I use my keyboard mostly for schoolwork and playing video games like in the audio. I spend a lot of my time at my desk using this keyboard and it is definitely a subconsciously significant element of my every day life. Without a keyboard, I wouldn’t be able to type these words you see here. I wouldn’t be able to play my favourite video games or even communicate through emails or messages on my computer. My computer would be rendered useless and the only thing I would be able to do is click with a mouse. I titled the piece Typing Game because it is pretty self explanatory but doesn’t give away too much about the audio and what I am doing. From the name, it could be assumed that I am actually playing some kind of game about typing, like a typing race, but the pattern in the clicks of the keyboard definitely don’t match that kind of typing pattern. I think it’s interesting how this simple audio can be interpreted and I really wanted to incorporate my love for video games and keyboards into this project.

ONE FEAT, THREE WAYS

BAGS – Kat, Trinity, Tuesday

I worked with Tuesday Troup and Trinity Bishop to create these three video art performances. The bag is an everyday item that everyone uses to store items, carry items, transport items, etc. With such a simple prompt as our base, we were able to come up with creative ideas for each of the three videos. “Where’s My Bag” is our one shot video in which the performer (Trinity) unpacks bags that are packed with more bags, similar to a nesting doll. We were able to successfully pack exactly 30 bags to prepare for the performance. We decided to also use a variety of different kind of bags such as tote bags, grocery bags, purses, duffel bags, and even a small suitcase. At the beginning of the video, Trinity walks into the frame with the first bag that holds the 29 other bags. At the end of the video, she walks out of frame with the very last and tiniest bag. This sort of plays into the title of the video “Where’s My Bag” as if the performer had gone through the struggle and frustration of unpacking all these bags in order to find the final tiny bag. For our second video piece, we created a fast-paced edited sequence of using the performer’s (Trinity) body like a hanging rack. With each clip, a new bag is placed on her arms and even one on her head. The pace of the video shows the simple progress as her arms become more and more full with bags. We also only used grocery bags which provided a more unified and simple appearance rather than using a variety of bags like we did in our one-shot video. Our third video is the loop video in which all three of us (Trinity, Tuesday, Kat) are performing. We each take turns dumping out and repacking a back. We used various everyday items that you would find in someone’s bag such as a phone charger, coins, pens, etc. The struggle of repacking the items also made the video more interesting, especially with the smaller and flatter items like stickers and coins. In order the make a flawless loop, we had each person walk into the frame when dumping the bag and leaving the bag on the table as they walked away. Then, the next person would walk into the frame from the same direction and repack the bag and take the bag with them as they walked away.

---

---

---

PIPILOTTI RIST

1. Post an image from one of Rist’s videos that you are most interested in.

As one of Pipilotti Rist’s first large scale video artworks, Ever is Over All (1997) presents a happy, carefree, and beautiful woman (Pipilotti Rist) causing continuous damage to vehicles with a flower staff. This video’s use of music and editing make the content of the video more unsettling. For me, the music provides a very natural but eerie environment that contradicts the beauty and elegance insinuated through the flower staff and the flowy feminine dress. This particular screenshot above is from about a minute and a half into the video in which she is smashes the second car while a policewoman is behind her. I especially loved after this frame where it shows them both smiling and walking forward as the policewoman waves at her. Everything about this video feels very unsettling and almost frightening while also showing some empowering themes as well. The exposure and the colours in the video really help add to this unsettling feeling and almost make it seem like a slightly surreal imagination.

1. Rist has had a long career in video art making – how do you relate it to the kinds of video that you might see all the time on Tik Tok or You Tube, in our time?

The video art that Rist makes often has many of the same feminine themes as we see on social media like Tik Tok and YouTube. Her video art uses a very playful approach on topics about women such as the female body, sexuality, behaviour, and exposure. Videos posted on social media about these same topics are often also done so in this playful way while also challenging these ideas. Be Nice To Me (Flatten 04) is a perfect example of the way playfulness is used to challenge the idea of beauty by smashing her face against a clear screen over and over again, ruining her makeup and creating a variety of altered faces that would not fall into our societal standard of beauty. I often see Tik Tok videos of women, in their own way, using makeup or different techniques like this to challenge these societal standards of beauty for women. After making this comparison, I am realizing that social media is a perfect platform for video art.

