Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The textual elephant in the room (in the process)?
Nick and Gwenneth, you both raise a really valid point I think. Probably one of the main problems there seems to be with what i assumed when I began this is that everyone would be totally amenable to the way the process would be communicated. But making an assumption like that has proven pretty dangerous - as both you and Gwenneth point to; everyone has their own way of undertaking work and creation. The fact that someone creates a work that will be put into a public space does not imply an immediate opening of that work or of that creator. I think that my assumption extended into personal process; in that I expected there to be a place for observers and documentative mechanics. And these things, not usually in place in such a process probably compromise much of what is communicated. the challenge is managing to navigate around these things
do you believe in magic?
Thanks for the response Gwenneth.
The line about "magic" is a joke. The rest is not. I really do believe in "tricks" . . .
Complex topic, no? Writing the previous post I spent some time staring at the screen thinking about the relationship between artist, artistic process and an audience - how an artists involvement in describing the work (concepts, process etc), and involvement in its dissemination, can be helpful and also a hindrance (often depending on who's involved of course). There is a Frank Zappa album called "Shut up and play your guitar". Often I feel that I should just stop talking. Or I could just endlessly talk about being silent with a satisfying sense of irony.
In response to Nick's last post: I recognize things in there. It is quite something to reveal one's working method next to the actual or intended work. For me personally, it doesn't have much to do with a wish to keep 'magic' alive. I guess I try to incorporate process in the work itself in order to somehow undo the mystery. For instance by using rational systems which reveals the steps taken during the creation. To me it's crucial to scrutinize how this process becomes a mechanism of its own, a mechanism to which I can open a little hatch so everybody can see the parts moving.
But like Nick, I have some resistance in putting attention to the artist in relation to a work.
But like Nick, I have some resistance in putting attention to the artist in relation to a work.
Monday, May 12, 2008
a reluctant image
I must admit, it's kinda funny being involved in a show about process when I'm also a little reluctant to reveal my own working method. Who wants to reveal their magic tricks? Or dirty laundry?
I have artistic dirty laundry. A pile of it: In the corner of my studio covered so no-one can see it - all the experiments that didn't work: paper aeroplanes that didn't fly, spinning tops that didn't spin, images that fell flat etc.
For me, I consider the process of making an artwork only in relation to moving towards a finish. Not that I'm anti-process, far from it (I have exhibited a number of projects where a reflection upon process was integral to the work, such as the "Loose Ends" collaborations with Nick Mangan shown at RMIT Project Space/Spare Room in 2007) it's just that I consider the art-making process a way of eventually settling at a point where the artwork can communicate and resonate without me. In other words, what I aim for is a point where I leave the room and the work exists without me and my often misguided aims for its life. I want Frankenstein to develop a mind of its own, without the burden of dwelling too long on how it came to be (I certainly don't!).
the process-oriented relationship I am interested in is not so much artist to audience as artwork to audience.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ma
Japanese spatiality is experienced progressively through intervals of spacial designation. This word is termed ma.
Ma can be defined as negative space - the interval between two or more phenomena. It is only recognised in relation to time and time's continuum. Ma represents a 'consciousness' of place. It is not a type of space or three-dimensional entity, as the West commonly views it.
Ma is an awareness within a person of both form and non-form existing simultaneously . This awareness also encapsulates an acknowledgment of both form and non-form surrounding the person in space and time.
Ma can be termed an experiential place, recognised and understood only in relation to time flow.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
wall-space
The work I will create for "We Are Hidden And We Can See You" began as an experiment in my studio.
Over the past two years I have created a number of participatory artworks where an object is played with: Artworks where the physical act of interacting with the work acts as a metaphor for cognitive, meaning-finding activities. At some point over the past year I have had the idea to make a work where the exhibiting space itself would become the play-object. More specifically, making a wall an object to be played with.
