week 3

this week as always we had a standard class responding to artists’ works prepared for us by Miranda. At the beginning of the class, she asked us a question “when in the past time would we like to be?”. I answered March 2020 – the start of the pandemic. seems crazy I know, but I think that the first two weeks of Covid-19 were one of the best periods in my life. I spent two weeks without any other people in my flat in Poland, but I was accompanied by my two wonderful cats. I didn’t care about anything, all I did was read and watch youtube – sounds like a dream. I didn’t stress about anything, I felt free even if I was locked in my own flat. Recently I’ve been stressing a lot about everything, but then… I think I just miss the stress-free moments. It was a beautiful time (especially since my ginger cat was still alive). Here are some photos from that time cause why not:

Here’s my response for this semester’s artists:

Also the artists I researched:

Anna MacDonald, Progression (walking)

https://www.queenshalldigital.com/art-archive/anna-macdonald/

The artist invited an entire primary school to walk through a free-stand door, in their own time, from the youngest to the oldest. It was all recorded with a single static shot. Anna MacDonald is a moving image artist and a scholar from the UK, who specializes in working directly with the public. She is interested in using film to expose the emotional and conceptual resonance of simple actions such as moving from ‘here to there’, ‘unfolding’ or ‘getting slower’. Their work takes the form of performance for screen, contemporary performance and experimental dance.

There is not a lot of information about this project, unfortunately, because I would like to read about it more. Even tho I have some thoughts about Progression. I find it very interesting how kids started to copy what people before them did. They didn’t have to stop at the doors, even tho when someone started that, most of the kids repeated that action. It says a lot about society. Especially since it was mostly older children who copied each other. Younger ones didn’t care that much what they are doing – some of them stopped at the door, some of them walked through slowly, some on the run through it. I think the reason for repeating the action shows how much we are scared to be different and we want to fit in. If everyone is doing it then you also should use if you won’t there will be weird looks and questions about why did you do it that way. The youngest group was free from the expectation and they didn’t pay attention to what others thought about them, they are not destroyed by the norms yet. The project also reminds me a little bit about the monkey experiment – Every time a monkey tried to climb the ladder, the experimenter sprayed all of the monkeys with icy water. Eventually, each time a monkey started to climb the ladder, the other ones pulled him off and beat him up so they could avoid the icy spray. Soon, no monkey dared go up the ladder. Obviously, there wasn’t any other person who physically stopped kids from freely walking through the door, but I think it was their mind who told them to stop in the middle. They saw that the others stopped, so they assumed that they also have to, maybe they were scared of what will happen if they won’t stop. Will there be any consequences? Is that a test?

Steve McQueen, Twelve years a Slave

The year 1841: in the northern states of the USA, slavery has already been abolished; in the south, it is still flourishing. Black Washington resident Solomon Northup is an educated musician, husband and father. Despite this, he is tricked into kidnapping, imprisoned, taken out of town and sold to slave traders who soon expose him to the slave market.

Thus begins his 12-year terrifying odyssey marked by successive sales and wandering from one owner to the next. The protagonist himself struggles not only for survival and freedom, but also to retain his humanity….

I remember I watched this movie when I was maybe 13 maybe 14 years old. It has had a major impact on me. I realized then how terrible the history of black people’s slavery was and how much these people had to suffer, because of heartless creatures who are other people. And it was all just because of as a stupid thing as race. Thankfully now it’s getting better and better, I mean the problem of racism is still visible in everyday life, but more people are now aware how unimportant it is what skin colour we are and the it doesn’t make us any better or worse.

Experimentation:

I decided that I want to make a huge head sculpture or a human silhouette, but I’m keener on the head. I thought what do I want to do with this subject? Firstly I wanted to represent how I feel when I have trouble with sleeping. All the thoughts come to my mind at night, because I’m not letting them in the daytime. It’s hurting me, it’s stressing me but I’m still doing it. When I have a hard time falling asleep it usually takes me 1,5 h hours to do it. It’s an exhausting process and I’m looking for different ways that help me to fall asleep quicker. A good method is playing Pink Noise – it usually makes my mind go blank, but unfortunately it’s not always working. I also tried meditation or even counting sheep – nothing helps. So I wanted to show how do I feel about it through the sculpture.

The arrows in my head and body symbolise my above-mentioned thoughts that hurt me – I often cry at night because I’m letting myself think about things that cause various emotions in me – especially sadness. The tape on the eyes means that I’m trying to fall asleep, I tape my eyes to not open them. The scream is silent just as the night is, but the emotions are real.

BUT I ACTUALLY DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, SO FORGET ABOUT THIS CONCEPT.

I think it will be the final idea for me. I still want to create a huge plaster cast made head ( about 1,5 meter high) but I decided to recreate a rather anonymous face or a baby face. I want the sculpture to have convex mirrors in its eyes. People can see themselves in someone else’s eyes. Or maybe if it will be a sculpture of a kid they will see themselves through their own eyes as a kid. We change a lot during our lives – sometimes for better sometimes for worse. I think this project would encourage reflection on ourselves and who we became. Are we happy with how life looks now? Are we proud of ourselves? Seeing yourself and realization about your problems is the first step to improvement. That’s what I hear in my therapy. So maybe the sculpture would be the beginning of their own therapy itself? Maybe they will finally see themselves the way they are.

I haven’t drawn it yet but I’ll do that, maybe I will even make it in the 3d sculpting programme so it will be easier to visualize. I will update it next week and actually, I’m ready to start working on it. I just need to buy materials!