Fallen Columns, an imagined state:
We move amongst the fallen stones and shattered standards. They are not what they once were; for us today they are reformed landmarks, signposting this altered landscape, overgrown since its most recent transformation. Before, they were untouchable, raised above us not to be communicated with, ivory towers in themselves, didactic declarations disguised as decoration. Now the plane has levelled, paradigms have come unravelled and shifted with it. Hierarchical structures sagged and sighed under their own weight, and soon collapsed into submission amongst those of us on foot. Now we all walk, between rather than beneath. We aren't trodden upon, and we do not trample on those below, for there are none higher nor lower than this. We are all in the light when the sun shines. We do not worship or take orders from an overbearing figure above, who casts shadow over those it condescends to instruct. Instead we align ourselves with one another on this one plane in a state of network. We are constellations and all is relative.
We move amongst the fallen stones and shattered standards. They are not what they once were; for us today they are reformed landmarks, signposting this altered landscape, overgrown since its most recent transformation. Before, they were untouchable, raised above us not to be communicated with, ivory towers in themselves, didactic declarations disguised as decoration. Now the plane has levelled, paradigms have come unravelled and shifted with it. Hierarchical structures sagged and sighed under their own weight, and soon collapsed into submission amongst those of us on foot. Now we all walk, between rather than beneath. We aren't trodden upon, and we do not trample on those below, for there are none higher nor lower than this. We are all in the light when the sun shines. We do not worship or take orders from an overbearing figure above, who casts shadow over those it condescends to instruct. Instead we align ourselves with one another on this one plane in a state of network. We are constellations and all is relative.
Towers are Higher, an imagined state:
Do not speak to the Towers in the same manner with which you speak to Lowers. Don't listen to Lowers like you listen to the Towers. For the Towers are Higher, no-goers. Lowers are go-nowheres. And that is what we know about this place we find ourselves.
There is more, there are clues we have pieced together: we may sometimes stand in the shadow of the Towers and speak what we wish, to an extent, but mostly not. And the Towers may sometimes hear our faintly frightened voices but they mostly listen not. We find words such as “why” or “when” are best avoided. We may say “what” but not as a demand; if we are to be heard we say “what” only for sentences such as “what magnificent Towers”, or “what would we do without such strong, tall Towers?”. They accept us, and we accept that. These are the ways we must be to remain here, in the wide shadow of the Towers.
Do not speak to the Towers in the same manner with which you speak to Lowers. Don't listen to Lowers like you listen to the Towers. For the Towers are Higher, no-goers. Lowers are go-nowheres. And that is what we know about this place we find ourselves.
There is more, there are clues we have pieced together: we may sometimes stand in the shadow of the Towers and speak what we wish, to an extent, but mostly not. And the Towers may sometimes hear our faintly frightened voices but they mostly listen not. We find words such as “why” or “when” are best avoided. We may say “what” but not as a demand; if we are to be heard we say “what” only for sentences such as “what magnificent Towers”, or “what would we do without such strong, tall Towers?”. They accept us, and we accept that. These are the ways we must be to remain here, in the wide shadow of the Towers.
2014
Poetry for Pineapple
“There's this thing I've been thinking about called ... Poetry for Pineapple, which would be me, alone in a room, with no recording equipment and no people, just me and a pineapple ... and then some sort of poetry would be read for it by me ... It's a theoretical performance ... I haven't done it yet and I'm pretty sure that, having thought about it, the only place it could exist is in imagination ... because if I read poetry for a pineapple then why shouldn't the walls of the room be the audience ... or anything else in the room, or me? So the only way to make the pineapple the only member of the audience is to do it in my imagination and tell people about it ... then they're imagining it in their minds and they're performing it as well ... I think the actual conversations that are being held around the idea is the work ... Because people are suggesting ... problems and ideas, they're sort of another author of it, as good an author as I am in a way because I haven't done it either ... So I guess I'm dispelling authorship and dispelling 'The Artist as ego' ... I bring a problem to people and we talk about it, it's not like 'The Artist as having answers', it's 'The artist as having questions' and being willing to discuss that ... rather than hiding the fact they're facing problems ... actually making the problem a thing to talk about”.
