I have had no luck in making my week eight post available, so here is a picture of it:
(N.B. Max Richter. That slip up was a serendipitous opportunity to research the German artist, Hans Richter (1888 – 1976) who was contemporaneous with Kurt Shwitters and shared an involvement in Dada, Constructivism, Painting and an enthusiastic support of each others work.)
Miranda gave me another research task gift – Marie Cool & Fabio Balducci. I was introduced to their work in a previous lecture and admired Cool’s ritualistic, artful movement and the simplicity of the acts she performs. An act for the sake of the act is enough, seemingly. Minimalism is a difficult thing to achieve and I often find that my tendency is to add extra somethings to an idea, just to enhance it… but you often end up with a dilution and lessening of the original “good” idea. Knowing when to start and when to stop is the art.
Week nine
Tutorials engage me this week. Many questions to provide answers too… what will the future reveal? My interest and ability in mangling concepts and playing with the outcomes has brought me to an interesting point in my development in the field of “art”. Miranda encouraged me to think of what my work reveals about me, although I’m not really motivated to make the work include a focus on myself as an “object”. It’s important to me that a message is communicated through my work and that the audience can engage with the idea as it relates to themselves as human beings. I will, it seems, have to terminate my subscription to the “Serial anti-networkers club”. I will have to accept that there’s more to me than I am ready and able to admit to myself.
A trip to the Arts Centre is scheduled with my EMF recording equipment. I found an architect’s floor plan of the building which will make it easier to pinpoint the locations I want to record. “Climb that hill, artist!”
So, I did climb that hill and descended again, after acquiring EMF recordings from eleven locations in and around the Arts Centre. It was a beautiful warm day that reminded me of all the other beautiful warm days that I have shared with this lovely town… my home from home.
In tutorial with Miranda this week I noticed a repeating pattern where I present an idea and many others are offered that end up swamping my original idea and expanding it in an infinite cascade of development, more and more work and a tangle of convoluted thought thinking… um. I will survive the onslaught, retain clarity and end up with something that is more than the sum of its parts. Either that, or die.
I noticed a bollard on Trefechan Bridge with a QR code on it. I definitely take that as a sign that the universe is telling me that I’m on the right track.
This week sees our group project – Won’t you come in?
Fancy dress and role play… speed dating on Absinthe…? Who knows?
I prepared my character beforehand, as requested:
- Click Flash (AKA Norman Mudd) – Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographer to the stars
- 80’s throwback, washed up with only a camera after messy divorces and with an enduring love/hate relationship with the booze.
- Lost in the present, stuck in the past, “No Future”.
I arrived for the workshop in character, complete with props and spent my time being a less filtered and overly exaggerated version of myself with an imagined drink problem. I found out I had a son, which was a surprise. It was mildly enjoyable to pretend, I discovered that it takes a lot of concentration to remain in character and it was funny improvising with Richard (my abandoned son).
My character’s new abode in a new neighbourhood:
Reflection: The workshop was salvaged by intervention, which was a shame, but it helped it to happen. Three hours is a long time to fill without a strong structure and understanding of necessary flexibility, but despite this, the time passed fairly quickly. Participation was good from the players and seemingly enjoyable but I question the benefits and outcomes of the workshop for those involved… well, for me, at least. I feel I played my part within the parameters of the workshop and will leave it there.