1. Inside out experiment:

This experiment definitely put me outside of my comfort zone. I am personally the kind of person that always tries to dress presentable in public in a way that doesn’t make me stand out. Wearing my shirt inside out was a difficult thing for me to do, despite it being such a small change. It did not change the way I was treated by my peers on campus, despite a couple questions as to why I was wearing my shirt inside out. I think everyone around me had other things to worry about. However, being on the bus and going to get groceries was a different story. I noticed a lot more looks coming my way. This experiment completely changed the way I felt. I didn’t feel as confident as I usually do. Even on campus when barely anyone noticed my inside out shirt, I still felt uncomfortable and insecure. I think it was the fact that I knew I was wearing a shirt inside out that really got to my head. Being perceived by other people is something I definitely think about and even more so when I knew that I was wearing something incorrectly or differently. The deliberate intentions and consciousness of this experiment is why I think this was a performance. It may not have been a performance for those who did not notice, but it was a performance for me because I knew everything and was consciously thinking about how this experiment looked to others.

---

MY 1 KILOMETRE

“Block of Kilometre”

When I heard the instructions for this intro assignment, I instantly knew I wanted to incorporate my passion for video games using the popular game called Minecraft. As soon as the word “kilometre” was mentioned, I thought of this video game specifically because each block in this game is actually equal to 1 meter cubed. At first, I wanted to just create a line of one thousand blocks to display a true kilometre. However, my ability to capture this kilometre was greatly limited. I thought of building a rollercoaster in the game that is 1000 blocks long, but I didn’t want to overcomplicate my kilometre.

I ended up dividing the 1000 blocks into 20 lines of 50 blocks, adding up to a total of 1000 blocks; a kilometre. The background is a flat surface of grass blocks, and the glowing effect from the kilometre of blocks is done using sea lantern blocks. I used the grass blocks as the background because I still wanted to keep the most basic and well-known aspect of the video game. I used the sea lantern blocks as opposed to other glowing blocks like redstone lamp blocks or glowstone blocks because these blocks are much more detailed and the sea lantern blocks are very simply white with an outline. This outline also makes it easier to see each meter of the 1000 meters (1 kilometre) which I find much more intriguing than if it were all white and there was no differentiation between blocks/meters. I hovered above the in game installation to take a photo of my “Block of Kilometre.” I named it this because I really liked that, from a distance, the contrast between the lighter blocks and the dark background made the kilometre (light blocks) look like a huge block all together, despite not being a perfect square.

---

THE ARTIST IS PRESENT

1.

While watching this documentary, I quickly found myself in awe of Marina Abramovic and her performance works. The courage, stamina, and strength required to even attempt most of these performance pieces are beyond my imagination and I truly admire how she was able to present herself as such vulnerable body in front of her audience and the absolute commitment and determination that she has. For example, the performance piece by the name of Lips of Thomas involved Abramovic whipping herself and cutting a communist star into her stomach. The extreme lengths that Abramovic goes to in order to complete her performance clearly shows her commitment and determination. The theme of nudity also displays how she is often making herself so vulnerable to the audience. I can definitely understand how the nudity that is an essential aspect to many of these performance works might be viewed as problematic to the public eye, as shown in the documentary when the news anchor complains about how the nudity in the exhibit can be considered art. To the naked eye (pun intended), nudity is seen as a negative thing and only a sexual theme. However, in the world of art and in Abramovic’s performances and exhibition, I find that nudity is a means of expressing emotion or the lack of and vulnerability.

---

2.

Even as an artist who is not too compelled to create her own performance art, the quote “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup” from Abramovic will stick with me forever. Abramovic’s work as guided me to realize that performance art is not exclusively about the act of performing and watching. Just the raw aspect of reality that is involved in Abramovic’s performances such as Lips of Thomas is what makes performance art so much more than that. Although performance art and acting have many similarities and seem inherently identical, Abramovic’s quote is such a perfect way to describe the difference between the two. The image above is from the work The Lovers performed by Abramovic and Ulay. This is a great example of the raw reality of performance art as opposed to acting. If this were to be in a movie, the actors would only be walking small segments of the Great Wall of China to get the right scenes. However, in this performance work, they two partners both walked nonstop from each end of the wall to meet in the middle. The incredible commitment it takes to push their own bodies in order to make the performance piece more powerful is unbelievable. Some other key features of performance art that are evident in Abramovic’s work are the body and the relationship between artist and audience. The element of the body is very prominent in essentially all of Abramovic’s performance works, but the relationship between artist and audience is best found in The Artist Is Present as the documentary shows numerous clips of different audience members sitting in the chair across from her. The variety of reactions and emotions that are displayed on the audience members faces as well as Abramovic’s are clear proof that the relationship between the artist/performer and the audience is incredibly significant in performance art.