“There's this thing I've been thinking about called ... Poetry for Pineapple, which would be me, alone in a room, with no recording equipment and no people, just me and a pineapple ... and then some sort of poetry would be read for it by me ... It's a theoretical performance ... I haven't done it yet and I'm pretty sure that, having thought about it, the only place it could exist is in imagination ... because if I read poetry for a pineapple then why shouldn't the walls of the room be the audience ... or anything else in the room, or me? So the only way to make the pineapple the only member of the audience is to do it in my imagination and tell people about it ... then they're imagining it in their minds and they're performing it as well ... I think the actual conversations that are being held around the idea is the work ... Because people are suggesting ... problems and ideas, they're sort of another author of it, as good an author as I am in a way because I haven't done it either ... So I guess I'm dispelling authorship and dispelling 'The Artist as ego' ... I bring a problem to people and we talk about it, it's not like 'The Artist as having answers', it's 'The artist as having questions' and being willing to discuss that ... rather than hiding the fact they're facing problems ... actually making the problem a thing to talk about”.
Using a Dictaphone
When a piece of work is talked about, we cannot see it but we imagine it. It exists in a unique way in our mind. What if a piece of work only ever exists in that state- never originally performed, only ever taking place in the minds of those involved through conversation. The audience becomes as much of an author of the piece as the original artist who imagined it. The Dictaphone is witness to that process.
When a piece of work is talked about, we cannot see it but we imagine it. It exists in a unique way in our mind. What if a piece of work only ever exists in that state- never originally performed, only ever taking place in the minds of those involved through conversation. The audience becomes as much of an author of the piece as the original artist who imagined it. The Dictaphone is witness to that process.
Titles of Sound Files for Poetry for Pineapple Conversations:
- Initial ideas, M with J
- Pre-lecture discussion with W
- Lecture discussion with Fine Art audience
- Lecture discussion with JB
- Writing letters to people in mediocre places- M with P
- M with P at home
- Lecture reflection with J on sofa
- Poetry night audience
- Deleted interview
- A tutor (part 1)
- A tutor (part 2)
- A Fine Artist and a Craftsman in bed
- Family in the car
Extract from Family in the car 1
C: That's like saying part of the art work of making a painting is buying a paintbrush
M: Well it is, if you think of it that way. It's part of the process-
C: -But then you can justify absolutely anything-
M: Yeah that's Fine Art, welcome to it! (laughs)
C: No but- it can't be that subjective, it can't-
M: It is!
C: It can't be 100% subjective, it really can't
D: Nothing's 100% subjective
M: Well, it's not about figures though is it, it's not about 100% anything-
C: No, no, but it can't be... it can't be absolutely a hun- it can't be like-
M: -It can't be any one thing anyway so, it doesn't matter
C: No, but there is also limits to what it can be, there are... there are, it's huge, it's so wide but at the same time it can't be “anything”
M: Can't it?
C: No!
M: Not even if someone thinks it is?
C: You can't- so say... no 'cos then it just becomes completely solipsistic and you don't get anything meaningful out of anything and it's just completely mundane and just ridiculous
A: You can go further and further into it- y'know, "my footprints, in the mud, coming to my studio are all part of my artwork", if you want, y'know you could- you could take it to the outermost-
M: -Why not?
C: It's just like... that's the reaction you get though- “if you want”
M: Well only from some people, I thought that was quite a nice idea
C: Perhaps that could, yeah perhaps that's a bad example I guess 'cos maybe you could say-
D: -Well...
C: But I think that... I don't think you can justify absolutely anything. You just can't.
D: No, but the- the artist's job is to draw attention to things
M: Yeah
D: and to make people think
M: Yeah
C: Yeah!