I've often contemplated the idea of a wall as projection screen. When an image is placed onto a wall the actual physicality - the bricks, plasterboard or mdf and paint finish - disappear for a moment as the it becomes a screen for an imaginary space. The wall doubles as a void. With an interest in games, I am likewise attracted to how some external walls at schools, sometimes with the help of a few sporting markings, are used as a medium for targets, a tennis net (as the one player hits the wall the ball it goes from serve to receive and back again) or cricket stumps with 'automatic wicketkeeper'. For me, this kind of magic transformation acts as a allegory for a semiotic ability to see beyond the practicalities of a given situation (lets call it 'poetic transcendence') yet also simultaneously acknowledge the blatant reality of the scene (it is just a wall). Or something like that.
This leads me to a situation where about a year ago I circular-drilled a couple of holes in my studio wall (see image) - the intention being an art-activity where small super-bouncy balls would be bounced off the floor through the hole where it would then bounce around in the inside of the wall before settling at the bottom of the void. I considered having an exhibition where the piece would involve a giant tub of bouncy-balls and this interaction. The exhibition would finish when all the balls had been lodged forever in the gap. After spending a significant amount of time attempting to bounce the ball into the holes unsuccessfully in the studio I decided that the art-piece wasn't really going to work.
When curator Shae mentioned this exhibition I realised that it was a chance to resurrect the project. This time I re-imagined the work as a hole up the top of the wall (out of reach) and a hole some distance away to the left or right at the absolute bottom of the wall (like a mouse hole). The 'work' would then consist of a ball being thrown into the top hole, disappearing for a few moments then rolling out back into the gallery space via the bottom hole. The title has eluded me until I began writing this blogpost. I have stumbled upon "Wall-space".
More soon. Nick.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Swiss Banking
Swiss bankers are under obligation to keep any information about you or your account strictly confidential.
This bank secrecy is among the strictest in the world and stems from an age-old historical tradition. It is established in Swiss law. Any banker who reveals information about you without your consent risks several months in prison.
The only exceptions to this rule concern serious crimes such as gun smuggling and drug trafficking.
Bank secrecy is not lifted for tax evasion. This is because failure to report income or assets is not considered a crime in Switzerland. As such, neither the Swiss government, nor any other government, can obtain information about your bank account. They must first convince a Swiss judge that you have committed a serious crime punishable by the Swiss Penal Code.
Bank secrecy will not be lifted for private matters such as inheritance or divorce if you have kept your banking information strictly confidential. It is up to plaintiffs to prove that the account exists if they wish the judge to pursue the case. In this respect, the numbered account provides the maximum degree of confidentiality.
This bank secrecy is among the strictest in the world and stems from an age-old historical tradition. It is established in Swiss law. Any banker who reveals information about you without your consent risks several months in prison.
The only exceptions to this rule concern serious crimes such as gun smuggling and drug trafficking.
Bank secrecy is not lifted for tax evasion. This is because failure to report income or assets is not considered a crime in Switzerland. As such, neither the Swiss government, nor any other government, can obtain information about your bank account. They must first convince a Swiss judge that you have committed a serious crime punishable by the Swiss Penal Code.
Bank secrecy will not be lifted for private matters such as inheritance or divorce if you have kept your banking information strictly confidential. It is up to plaintiffs to prove that the account exists if they wish the judge to pursue the case. In this respect, the numbered account provides the maximum degree of confidentiality.
Participation
The Swiss people vote around four times a year on about 20 issues at a national level. There may be even more referendums in cantons and communes, touching on very local matters, such as whether to buy particular pictures for the city museum, when local shops can open, or a change in land use. Local authorities try to combine their own votes with the national ones, so that electors do not have to turn out too often.
In a few cantons, voters still vote on every new law or amendment passed by the cantonal government, whether or not it is controversial.
Only about half of all proposals are accepted by the people in referendums and only one tenth in popular initiatives.
Voter participation is usually around 40 per cent. Moves are now underway to experiment with electronic voting, in the hope that this will raise participation.
A few cantons have granted long-term resident foreigners the right to vote, mainly only at communal level.
In a few cantons, voters still vote on every new law or amendment passed by the cantonal government, whether or not it is controversial.
Only about half of all proposals are accepted by the people in referendums and only one tenth in popular initiatives.