---

3.

I think performance art definitely contradicts the idea of museums because of the way that traditional art has always been displayed in museums and art convections. Being a performer for so many hours in a day everyday for months is 100% something I could never imagine doing. Since the body is such an important key feature, I would assume that finding people who are willing to be so vulnerable and put their bodies on display while also sometimes doing repetitive tasks for hours on end would be very difficult and likely exhausting. Because of this, it makes a lot of sense that Abramovic required her performers to go through training to prepare and I think the way Abramovic approached this exhibition in MOMA was very well thought out. There also seemed to be many video recordings and photos of Abramovic’s older work displayed on the walls in the exhibition but I think this method of combatting the challenges that performance art may have in museums is not very effective. It undermines the experience for both the audience and the performer because they are just records of previous performances.

---

Conceptual Portrait

My Grandfather’s diet:

For my conceptual portrait, I wanted to catalogue through photograph what my Grandpa would eat in a day as remembered by myself and with the help of my Dad. My Grandfather died almost 15 year ago, but I can still vividly remember his favourite foods and the deliberate, methodical and eccentric way he chose to eat. This list of food includes:

• bran cereal (no raisins) add raisins and line them up in the shape of a cross
• Dad’s oatmeal cookies and clear tea (no milk no sugar)
• Dimpflmeier’s bread, with a layer of butter on it, like icing on a cake, sliced cucumbers on top, layered with salt and pepper.
• cheese cut in slice, licked and covered with salt
• pickles (no garlic)
• 3 hot dogs (no name brand) salted + green cabbage salad with lots of mayo, salt and pepper
• PC diet cola – decaffeinated – gold can

Audio Art:

Slatko

For this audio piece I interviewed by mother in law about one of her favourite foods Slatko, a type of preserved cherry with walnuts that is popular in Serbia. My mother in law lost both her parents when she was a teenager and then immigrated to Canada in the early 90’s just before the Serbian Bosnian war. Because of this, some of her favourite recipes have been forgotten due to her displacement. Some of her favourite recipes are just estimations of what she remembers from her childhood. I wanted to capture her perpetual busyness so I recorded her in the kitchen while she talks to us about Slatko.

Cake 1. One take. We went with a very clinical look for our videos. A plain white background and plain clothing. Handmade and juvenile in construction we wanted the cake to be the main focus of our videos. The first video had me sitting crosslegged with a napkin tucked into my shirt. We wanted our one take video to have me eating the cake in an over the top, polite manner. We were inspired by the TikTok phenomenon of “intuitive eating” that is often targeting woman and gives advice on eating strategies. A particular one that circulated recently was advising viewers to always put ones utensils down until you swallow a bite, to slow your eating. We wanted our first take of eating cake to be hyper controlled.

Cake 2. Our loop video. We wanted a continuing loop of us eating cake in a very raw and animalistic way. Food can be such a complicated thing. And I am endlessly curious about peoples (especially woman ‘s relationship to food.) Food can be joyous, and fun but it can also be incredibly stressful and triggering. As someone who has struggled with a pretty gnarly ED in the past, it was difficult for me to mentally prepare for this video. It felt really important for me to fully commit and give in to eating this cake with abandon, shovelling as much cake into my mouth as I could. I am really proud of the result.

Cake 3. Our edited video. This video is my favourite! We wanted Ava to have a very intense and deadpan look on their face. I think the build up in this video is very strong. As they stare straight forward into the camera, they deliberately pull each candle out of the cake. (we slowed this portion down for extra effect) Next they smash their face into the cake with total commitment. When they bring their face back up their glasses remain in the cake and their face is covered except for their eyes. In our first take they laugh as they came up to stare into the camera so we edited that section out. I think it’s super powerful and creepy the way they remain expressionless even as they lick some icing off their face.