D: And-
C: -That's absolutely fine but then, on the other hand, it just seems absurd to be able to, like give something a term-
M: -Maybe it is absurd-
C: -And then say that absolutely anything and everything can come under it, it just makes it completely meaningless and-
M: -The Art World can't handle the amount of differentiation, it can't handle the- I've learnt this word recently!- heterogeneity, it likes homogeneity, so it likes everything to be able to be the same, and under the same umbrella-
C: -It doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be under the umbrella, it doesn't have to be the same, it doesn't have to be through the same media, or in the same context, it doesn't have to be at all, like I, I completely agree with the notion that there might be- like, you could come through with any sort of form, or type of art that I'd probably find really interesting or might be completely out of the box but I just don't think you can say that filling in an application form to get a grant, or going on, going on a trip to Munich- perhaps what you do in Munich might be a performance or might be... a product, but I don't think the actual- like, you're saying that all the logistics and the ins and outs of a creation is part of the art-
M: -Well no it isn't always but if you frame it that way-
C: -And it's just absurd-
M: -No no it isn't always or everybody, but for me, if I chose to frame it in that way with an 'art lens' then it would be-
C: -So, you're saying- so-
M: -If I chose to select those things as part of the product-
C: -Ok so, in that case, you're saying that-
M: -Well, 'product' isn't the word I'd be using but-
C: -Anyone... can choose anything... and if I choose to select me eating this mint that you're giving me right now as art-
M: -Yeah, if you can-
C: -Then that's art, then.
M: -Somehow say why, or whatever-
C: -So you could justify absolutely anything?
M: Yeah!
C: To me that is so silly
A: I think that is what people have a problem with, with some art, is that you can actually justify anything
C: Because it becomes completely mundane! I'm eating a polo right now, which somehow, right so that expresses my-
A: -Yeah but if I do a video of you sucking a polo for eight hours, you could-
C: -feelings I have and the taste of it, I just don't think that... I really don't think that-
M: -what if I did something that is called a 'happening' where I went to a place- I, I wrote down what I was going to do, I said I was going to go and suck a polo at the end of the pier in Falmouth, I wrote it down, I went there, I did it, I came back again, and that was it: is that art?
(short pause)
C: It depends what connections it had-
A: -It depends whether you say it is or not-
C: -and what the significance of it is but it can't be just about anything, if something doesn't have any significance or any linked meaning then why is that art?-
D: -But this is not new, we've been doing this, you know, for a hundred years now
M: Yeah, and I think it's still relevant now
D: Yeah, no less relevant but you know...
M: Especially because of, now it's different as well, because we have the everyday of the internet as well, it's, it's, that's the added difference-
A: -I think it only becomes art if you say it's art
M: Which is what I was just saying to C--- which he said was ridiculous-
C: -But that still can't be the solution that you come to because that means you could justify absolutely anything, I could go to the toilet and say it's art-
A: Yep!
C: It's not!
A: Yep!
M: No, it isn't because you just said it isn't but if I somehow thought it was then it is-
D: -You'd better make it interesting, C---!
M: (laughs)
C: We literally do this exact thing in Philosophy, and, when we did the value of art, this is like one of the main criticisms, that you can just get this solipsistic notion of "I can say that's art if I fancy it"-
M: -What's solips... solicip...
C: It's meaningless ... In the value of art Philosophical sense it means like, I can think of anything and it's real ... everything becomes meaningless because everything becomes everything if I want it to be.
...
M: So maybe the difference is that you think that's bad, and I think that's good.
...
C: you can't just say that something is something when it's not.
C: That's like saying part of the art work of making a painting is buying a paintbrush
M: Well it is, if you think of it that way. It's part of the process-
C: -But then you can justify absolutely anything-
M: Yeah that's Fine Art, welcome to it! (laughs)
C: No but- it can't be that subjective, it can't-
M: It is!
C: It can't be 100% subjective, it really can't
D: Nothing's 100% subjective
M: Well, it's not about figures though is it, it's not about 100% anything-
C: No, no, but it can't be... it can't be absolutely a hun- it can't be like-
M: -It can't be any one thing anyway so, it doesn't matter
C: No, but there is also limits to what it can be, there are... there are, it's huge, it's so wide but at the same time it can't be “anything”
M: Can't it?
C: No!
M: Not even if someone thinks it is?
C: You can't- so say... no 'cos then it just becomes completely solipsistic and you don't get anything meaningful out of anything and it's just completely mundane and just ridiculous
A: You can go further and further into it- y'know, "my footprints, in the mud, coming to my studio are all part of my artwork", if you want, y'know you could- you could take it to the outermost-
M: -Why not?