Voter participation is usually around 40 per cent. Moves are now underway to experiment with electronic voting, in the hope that this will raise participation.
A few cantons have granted long-term resident foreigners the right to vote, mainly only at communal level.
Neutrality and isolationism
The advice of Switzerland's popular saint, Nicholas of Flüe (1417-87), "Don't get involved in other people's affairs" has been the hallmark of Swiss policy for nearly 500 years. The country has in effect been neutral since 1515, a status formally recognised and guaranteed by the great powers of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
Swiss neutrality thus has deeper roots than any of Europe's other major neutral states: Sweden (1815), Eire (1921), Finland (1948) and Austria (1955).
Neutrality is defined as non-participation in a war between other states. The rights and duties of neutral countries in time of war were laid down by the international community in 1907. In times of peace neutral states define their own rules, but take it for granted that they should stay outside military blocs, like NATO.
The status of neutrality has not only protected Switzerland from war, but has helped prevent the country from being torn apart when its different language communities might have been tempted to side with different belligerents in cases of conflict.
Since the end of the Cold War Switzerland has had to redefine its understanding of neutrality. It signed up to NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1996, stressing that it was motivated by the desire to promote peace and security and reserving the right to withdraw if it believed its neutrality was threatened.
The despatch of unarmed Swiss volunteers to Kosovo as part of peace keeping troops there after the 1999 war kept alive the debate over whether neutrality can be combined with an international role.
A referendum in June 2001 approved two key changes to the army's role. One allows Swiss soldiers to be fully armed when taking part in international peacekeeping missions, and the other permits them to take part in military training exercises with other countries. However, the bitter campaign showed the country was deeply divided on the issues, and the margin of victory was only two per cent.
Swiss neutrality thus has deeper roots than any of Europe's other major neutral states: Sweden (1815), Eire (1921), Finland (1948) and Austria (1955).
Neutrality is defined as non-participation in a war between other states. The rights and duties of neutral countries in time of war were laid down by the international community in 1907. In times of peace neutral states define their own rules, but take it for granted that they should stay outside military blocs, like NATO.
The status of neutrality has not only protected Switzerland from war, but has helped prevent the country from being torn apart when its different language communities might have been tempted to side with different belligerents in cases of conflict.
Since the end of the Cold War Switzerland has had to redefine its understanding of neutrality. It signed up to NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1996, stressing that it was motivated by the desire to promote peace and security and reserving the right to withdraw if it believed its neutrality was threatened.
The despatch of unarmed Swiss volunteers to Kosovo as part of peace keeping troops there after the 1999 war kept alive the debate over whether neutrality can be combined with an international role.
A referendum in June 2001 approved two key changes to the army's role. One allows Swiss soldiers to be fully armed when taking part in international peacekeeping missions, and the other permits them to take part in military training exercises with other countries. However, the bitter campaign showed the country was deeply divided on the issues, and the margin of victory was only two per cent.
Monday, April 28, 2008
'The Uses of Not'
Thirty spokes meet in the hub,
but the empty space between them
is the essence of the wheel.
Pots are formed from clay,
but the empty space between it
is the essence of the pot.
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
but the empty space within it
is the essence of the house.
- Lao Tse (Taoist philosopher)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Considering what I discussed in my first video diary, I think that what has framed much of the surprise in the process for me has been working with such a large group of people. Seven people, seven different sets of problems and seven different sets of expectations.
Probably much of what I initially expected to happen was informed by an individual experience. Certainly when you consider how personal something like a video diary can be, it is not surprising that this could become problematic for a large group.
Though that isn’t to say that there is a ‘problem’ (though there has been), it’s more that when operating in a group, the dynamic of suggestion and creation changes so dramatically. Decisions become more complex and often I found myself encountering that dreadful word – “compromise”.
But compromise in the sense of the creative process is interesting. Interesting in that when compromise occurs amongst 8 people it is not necessarily a negative. The group dynamic fosters a group creativity, which I found hugely entertaining and invigorating. It’s easy to forget how exciting working with other people is when you spend 4 years sitting in an ivory tower and dreading group assignments.