Post an image from one of Rist’s videos that you are most interested in. Summarize the action of the video. Who is performing, and how? Describe the images – including framing, colours, and movement. How did she shoot and edit the video? Describe the sound and how it interacts/enhances/competes with the images. How is it installed in a gallery – in terms of projection/scale/presentation in a context of other things? How does the work strike you?

This image from one of Rist’s work is from “Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) which was a video-in-round immersion that was exhibited at the MoMA. Rist invited audience members to relax and stretch out on a circular cushion while being confronted with huge images of up close feminine bodies. Her images are bright, opting to give pale skin a more abnormal hue over muting the colours elsewhere in her visuals. The body in this image is filmed so up close that it appears as if we are only millimeters away from her skin. This effect is created by a technique that Rist uses in which she attaches a video camera to a handheld broom. This creates a sense that we (the viewer) are at the same level as the woman moving through the grass. The music is created by Anders Guggisberg and emanates from a sculptural seating element inspired by the shape of the human eye, creating a multisensory, multimedia immersive experience. This work strikes me as a deeply intimate experience, making the viewer uncomfortable in its proximity to the subjects.

Rist has had a long career in video art making – how do you relate it to the kinds of video that you might see all the time on Tik Tok or You Tube, in our time? Reflect on her performances and also – on her ideas (particularly about women’s bodies, and sexuality, exposure, behaving strangely or subversively…) and how they play out from examples in her works.

Rists video art making has a lot of parallels to the type of videos one might see on Tik Tok or You tube today, the videos are subversive without being too confrontational, they are playful and humorous while still asking the viewer to examine ideas about women’s bodies, sexuality and exposure. Ever Is Over All is a video I feel that I might see scrolling through Tik Tok or Youtube today even though it was a video that was shot almost 30 years ago. The feminine protagonist in a sky blue dress, walking down the street smiling, while smashing car windows with a bat that appears in the shape of a red hot poker flower made me think of Beyonce in her 2016 music video “Hold Up” in which Beyonce gleefully smashes car windows with a baseball bat in a bright yellow dress. Ever Is Over All is colourful and inviting while also asking the viewer to reflect on femininity, women’s bodies, female rage and whiteness.

Experiment: While still at school – put on your sweater/shirt INSIDE OUT. How does this change how you feel? Is it changing how other’s are treating you? If you can wear your sweater/shirt inside out all day – make a few notes about the results of this very small change in your presentation in public. Is this a performance? Why?

I spent the day with my shirt swapped inside out and I honestly don’t think many people noticed, except my MIL. We went to run a few errands together and even though she is the sweetest and would never tell me what to do, I think it did make her a little uncomfortable. My MIL is from former Yugoslavia and when they immigrated to Canada in the 90’s I think they found it hard to culturally assimilate. My Partner has a story of their dad going to the beach in a speedo in the 90’s (a very common fit for Euro men) and feeling like everyone was staring at them. I think because of this my MIL would never do anything to draw attention to herself in public or intentionally “other” herself so I did feel bad for making her take part in my little social experiment. Personally, I felt a little uncomfortable with the experiment, but as a feminine appearing human and someone who has lived many years in openly queer relationships I am used to looks from people so feel I am pretty good at dodging or ignoring stares and strange looks. Because I was aware and making a choice to flip my shirt inside out (I have definitely walked around before oblivious to having my clothes inside out) I do think this was a performance of sorts, because it was intentional.

1 KM Project

One skein of the yarn I chose is 150 grams. This particular acrylic yarn yields 2km every 1gm. 4 skeins of yarn reaches 1 km. For my piece I dueted a video of myself (sped up) doing repetitive slip knots into 1km of yarn with an AI read excerpt from the article Is Tradwife Content Dangerous Or Just Stupid? By  Kathryn Jezer-Morton. I wanted this piece to exhibit a monotonous task, as I have been thinking a lot lately about invisible household tasks and the way labour is divided in a household. By juxtaposing the image of myself creating slipknot after slipknot with the article being read in the background aims to interrogate the viewers own relationship to domesticity and undesirable tasks. Doing dishes just to have them used again or washing laundry just to have it dirtied again are tasks that  feel similar to the labour of a 1km long repetitive slip knot line, a task that when finished, I undid and rerolled again.

What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works2. to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic?