C: It's just like... that's the reaction you get though- “if you want”
M: Well only from some people, I thought that was quite a nice idea
C: Perhaps that could, yeah perhaps that's a bad example I guess 'cos maybe you could say-
D: -Well...
C: But I think that... I don't think you can justify absolutely anything. You just can't.
D: No, but the- the artist's job is to draw attention to things
M: Yeah
D: and to make people think
M: Yeah
C: Yeah!
D: And-
C: -That's absolutely fine but then, on the other hand, it just seems absurd to be able to, like give something a term-
M: -Maybe it is absurd-
C: -And then say that absolutely anything and everything can come under it, it just makes it completely meaningless and-
M: -The Art World can't handle the amount of differentiation, it can't handle the- I've learnt this word recently!- heterogeneity, it likes homogeneity, so it likes everything to be able to be the same, and under the same umbrella-
C: -It doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be under the umbrella, it doesn't have to be the same, it doesn't have to be through the same media, or in the same context, it doesn't have to be at all, like I, I completely agree with the notion that there might be- like, you could come through with any sort of form, or type of art that I'd probably find really interesting or might be completely out of the box but I just don't think you can say that filling in an application form to get a grant, or going on, going on a trip to Munich- perhaps what you do in Munich might be a performance or might be... a product, but I don't think the actual- like, you're saying that all the logistics and the ins and outs of a creation is part of the art-
M: -Well no it isn't always but if you frame it that way-
C: -And it's just absurd-
M: -No no it isn't always or everybody, but for me, if I chose to frame it in that way with an 'art lens' then it would be-
C: -So, you're saying- so-
M: -If I chose to select those things as part of the product-
C: -Ok so, in that case, you're saying that-
M: -Well, 'product' isn't the word I'd be using but-
C: -Anyone... can choose anything... and if I choose to select me eating this mint that you're giving me right now as art-
M: -Yeah, if you can-
C: -Then that's art, then.
M: -Somehow say why, or whatever-
C: -So you could justify absolutely anything?
M: Yeah!
C: To me that is so silly
A: I think that is what people have a problem with, with some art, is that you can actually justify anything
C: Because it becomes completely mundane! I'm eating a polo right now, which somehow, right so that expresses my-
A: -Yeah but if I do a video of you sucking a polo for eight hours, you could-
C: -feelings I have and the taste of it, I just don't think that... I really don't think that-
M: -what if I did something that is called a 'happening' where I went to a place- I, I wrote down what I was going to do, I said I was going to go and suck a polo at the end of the pier in Falmouth, I wrote it down, I went there, I did it, I came back again, and that was it: is that art?
(short pause)
C: It depends what connections it had-
A: -It depends whether you say it is or not-
C: -and what the significance of it is but it can't be just about anything, if something doesn't have any significance or any linked meaning then why is that art?-
D: -But this is not new, we've been doing this, you know, for a hundred years now
M: Yeah, and I think it's still relevant now
D: Yeah, no less relevant but you know...
M: Especially because of, now it's different as well, because we have the everyday of the internet as well, it's, it's, that's the added difference-
A: -I think it only becomes art if you say it's art
M: Which is what I was just saying to C--- which he said was ridiculous-
C: -But that still can't be the solution that you come to because that means you could justify absolutely anything, I could go to the toilet and say it's art-
A: Yep!
C: It's not!
A: Yep!
M: No, it isn't because you just said it isn't but if I somehow thought it was then it is-
D: -You'd better make it interesting, C---!
M: (laughs)
C: We literally do this exact thing in Philosophy, and, when we did the value of art, this is like one of the main criticisms, that you can just get this solipsistic notion of "I can say that's art if I fancy it"-
M: -What's solips... solicip...
C: It's meaningless ... In the value of art Philosophical sense it means like, I can think of anything and it's real ... everything becomes meaningless because everything becomes everything if I want it to be.
...
M: So maybe the difference is that you think that's bad, and I think that's good.
...
C: you can't just say that something is something when it's not.
