hello everyone!
lets see, what did we do for this weeks class?
we walked inn to the studio where there was a long table in the centre of the room with cooking supplies and food all around (something i really appreciated as i hadn’t had lunch). as the class started we watched a video of Rirkrit Tiravanija art showing how the simple act of making food and eating can be an artwork in itself. everyone involved in the making of the food and everyone eating became a part of a performative artwork. this really made me rethink what art is for me. i didn’t have a specific thought of what art was, but i had never thought of eating and making food as a performance. is everything we do an act? could everything we do at any given time be art?
after watching and discussing the video, we had to make the same food from the video in the studio: Thai Red Curry!. we were given different tasks each and had to think about everything we did as an artwork. everything from chopping the vegetables and cooking to decorating the table and eventually eating. this was a strange experience as i became so much more conscious of such a simple act. suddenly i noticed the smells of the foods a lot more then i normally would have. the atmosphere in the “kitchen” became much more interesting as i started thinking about everyone as performance artists creating an artwork.
we also had to stop at certain times to do a task chosen by either one of us or Miranda. first task being to eat a lime wedge and saying a random word right after. the next one being to mention something we did the day before beginning on D, mine being Deliveroo as i was lazy and got delivery😅. the last task being to say a memory from when we were 8.
project development:
as i am still feeling pretty out of it, i only got a rough audio for two objects: empty jar of Homepride pasta-bake sause and a used up toilet paper roll. both objects that either would have been binned or was binned.
before starting the recording this week i decided to learn a little more about the editing software i am using audacity. i watched a few YouTube videos explaining the different tools and how to transfer and save the files as easily as possible. this really helped as i was getting pretty frustrated by not knowing what i was doing before. i am finally feeling like i am starting to understand how audio editing works, something that will help me record a lot quicker.
here is one of the videos i used for the people wanting to experiment with audio editing:
the first audiofile is from a pasta-bake jar, all the sounds are purely done from the jar with a little editing to make the sounds stand out. at most i changed the volume and direction of the sounds as well as extend some of the audio. the sounds are everything from tapping the glass part of the jar to scratching it all the way to popping the lid and closing the jar.
listen with fairly high volume and headphones/earbuds to get the best effect.
again, please have the sound up and headset/earbuds on.
for the last one i wanted to experiment with mixing the different audios together to see how that would sound. would some of the audio get overpowered by the other or will they work harmoniously together.
as i was recording i really felt how calming the sounds could be. yes i know this is kind of like an unsatisfying mix of ASMR, but it really reminds me of one of the coping mechanisms i got from therapy where i look at an object and draw it in my mind, think of the colour of the object and shape etc. to get my mind away from the feeling of anxiety. having had a really rough 2 weeks, its been really nice to sit down with two objects and just see what sounds they can make. funny how this project is going as i myself am feeling very calm when making the project, but the drafts im making are so overpowering they almost trigger a stress response.
i think i will record even more sounds per object next week to see how overbearing the sounds can get. can i mix more sounds then just sounds of 2 objects? or will it obscure the sounds too much? lets see next week i guess.
yes isn’t it ironic that you are feeling calm when making and recording the sounds and yet the results are so hectic, frenetic and panicky! Yes I like the 2 together, I played them together before I saw that you had made a third mixed recording. I really like the ‘binned’ concept, but what does it mean I wonder? its the everyday now un- needed, disrespected, abandoned, discarded, rejected object, what does this say to you? why are attracted to these objects? why are you bringing them back to life? finding so much in them, from them. They have a voice, you gave them a voice, do you care about them> do you feel compassion, empathy? What is your body doing? where are you when you do this? will we ever see you? what is the process? what is your relationship to these objects and where are finding them..so much is not revealed, is this intentional?