Some of the first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance work based on the documentary is the way it seems to parallel the artists upbringing and young life. The documentary talks about how rigid and militaristic her upbringing was, with a mother who showed her little physical affection and wanted a child who was “not spoiled” going so far as to wake her up at night if she was not sleeping straight in bed. This childhood devoid of physical affection and full of discipline and schedules can be seen in the artists performance which requires extreme physical presence, strength and stamina. Unlike her lonely childhood however, Marina Abramovic’s work appears to be a love letter to her audience, creating a charismatic space in which the audience is her “lover”. The two images I chose to display are from her MOMA exhibit The Artist is Present. In the first image Marina sits across from an audience member, this performance I admire as it strips bare all of societies preoccupation, creating a shared experience between the artist and the audience, creating an energy work that asks her viewers to be in the present, to slow our brains down and just to be in shared space together. The second image is one in which two of her 30 chosen artists are performing one of her previous works in which they stand naked face to face as gallery attendees squeeze through the small space between their bodies. This is found to be potentially problematic as the movie spoke of the protocols and considerations that were created for Marina but did not speak of any similar protocols given to those 30 other artists. The documentary spoke about how security would promptly escort out anyone who Marina did not feel safe or comfortable being there with. If she raised her hand that meant that the person across from her would be asked to leave. As the documentary spoke of this I wondered if the other 30 artists were allowed this level of autonomy or control.

What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her precedents. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.”

Some of the essential features of Marina’s work are using the body as a medium, using violence, provocation and a creating a shared experience with her audience. Her work seeks to showcase the veneer of civilization and how we as humans are close to being bestial. The attached image is one of her early performances in which she flogs herself on stage. Marina has said that she is not a masochist but instead “I hate it,” she says of pain, “even if I’m cutting garlic and by accident cut my finger, I really don’t like (it). I don’t like anything painful. I love life. I’m not interested in dying. I’m staging these difficult situations in front of the public, using the energy of the public in order to figure out and get free from these fears.” I have learned through her art that performance can be used as a task, a way for an artist to work through their fears or desires. It was interesting in watching her film that she spoke of the distinction between performance and acting. Stating, ““When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.” Even though throughout the span of her career, she both acted and performed. I feel that her acting was giving into her desire for opulence and beauty, her performances on the other hand were to interrogate her fears.

Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?

Performance art asks audience participation in a way many museums and commercial art-world conventions typically do not. As one of the interviewees in the film discussed, typical, conventional artwork is usually viewed for a matter of seconds, people hovering around the Monet Lisa for example for around 30 seconds. Abramovic on the other hand, asks people to be involved in her pieces, asking them to sit with her for as long or as short as they feel. Further, her celebrity as an experimental performance artist means that her exhibits attract people to come stake out spots for hours or even overnight just to get a spot in her performance. Abramovic seeks to bring people into her art, for people to interact and participate as equals, as she stated in the film, she does not wish to be an idol. However, I do think that as her level of fame and wealth has risen this idea is compromised. Even though her wishes may not to be an idol, her performances are now rockstar-esque ( with 750,000 people attending her MOMA exhibit) and the audience are essentially her groupies.

#1 Super Friend Buttons

My buttons were inspired by the TikTok concept of “Roman Empire” (something that one thinks about daily) a video I saw had a woman saying that a woman’s Roman Empire is their best friend that they no longer speak to. I resonated with this idea and decided to create a button about friendship. As the loss of my best friend has been something I have ruminated and obsessed about for a long time. I wanted the buttons to say #1 Super Friend in different fonts. Appearing naïve and childlike while also being about a subject that I feel haunts many adults, the loss of a deep friendship and the yearning for another connection that feels as true.

Thursday:

Introductions

Syllabus

Tour of lab and equipment

Class blog – invites, demo post

Lecture: Intro to Conceptual Art

Intro to Conceptual Art and art forms we explore in Experimental Studio:

ASSIGNMENT: Make a KILOMETRE*

______________________________________________________________________

Bring in a KILOMETRE next week.

Document a kilometre. Walk it. Sculpt it. Talk it. Write it. Draw it. Video record it. Perform it. Get your mom to perform it. Conjure a kilometre in any media.

It could be a walk down the street, a path down an intestine, a line going up into the air, a kilometre’s worth of rocks. It can be a kilometre made of chewing gum. Made of telephone conversations. Made of complaints. Made of a walk with a cat. Made with light. It can be a distance between two points. It can be imagined, traced, documented, listed, performed, evidenced on the bottom of your shoe, rolled up into a ball.