There's This Notional Idea That The Internet Is Accessible To All, But Is It?
This website can be accessed by those who know it's here. Who knows?
I shared the link on my Facebook, I showed my tutors, I refer to it when I talk about my work.
People may stumble across it and I'll never know.
I am interested in what I can't know about who is watching online:
If I send an email to a stranger they might read it, or they might not. I wouldn't know unless they respond. But if they don't respond I can imagine they have chosen not to. I will send messages in the direction of leading world figures, councillors, artists, celebrities. I wouldn't have easy access to this without the internet.
Of course there are people in the world without the internet. But it is a relatively open access space- relative to a folder of work hidden in my studio, or work in an exhibition which charges entry.
Most importantly to my practice, it is a virtual space. Virtual, but very real, too. Things that begin online have consequences in the world. Things that begin in our minds have consequences online. Things that begin online have consequences in our minds.
This website can be accessed by those who know it's here. Who knows?
I shared the link on my Facebook, I showed my tutors, I refer to it when I talk about my work.
People may stumble across it and I'll never know.
I am interested in what I can't know about who is watching online:
If I send an email to a stranger they might read it, or they might not. I wouldn't know unless they respond. But if they don't respond I can imagine they have chosen not to. I will send messages in the direction of leading world figures, councillors, artists, celebrities. I wouldn't have easy access to this without the internet.
Of course there are people in the world without the internet. But it is a relatively open access space- relative to a folder of work hidden in my studio, or work in an exhibition which charges entry.
Most importantly to my practice, it is a virtual space. Virtual, but very real, too. Things that begin online have consequences in the world. Things that begin in our minds have consequences online. Things that begin online have consequences in our minds.
Performance From my Window
I am cutting my nails out of the window. Across the road, I can see an artist sat at his drawing board. He and I are both making art.
I am cutting my nails out of the window. Across the road, I can see an artist sat at his drawing board. He and I are both making art.
The Gallery Door
You can make a regular shape to match that of the gallery door, and slip it into a category. Square, triangle, circle...
You can imagine an irregular shape that will not go neatly through the door frame; They can either make a new door frame that fits the shape, or contort and reconstitute the original. Even if They manage to file down the sides of the irregular shape and squeeze it through an existing door frame and onto a plinth, it is no longer complete. Parts that They can't get their hands on are still floating in the cloud outside the gallery package.
You can make a regular shape to match that of the gallery door, and slip it into a category. Square, triangle, circle...
You can imagine an irregular shape that will not go neatly through the door frame; They can either make a new door frame that fits the shape, or contort and reconstitute the original. Even if They manage to file down the sides of the irregular shape and squeeze it through an existing door frame and onto a plinth, it is no longer complete. Parts that They can't get their hands on are still floating in the cloud outside the gallery package.
Text Conjures Image
Words point to the real world like a finger points in the right direction. Words can be precise, but the individual human interpretation will always be unique. Words can create an atmosphere, a sensation, a poetry that can be felt.
When we are told about a performance piece, we imagine it inside our minds. It takes place in a unique way there as a personal experience. Is that part of the artist's work? Is that a collaboration between the imaginer and the artist?
I have made Word Documents that hold words insinuating a performance idea. When I write these sentences they are born from an imagined future or remembered past experience. Once written, I present them online visually so the performances can live on the screens and in the minds of others. I make this choice purposefully, not because I didn't have the means or capability to perform the pieces myself. I wanted to challenge myself to justify this work and explore how it operates. This is a way to disseminate work without creating waste paper. It is up in a cloud, and in the minds of whomever imagines it- it is free.
Words point to the real world like a finger points in the right direction. Words can be precise, but the individual human interpretation will always be unique. Words can create an atmosphere, a sensation, a poetry that can be felt.
When we are told about a performance piece, we imagine it inside our minds. It takes place in a unique way there as a personal experience. Is that part of the artist's work? Is that a collaboration between the imaginer and the artist?