But what of ‘group-think’? Not that I think this has really occurred in any truly meaningful sense (at this point) but have our decision making capabilities been impaired by the need to acquiesce to other people’s priorities? I guess they have at points.
But I would say that compromise has resulted in more positives than negatives for me. However it’s not all happy sailing – my next video diary will be a more specific discussion of the too and fro of decision making and how it has had real effects to the exhibition it self.
Probably much of what I initially expected to happen was informed by an individual experience. Certainly when you consider how personal something like a video diary can be, it is not surprising that this could become problematic for a large group.
Though that isn’t to say that there is a ‘problem’ (though there has been), it’s more that when operating in a group, the dynamic of suggestion and creation changes so dramatically. Decisions become more complex and often I found myself encountering that dreadful word – “compromise”.
But compromise in the sense of the creative process is interesting. Interesting in that when compromise occurs amongst 8 people it is not necessarily a negative. The group dynamic fosters a group creativity, which I found hugely entertaining and invigorating. It’s easy to forget how exciting working with other people is when you spend 4 years sitting in an ivory tower and dreading group assignments.
But what of ‘group-think’? Not that I think this has really occurred in any truly meaningful sense (at this point) but have our decision making capabilities been impaired by the need to acquiesce to other people’s priorities? I guess they have at points.
But I would say that compromise has resulted in more positives than negatives for me. However it’s not all happy sailing – my next video diary will be a more specific discussion of the too and fro of decision making and how it has had real effects to the exhibition it self.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Troglobites
A Troglobite is an animal that lives entirely in the dark parts of caves. Such creatures have become specifically adapted for life in total darkness and over time they have evolved to develop improved senses of taste and vibration detection, while loosing anatomical features that are superfluous without light, such as functioning eyes and pigmentation. Troglobites are often endemic to a certain site, having adapted to its particular environment and food sources. True Troglobites are eyeless.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Helen & Gwenneth: workspaces
Since Gwenneth arrived on Saturday we have been catching up (after almost two years) and sorting out the basics. Yesterday was our first day of working together in one space. We have had some great conversations, which was really nice after having clocked up a hefty e-mail dialogue in the last months.
We meant to e-mail pictures of our studios to each other before Gwenneth came to Melbourne, to get a sense of each others working environment, but didn't get to it. We thought to pass these images onto the blog now, even though its a little belated.
See you all Saturday
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Helen & Gwenneth's first update
Dear All,
We would like to give you an update on our process:
The two of us have been emailing and skyping over the past months, currently 10-20 times a week. As a starting point we discussed previous works, made both inside and outside our collaboration, that are somehow related to the kind of approach and conceptual concerns we are forming. We've been talking a lot about a project (titled Choreography) we began last time Gwenneth was in Melbourne in 2006, of which there are now two versions. We showed the latter version last year in a big project space at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, enabling us to be specific and ambitious with the installation - which has become integral to this work. Installed as such, the work has become a point of departure into extended experiments and discussions. We plan to make a new work following this process and perhaps similar in mechanisms.
There are a few matters we can distil from our collaboration and that we would like to address in a new work for We Are Hidden …: the conditions and mechanisms of spectatorship, visuality and space, dialogue and the use of a transparent medium or apparatus. All points mentioned are related to a bodily observation and experience. Photography and choreography have been initial and key tools so far and have inspired the dialogue between us. We thought about using other media and methods now, perhaps revisiting previous performance and installation works from a different angle. Now that we sink into the process, we are more and more focused on what conceptually will function most strongly. We are beginning the process with experiments in photographic installation, but are open to the possibility that the process may arrive somewhere else. There is quite a degree of unknown - and this is very exciting.