Make sure to measure your kilometre in some way, and be prepared to discuss your process, and justify how it is precisely a kilometre. Consider your materials, and just how your specific kilometre gives us a new way to think about or experience this abstract concept of measurement.

You have up to 5 minutes next week to present your kilometre to the class.

Bring it, or show us documentation of it.

IT MUST BE PRECISELY A KILOMETRE – EXPLAIN HOW YOU KNOW IT IS ONE.

All kilometres are due for discussion on Thursday Sept. 14 next week.

Artist Multiple – Buttons

11/20/2023

My buttons were inspired by a popular meme which includes a picture of a small creature (typically a cat) or a character of some sort and the caption “this is me btw, if you even care.” (link to know your meme page). The pins I made have a similar caption with photos from NASA’s Webb Telescope image galleries. I have always been very fascinated with the universe and have been taking an astronomy course which has heightened that interest even further. I think that these buttons are humorous and capture the existential phenomenon of our existence in the universe. Not only are we all made of the same matter as the stars but we are living and breathing pieces of the universe experiencing itself. I think its fascinating. I hope to incorporate more of this eternal inexplicable feeling of wonder and unknowingness into my artwork.

Conceptual Portrait

11/20/2023

For my conceptual portrait I collected pieces and objects I find value in during my day to day life to put together a portrait of myself. The objects were collected since September 2022 to the present. I was inspired by the works in my research, as well as looked up afterwards the Time Capsule works of Andy Warhol, another artist who displayed simple, mundane objects in a way that is authentic to their practice. I believe I was able to do the same with this project. My portrait captures the act of mindfulness and seeing art everywhere and in everything. I think that finding objects beautiful, not only for what they physically are, but for what they represent and the many things we can do with them after they serve their purpose as wrappers, or receipts, or sketches, or debris, or nature, is something that allows for creativity to seep into all aspects of my life. Presenting these pieces in a curated collection shows what is important to me and how it creates a portrait of myself as a person, a lover of things, and an artist.

Conceptual Portrait Research/Proposal

11/07/2023

The video in our lecture about Sara Bermans Closet at the MET also made me think about object importance in peoples lives and how everybody sees importance in different things. The composition of the piece is something that is very interesting to me because colours and size and design are parts of art I think pull people in, and although meaning is profound and impactful there is so much thought that goes into the elements of design and the ways in which they are placed. This piece is also interesting because it is an installation and has been taken out of time; it is tidy and beautiful and makes you feel like everything in the world is just that. I think that art that makes you see beauty in little ordinary things is very special to me. Breakdown by Michael Landy, is a piece where he kept inventory of all his possessions and then destroyed them all in an installation. I think this was quite the self portrait, as well as a portrait of object permanence. He visualized his work in a large sketch of items he owned, and smaller sketches, along with a sketch of the machine that would later destroy all of his items. This piece shows that object permanence is superficial and that objects, like humans, are temporary in existence, and I think that finding the bittersweet balance between loving objects and letting them go is what I wanted to capture in my portrait.

Audio Art

11/02/2023

crying

untitled (cry) is my 1.04 minute audio piece that I wanted to be personal because I haven’t felt that way about any of my art pieces this year. I think sometimes its easier to understand something through visual or audio than with words. Music and audio is a big part of my life and I think its for the same reason art is; it allows for feelings to be present like a gift rather than words that are often not what we want them to be. I’ve always wanted people to articulate how they feel, but I know that it is a lot to expect from others, and a lot to expect from myself. I think in a world where we are surrounded by visual that is constantly changing our emotions, its important to be vulnerable for the important ones. Sometimes I wish I could wipe everybody’s tears and never expect it from others. I cry a lot for many reasons, which is a part of being human, and maybe experiencing it through art rather than a video online or a film kind of presents a narrative where you look at it from an artistic lens and maybe, feels more personal. I don’t think having a heavy heart is something that makes my life easier or harder. I think for me, being incredibly passionate about the world is cool and makes living in it so much cooler. I obviously am not looking to make people cry when they listen to this work (although I am not opposed to it). I want people to see themselves in this moment of weakness, or discomfort, and see it as something intimate and beautiful that I wanted to share with them.