I have made Word Documents that hold words insinuating a performance idea. When I write these sentences they are born from an imagined future or remembered past experience. Once written, I present them online visually so the performances can live on the screens and in the minds of others. I make this choice purposefully, not because I didn't have the means or capability to perform the pieces myself. I wanted to challenge myself to justify this work and explore how it operates. This is a way to disseminate work without creating waste paper. It is up in a cloud, and in the minds of whomever imagines it- it is free.
Is This My Work?
These words are quoted and paraphrased from a conversation. This is a piece of work. How can I claim the words of another as my work? I never say it is my work. The individuals quoted have not yet been asked permission for their names or words to be published. This is an interesting moment of hesitation for me: I feel I should seek consent to make this work, but why? I am aware of the ethical problems this could expose, but playing against these rules may bring more meaning to light. The words were spoken months ago and I was the one to take note. Do we have ownership over our casual speech? I happily call this work collaborative rather than purely mine. Is anything purely mine? Is anything private? Have I taken the everyday and made it a commodity?
Do you have things?
We must get the stuff that remains hidden and try to work out what its status is- whether it's the work or not.
What is the status of the work? How does the work exist? Where is the audience?
It's worth considering, knowing for yourself, if the work will stay inside your personal computer.
If not, how does it emerge?
Then there's the question: does the audience know about the work? Do I tell anybody?
Does it enter the cultural sphere?
...Lists, posters, projection, performance...
A lot of Fluxus instructional art was never enacted.
Making work like this now, what are you contributing?
To do with the development of the computer- an interest in rules and instruction, and what's now enabled by the internet.
...Rules, conditions, recipes, events...
Framed by devised rules/protocols, within which we or others enact the work.
The distributed network.
Technological determinism: more Marxist- there are conditions in Capitalism that mean technologies are developed, and they're informing the way we live.
The network is echoing a logic that could be the conditions of contemporary Capitalism.
Filtering down protocols, instrumentation of everyday life.
Capitalism is encroaching. We're finding ways to commodify the everyday in the way the network is.
Contemporary Capitalism is bleeding into everywhere. As artists working in the everyday we're finding ways to describe it, package it.
The work can exist through its effect on others.
If the form of the work can be many then it's not fixed. The work can begin as a word document, stored away. It can then be projected out through different lenses.
I've been thinking of the art I make like sending an email. An idea or the work is sent, fragmented, and received, whole.
I've had panic attacks in the middle of the night- "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE WORK?"
Work is made up of elements, I just have to recognise that these elements are part of the work. All those elements that used to be separate are now necessary to it. They don't have to exist in the same place or time.
Globally Reproducible (digital)
Telepathic
Labour of Others
Local Elements
We're doing it and struggling because it's so new, but we can theorise it.
Learn from each other, be explicit about what you're doing.
Questions, all the time.
The work will BE trying to answer one of those things at a time.
There will be elements that can't exist. The danger is trying to bring things so that they all exist in the same place and time, as the same thing materially.
Some things can exist in conversation.
There isn't one person who can experience all the elements.
Recognise the elements- what is it, how do I name it, how do I account for it- for assessment, for the world, for your boyfriend, for the participants. then develop the relationships between them.
Contemporary Capitalism means we're commodifying relationships and commodifying ourselves.
See first how it would work within Captialism, but then don't do that and instead shift it to have a different sensibility.
"There isn't a pure way through. It's dirty, it's good."
These words are quoted and paraphrased from a conversation. This is a piece of work. How can I claim the words of another as my work? I never say it is my work. The individuals quoted have not yet been asked permission for their names or words to be published. This is an interesting moment of hesitation for me: I feel I should seek consent to make this work, but why? I am aware of the ethical problems this could expose, but playing against these rules may bring more meaning to light. The words were spoken months ago and I was the one to take note. Do we have ownership over our casual speech? I happily call this work collaborative rather than purely mine. Is anything purely mine? Is anything private? Have I taken the everyday and made it a commodity?
Do you have things?
We must get the stuff that remains hidden and try to work out what its status is- whether it's the work or not.
What is the status of the work? How does the work exist? Where is the audience?
It's worth considering, knowing for yourself, if the work will stay inside your personal computer.
If not, how does it emerge?
Then there's the question: does the audience know about the work? Do I tell anybody?
Does it enter the cultural sphere?