(If anyone would like to see the large installation version of Choreography its on Gwen's site: Il faut.nl)
We would like to give you an update on our process:
The two of us have been emailing and skyping over the past months, currently 10-20 times a week. As a starting point we discussed previous works, made both inside and outside our collaboration, that are somehow related to the kind of approach and conceptual concerns we are forming. We've been talking a lot about a project (titled Choreography) we began last time Gwenneth was in Melbourne in 2006, of which there are now two versions. We showed the latter version last year in a big project space at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, enabling us to be specific and ambitious with the installation - which has become integral to this work. Installed as such, the work has become a point of departure into extended experiments and discussions. We plan to make a new work following this process and perhaps similar in mechanisms.
There are a few matters we can distil from our collaboration and that we would like to address in a new work for We Are Hidden …: the conditions and mechanisms of spectatorship, visuality and space, dialogue and the use of a transparent medium or apparatus. All points mentioned are related to a bodily observation and experience. Photography and choreography have been initial and key tools so far and have inspired the dialogue between us. We thought about using other media and methods now, perhaps revisiting previous performance and installation works from a different angle. Now that we sink into the process, we are more and more focused on what conceptually will function most strongly. We are beginning the process with experiments in photographic installation, but are open to the possibility that the process may arrive somewhere else. There is quite a degree of unknown - and this is very exciting.
(If anyone would like to see the large installation version of Choreography its on Gwen's site: Il faut.nl)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
It Begins?
So the documentation of process begins, and we get to see if we can pull this thing off! I shall now document the meeting we had on 10 Jan. We all met up at the builders arms and generally had a chat and got to know one another. It was great to see everyone gelling really well having a good time, likewise it was great to finally have everyone together so we could probe what the project entails.
Essentially we plan to bring the process out from behind the work - we want to open up the finished work. Writing, photographing, recording; can these ultimately be effective tools of discussion and dissection?
What I wanted to bring up in this post was Tess's suggestion of the book format for our documentation. I hadn't really thought of this until know and it's an excellent idea. Considering the way that placing the documentation within the gallery space could create an aesthetic contrary to what is desired, a book (or expanded catalog) would certainly be a simpler and easier contained way of presenting a record. Likewise I think articulating ideas and and aesthetic in detail would be far easier in a book. Beyond this, the actual idea of the concrete document, the object, is immensely appealing to me. Who wouldn't want a whole published book with their writing in it?
I wonder though, how the nature of the book would effect the place of the process? A whole new set of concerns would present themselves when dealing with a book format - design choices, aesthetic decisions - but are they in keeping with the idea of opening up the process? I think this leads back to a basic idea surrounding process; are we dealing with something that is clean and easily ordered? Is that an aesthetic that is desirable? Or is creative action more of a messy, chaotic experience? Or is it beyond either of these things - is creativity simply the Newtonian "Ah-ha!"?
These questions will be invaluable to informing whether or not a book is a good idea and not only that, they will inform the overall aesthetic of the show.
That felt like I was talking in irritating circles, but hopefully something valuable came out of it. Peace out.
Essentially we plan to bring the process out from behind the work - we want to open up the finished work. Writing, photographing, recording; can these ultimately be effective tools of discussion and dissection?
What I wanted to bring up in this post was Tess's suggestion of the book format for our documentation. I hadn't really thought of this until know and it's an excellent idea. Considering the way that placing the documentation within the gallery space could create an aesthetic contrary to what is desired, a book (or expanded catalog) would certainly be a simpler and easier contained way of presenting a record. Likewise I think articulating ideas and and aesthetic in detail would be far easier in a book. Beyond this, the actual idea of the concrete document, the object, is immensely appealing to me. Who wouldn't want a whole published book with their writing in it?
I wonder though, how the nature of the book would effect the place of the process? A whole new set of concerns would present themselves when dealing with a book format - design choices, aesthetic decisions - but are they in keeping with the idea of opening up the process? I think this leads back to a basic idea surrounding process; are we dealing with something that is clean and easily ordered? Is that an aesthetic that is desirable? Or is creative action more of a messy, chaotic experience? Or is it beyond either of these things - is creativity simply the Newtonian "Ah-ha!"?
These questions will be invaluable to informing whether or not a book is a good idea and not only that, they will inform the overall aesthetic of the show.
That felt like I was talking in irritating circles, but hopefully something valuable came out of it. Peace out.
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