​One Feat, Three Ways (video project)

10/11/2023

Performed by Sage Vermaak and Serena Gallo, edited by Samantha Winnick

“Tempting”: The One-Shot

“Tempting” is our one shot video of Sage’s dog, Cyprus, Sage, and Serena, as Sage and Serena share a carrot. The action is repeated back and forth as Cyprus’s gaze follows the carrot. The video worked well for our one shot because we didn’t know how Cyprus would act, as he had been running around the studio beforehand and had to be held down by Sage in hopes of him staying in place. The unpredictability of his actions is what made this video stand out to us, and hopefully stands out to the audience as they can see pieces of themselves in Cyprus being tempted by something he couldn’t have. Of course, if Sage wasn’t there to hold him, I’m sure the video would’ve gone differently, but for composition purposes it was nice to have him in one place to emphasise his longing for something he couldn’t have.

“Discipline”: The Sequence

In “Discipline”, Sage directs her dog, Cyprus, in doing various actions such as give paw and roll over. The actions are repeated through Sage instructing Serena to do them, as well as a stuffed animal dog in some clips. I think that this collection of clips as our sequence was humorous, entertaining, and thought provoking. Having a person do actions that would typically be performed by a dog allows for people to think about their place in other’s lives, as well as control and power. In the clips with the stuffed animal, the audience is encouraged to think of the significance of power, and maybe the gentle care of animals and instructional behaviour. These videos were the most difficult to record as Cyprus became more restless, however I was able to edit certain clips to make them cohesive. For example, when Cyprus is face to face with the stuffed animal, the original clip is about 10 seconds of Sage slowly backing off screen with a treat to encourage him to stay still. When I was editing the videos, we had to center many of them and align the horizon level to be straight which was interesting to learn to do, and I enjoyed selecting the videos that would appear in our final product out of the many we recorded.

“Lick”: The Loop

Our loop video, “Lick”, is a minute loop of Sage’s dog, Cyprus, licking her face recklessly while she sat as still as she could. We thought this clip would be perfect to loop as it fit seamlessly together and was equally as sweet and disgusting to watch. All three of us love dogs and loved working with Cyprus (although often difficult), however Serena and I were rightfully hesitant to being licked, but can understand that its an affectionate act for puppies to show their love. By presenting this video as a loop, we give the audience the opportunity to question our societies relationship with domestic animals and the boundaries we set with them. I think our loop also allowed myself and hopefully audiences to think about how people love other people, and how affection varies by person and by intimacy. It tests the difference between hugging and kissing, and how we might react to these different acts from people we love and people we simply know. I think that the more you watch our loop, the more you are pulled into your own cyclical appreciation and disgust of licking as an expression of a puppy’s love.

Pipilotti Rist: Worry Will Vanish

09/21/2023

The video of Worry Will Vanish as a whole isn’t available online but there are clips found on galleries websites and Youtube recorded by audience members. The piece made by Rist is made up of many videos including nature, hands, colours, and distorted visuals blended and layered onto of each other into one continuous video. The music from the clips I could find added a sort of whimsical peaceful feeling to the installation, it sounded like a digital piano and short notes, drawing you into the video as it played and making you feel connected with the nature in the clips. Upon the piece’s presentation, audience members were encouraged to take off their shoes and get under the covers to fully be immersed in the video/installation. The projection was large and filled 2 walls of the room, which I think allowed for people to be solely focused on the moment in time. I think that the way the video is composed and set up to be viewed speaks true to its title, Worry Will Vanish, because the audience is encouraged to be present and in a way is forced to be present by the stimulation of the images and the video and the way they are situated under blankets in a dark room. Its almost as if a dream is being simulated, the weird, almost hypnotic clips bringing a sense of curiosity and calmness.

Making a Kilometer

09/14/2023

For this project, I chose to represent a kilometer by using fruit (apples) as a medium and seeing how many I could eat on a kilometre walk. After discussing with the class its clear that the final result was more of a time piece rather than measurement. However, I sort of feel like time and distance are relative and that distance only really exists with the passing of time. The apples changed colour and I really liked how they looked by the end of my walk, especially showing the passing of a distance by time and the proof of human existence through that distance by the apples being eaten from. Overall, I can understand how this project prompt is very open ended and is meant to make you think of how there are different ways to illustrate abstract concepts.