...Lists, posters, projection, performance...
A lot of Fluxus instructional art was never enacted.
Making work like this now, what are you contributing?
To do with the development of the computer- an interest in rules and instruction, and what's now enabled by the internet.
...Rules, conditions, recipes, events...
Framed by devised rules/protocols, within which we or others enact the work.
The distributed network.
Technological determinism: more Marxist- there are conditions in Capitalism that mean technologies are developed, and they're informing the way we live.
The network is echoing a logic that could be the conditions of contemporary Capitalism.
Filtering down protocols, instrumentation of everyday life.
Capitalism is encroaching. We're finding ways to commodify the everyday in the way the network is.
Contemporary Capitalism is bleeding into everywhere. As artists working in the everyday we're finding ways to describe it, package it.
The work can exist through its effect on others.
If the form of the work can be many then it's not fixed. The work can begin as a word document, stored away. It can then be projected out through different lenses.
I've been thinking of the art I make like sending an email. An idea or the work is sent, fragmented, and received, whole.
I've had panic attacks in the middle of the night- "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE WORK?"
Work is made up of elements, I just have to recognise that these elements are part of the work. All those elements that used to be separate are now necessary to it. They don't have to exist in the same place or time.
Globally Reproducible (digital)
Telepathic
Labour of Others
Local Elements
We're doing it and struggling because it's so new, but we can theorise it.
Learn from each other, be explicit about what you're doing.
Questions, all the time.
The work will BE trying to answer one of those things at a time.
There will be elements that can't exist. The danger is trying to bring things so that they all exist in the same place and time, as the same thing materially.
Some things can exist in conversation.
There isn't one person who can experience all the elements.
Recognise the elements- what is it, how do I name it, how do I account for it- for assessment, for the world, for your boyfriend, for the participants. then develop the relationships between them.
Contemporary Capitalism means we're commodifying relationships and commodifying ourselves.
See first how it would work within Captialism, but then don't do that and instead shift it to have a different sensibility.
"There isn't a pure way through. It's dirty, it's good."
CV 2014
Past Roles:
Co-Founder of The Garden Studio, an artist-led gallery, studio and event space
Social Media Writer for The Garden Studio
Co-Curator at The Garden Studio
Art Handler at The Garden Studio
Event Promoter at The Garden Studio
Painting and Decorating at The Garden Studio
Interior Design at The Garden Studio
Artist in Residence at The Garden Studio
Co-ordinator of The Door is A Jar
Financial Supporter of The Door is A Jar
Gallery Assistant for Hiding in Plain Site
Salesperson at PVC Shopping Channel
Co-Host of the PVC Christmas Party
Member of That Group of People
Artist
Continuing Roles:
Events Programmer at The Garden Studio
Health and Safety at The Garden Studio
Fund Raiser at The Garden Studio
Events Management at The Garden Studio
Performer at The Garden Studio
Performer, elsewhere
Events Photographer at The Garden Studio
Documentation at The Garden Studio
Communications at The Garden Studio
Social Engagement at The Garden Studio
Politician at The Garden Studio
Librarian at The Garden Studio
Past Roles:
Co-Founder of The Garden Studio, an artist-led gallery, studio and event space
Social Media Writer for The Garden Studio
Co-Curator at The Garden Studio
Art Handler at The Garden Studio
Event Promoter at The Garden Studio
Painting and Decorating at The Garden Studio
Interior Design at The Garden Studio
Artist in Residence at The Garden Studio
Co-ordinator of The Door is A Jar
Financial Supporter of The Door is A Jar
Gallery Assistant for Hiding in Plain Site
Salesperson at PVC Shopping Channel
Co-Host of the PVC Christmas Party
Member of That Group of People
Artist
Continuing Roles:
Events Programmer at The Garden Studio
Health and Safety at The Garden Studio
Fund Raiser at The Garden Studio
Events Management at The Garden Studio
Performer at The Garden Studio
Performer, elsewhere
Events Photographer at The Garden Studio
Documentation at The Garden Studio
Communications at The Garden Studio
Social Engagement at The Garden Studio
Politician at The Garden Studio
Librarian at The Garden Studio
Who are you making work for?
A good proportion of arts funding seems to specifically support projects targeting groups of people in society who may feel alienated by The Art World, aiming to bring together communities through creative means, and be accessible and inclusive. This is a positive way to engage people in art, particularly when so much art exists in galleries behind a ticket desk and in big cities. However I am recently concerned with engaging those already too familiar with The Art World.
It is possible for me, as an art student, to make critical work that operates from within the systems of my Institution, and more widely from within The Art World and Society. I am in the privileged position to be making work, and for it to be seen, without the involvement of a gallery; those who encounter my work are most commonly students and tutors, who experience it from an artist's standpoint, and people on the bus, who typically misunderstand me in the most interesting ways and often tell me about their daughter who draws. I find the differences in conversations I have speak volumes of the abstract territory of The Art World: where does it begin and end? When am I in it and out of it? Can I speak from inside to those outside, and from outside to those inside? How do I adapt my voice as an artist when I suspect I am inside or out?
A good proportion of arts funding seems to specifically support projects targeting groups of people in society who may feel alienated by The Art World, aiming to bring together communities through creative means, and be accessible and inclusive. This is a positive way to engage people in art, particularly when so much art exists in galleries behind a ticket desk and in big cities. However I am recently concerned with engaging those already too familiar with The Art World.
It is possible for me, as an art student, to make critical work that operates from within the systems of my Institution, and more widely from within The Art World and Society. I am in the privileged position to be making work, and for it to be seen, without the involvement of a gallery; those who encounter my work are most commonly students and tutors, who experience it from an artist's standpoint, and people on the bus, who typically misunderstand me in the most interesting ways and often tell me about their daughter who draws. I find the differences in conversations I have speak volumes of the abstract territory of The Art World: where does it begin and end? When am I in it and out of it? Can I speak from inside to those outside, and from outside to those inside? How do I adapt my voice as an artist when I suspect I am inside or out?
A Big Mixture Given One Name
M: I think there's room for everything, and I think The Art World can't handle that.
D: It's easy to generalise about 'the Art World' so be careful on that one. Because, y'know, it's a big, big mixture isn't it.
M: I think there's room for everything, and I think The Art World can't handle that.
D: It's easy to generalise about 'the Art World' so be careful on that one. Because, y'know, it's a big, big mixture isn't it.
QUESTIONS OF PERFORMANCE AND AUDIENCE:
1. Is it a Performance?
2. What is Audience?
1. Is it a Performance?
- Have you told people about it?
- Will it be documented?
- Can it be re-created?
- Is it entertaining?
- Does it make people have thoughts and feelings?
- Is it introverted (happening largely inside me)?
- Who can experience it?
- Is it for yourself (a personal investigation)?
- Does it have a duration?
- Can it be described?
- Do you/ does it have an objective?
- Is there a conclusion?
- Does it involve a body?
- Is it in/ outside a space?
- Is it inside a gallery/ art school?
- Is it in a public place?
- Is it in a non-space?
- Have you decided it is/ isn't a performance?
- How is the work different if it is/ isn't a performance?
2. What is Audience?
- Is anyone/thing watching or present?
- Are animals/ objects/ plants an audience?
- Is anyone/thing not watching?
- Is anyone/thing listening, touching, smelling or tasting?
- If anyone/thing is present, are they aware of this?
- Are present parties conscious?
- Can those in the future experience it?
- Do you want people/ animals/ things there?
- Are you hiding?
- Are those experiencing it being forced to do so?
- Do people know what you're doing?
- Could people assume you're an artist?
- Have you invited people?
- Have the invitees turned up?
- Have you made an announcement?
- Did someone interrupt you?
- Is the door open?
- Have you decided there is/ isn't an audience?
- How is the work different if there is/ isn't an audience?
An Artist's Statement
S: "How long is your artist's statement?"
W: "35 words."
S: "Well they'd better be 35 fucking good words."
W: "No, they're all bad."
C: "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..."
S: "How long is your artist's statement?"
W: "35 words."
S: "Well they'd better be 35 fucking good words."
W: "No, they're all bad."
C: "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..."