Marina Abramovic

09/12/2023

1. What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic?

My first impression of Abramovic’s work was how subjective and unexpected her pieces are, however, fear is never the feeling intended to be evoked. The emotions evoked are so raw and powerful, in a much more different way that 2D artwork such as paintings or photographs have been able to manifest. In the documentary, they compare her nude body to nude portraits that have been painted throughout history, and how the object and subject hasn’t changed, but the medium has.

The work that stood out to me the most in the documentary was A Living Door of the Museum (1977, 2010), originally performed by Marina Abramovic and Ulay, and later performed by her students. It is a piece where tow lovers stand nude in a tight doorway in a museum, forcing people to walk through the intimate moment. I admire how personal it feels, to observe the performers, and to be a part of it. It feels intimate, yet so public, especially in the context of being in a public space. Its difficult to image how other mediums could portray this kind of raw, intimate human experience.

It is admirable how Abramovic is putting herself in these vulnerable positions, such as in Rhythm 0 (1974), to convey such strong messages. In this piece she puts herself completely at the audiences disposal, providing them with 72 objects, including knives and a gun. Many of her performances are judged by the public but more so the ones where her life is at risk; often the danger of life and death can distract from the meaning of the performance. Additionally, when Abramovic is completely nude in many of her pieces, people can find this incredibly controversial and fail to see the messages she is trying to get across with her artwork and rather see it merely as a public display of nudity.

2. What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her precedents. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.”

One of the key differences that the documentary points out is between acting and performing. In the quote by Abramovic, she is explaining that acting isn’t as real or raw, its more of an illusion. The art of performance is using your body as a medium rather than utilizing it to portray or make pretend of what are very real emotions and feelings. 

A quote from the documentary I think captures Abramovic’s art very well is, “What is art other than revealing human nature?”. Her artwork, along with performance art in general, always draws people (as well as the artist) to be focused on what is going on in the very moments of the performance. Artists put emphasis on gravitating ones attention to the present and being fully aware in body and mind. Its as if their body, presence, and time are their mediums. With that, performance artists also visualizes time, and as said in the documentary, it “brings it as a weight onto the audiences shoulders”. Another common theme in performance art is them being a self portrait, especially in pieces such as Self Portrait with a Skeleton (2003) by Abramovic. The title of this piece is very direct and allows for individuals in the audience to feel through the art however they see fit. However, Abramovic is a part of it.  What better way to create a visual of the body than to use the body itself?

3. Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?

Because Abramovic is still an artist who needs to make a living, she is selling an experience rather than a physical piece of artwork. However, in the documentary, they show how she was able to sell pictures of her works for large amounts of money. Selling an experience or a feeling is very difficult to do correctly, that is why when it is done successfully it becomes very desired and popular. For example, Abramovic’s final show The Artist is Present (2010) became incredibly popular as people would line up for hours and days to get the chance to be a part of the piece. Abramovic sat in a chair and allowed for the audience to come sit across from her one by one, and she would gaze into peoples eyes the same every time, offering a “blank slate” feeling and personal experience with the artist.

When the table that was placed between Abramovic and an audience members seats was removed, the gallery had concerns for the artists safety, which had only been preconditioned due to many of her previous performances put her body in danger. Additionally, she is often faced with the dilemma of being viewed as provocative and questioned for being nude in many of her performances, however there is a clear distinction between  the nude being sold vs the nude being performed; the body is seen as art being viewed as a visual rather than being a commodity. As she performed this piece completely clothed from head to toe, it was as if she was making a statement on how performance art does not have to be unexpecting or uncomfortable or out of the ordinary to be impactful. People were often moved to tears, and deemed to be changed from the experience. The popularization of this piece and favouritism over her other performances is clear because of 1., the lack of suggested danger, violence, or nudity, and 2., because people could be a part of it. It became a race to who would get the chance to sit with the artist, often seeming more eager to simply be a part of it than to experience the art, which, in effect, adds to the meaning behind the piece as an interactive performance in the artworld.

One of the men that worked closely with Abramovic shared how when he first met her, he believed she was in love with him, but slowly realized that she was merely “in love with the world, not just him”. Abramovic’s fascination with the human experience and people as a whole is what makes her an amazing and successful performance artist, and allows for museums to recognize her talent and provide her with space to bring her performances to life.